Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SiGe Sub-THz VCOs Design Approach for Imaging Applications

In this work the design method and comparative results of sub-THz tunable voltage sources are reported. Different architectures are considered showing the best performance architectures and more reliable approaches for the realization of voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) with integrated technology. The considered scenario is the realization of a signal source for THz camera and imaging applications. The preferred technology adopted in this work has been the 130 nm SiGe heterojunction-bipolar-transistor process provided by IHP foundry. The SG13G2 has a cut-off frequency (fT) of 300 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency (fmax) of 450 GHz. The solutions here proposed achieve high output power levels, very good Phase Noise performance, wide tunability and compact dimensions.
Development of a Method for Pb Functionalization and Preparing Immunogenic Complex

Antibody based methods have numerous advantages compared to other detection methods. However, heavy metals cannot stimulate the immune antibody response; it is the main obstacle for preparation of the antibodies that used in detection methods of the metals. The production of the immunogenic Pb complexes by using cost benefit linkers of EDTA and DTPA were investigated in this study.BSA molecules were functionalized using EDTA and DTPA linkers in various BSA/linker ratio, pH, incubation times and buffers. The complexes were formed after addition of the Pb to the [BSA-linker]. Different concentrations of the glutaraldehyde were mixed with the formed complexes and shaken at room temperature for 12 hours. The prepared conjugates were dialyzed in phosphate buffer saline for 72 hours. Stimulation of the mice antibody responses against the prepared [Pb-linker-BSA] complex were evaluated using ELISA. In optimized condition, the DTPA linker coupled Pb to each BSA molecules 2 times higher than EDTA. The optimum pH was 9.6 in EDTA binding to BSA; also, EDTA molarity was 25 times higher than Pb molarity in [PbEDTA-BSA] complexes.These conditions for DTPA conjugation to Pb and BSA are pH 7.4-9.6 and 9.6 respectively. Also, optimum molarity of DTPA was 4 times higher than Pb in [Pb-DTPABSA] complexes. Also, the higher antibody responses against Pb were stimulated by immunization with an antigenic complex that has more solubility and Pb coupled to each albumin molecules. In conclusion, in optimized conditions, DTPA more efficient than EDTA for synthesizes of the immunogenic Pb complex.
Predicting Heart Disease at Early Stages using Machine Learning: A Survey

Predicting and detection of heart disease has always been a critical and challenging task for healthcare practitioners. Hospitals and other clinics are offering expensive therapies and operations to treat heart diseases. So, predicting heart disease at the early stages will be useful to the people around the world so that they will take necessary actions before getting severe. Heart disease is a significant problem in recent times; the main reason for this disease is the intake of alcohol, tobacco, and lack of physical exercise. Over the years, machine learning shows effective results in making decisions and predictions from the broad set of data produced by the health care industry. Some of the supervised machine learning techniques used in this prediction of heart disease are artificial neural network (ANN), decision tree (DT), random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), naïve Bayes) (NB) and k-nearest neighbour algorithm. Furthermore, the performances of these algorithms are summarized.
Application of clinical genomic sequencing among Chinese advanced cancer patients to guide precision medicine decisions

Purpose A number of studies have suggested that high-throughput genomic analyses might improve the outcomes of cancer patients. However, whether integrative information about genomic sequencing and related clinical interpretation may benefit Chinese cancer patients with stage IV disease to date has not investigated. Methods Targeted gene panel and whole exome of tumor/blood samples in > 1,000 Chinese cancer patients were sequenced. Then we provided patients and their oncologists with the sequencing results and a clinical recommendation roadmap based on evidence-based medicine, defined as CWES. Only patients with stage IV disease who failed the previous treatment upon receiving the CWES reports were included for analyzing the impact of CWES on clinical outcomes in 1-year follow-ups. Results We identified the mutational signatures of 953 Chinese cancer patients, with some being unique. Approximately 88.6% of patients had clinically actionable somatic genomic alterations. We successfully followed up 22 stage IV patients. Of these, 11 patients treatment followed the CWES reports defined as group A. Eleven patients received the next treatment, but did not follow the CWES suggestions, and are defined as group B. The types of therapies before CWES were similar in the two groups. The median PFS of group A was 12 months and 45% patients failed this round of therapy. The median PFS of group B was 4 months and 91% of patients failed the treatment. Conclusion The current study suggested that CWES has the potential to help explore the clinical benefits in multiple line therapies among advanced stage tumor patients.
Race and a decolonial turn in development studies

Abstract This paper reviews and revives a longstanding conversation about race and development studies, which was prominently explored in a collection of papers on race and racism in the journal Progress in Development Studies back in 2006. This revival is timely in the context of a global call to decolonise higher education. Given the central logic of race and racism in European colonialism, and the decolonial argument that colonialism continues in the production and value of knowledge, I examine the presence and absence of race and racism in discussions of decolonising higher education and in development studies. Through a systematic review and content analysis of papers published in six major development studies journals over the past 13 years, I identify where and how race is present in current development scholarship and explore the implications of this for a decolonial turn in development studies.
RNA backbone rotamers and chiropraxis

RNA BACKBONE ROTAMERS AND CHIROPRAXIS by Laura Weston Murray Department of Biochemistry Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Jane S. Richardson, Supervisor ___________________________ David C. Richardson, Supervisor ___________________________ Michael D. Been ___________________________ Lorena S. Beese ___________________________ Thomas A. Darden ___________________________ Terrence G. Oas An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Biochemistry in the Graduate School of Duke University 2007 Copyright by Laura Weston Murray 2007
Seed traits and germination in the Cactaceae family: A review across Americas

Background: Cactaceae is the fifth taxonomic group with the highest proportion of threatened species and among the angiosperms, the most vulnerable to human disturbance. One way to contribute to the preservation of this family is to understand the processes that promote seed germination. Questions: Have the relationship between seed traits and cactus germination been documented? How common is dormancy and seed banks in Cactaceae? Are there general patterns in cacti germination response to temperature, light, water, salinity, phytohormones, hydration/dehydration cycles, mechanical or chemical scarification? Data description: A total of 333 studies on cactus germination with information on 409 taxa. Study site and dates: since 1939 to January 2020. Methods: A search of scientific articles in Google Scholar was performed with the words Cactaceae, cacti and cactus, in combination with various matters on germination in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Results: The main germination studies in cactus deal with photoblasticism (275 taxa), temperature (205 taxa) and seed longevity (142 taxa). Other lines of study in cactus germination (e.g., desiccation tolerance, vivipary, phytohormones, mechanical or chemical scarification, in vitro germination, hydration/dehydration cycles, water and saline stress, serotiny, storage in cold, high temperature tolerance and soil seed bank) include between 14 and 65 taxa. Cacti have only physiological dormancy and optimal germination for most species occur between 20 and 30 °C. Photoblasticism is strongly influenced by phylogeny with 80.9 % positive photoblastic species. Conclusions: Mexico, Brazil and Argentina are the three leading countries in the study of cactus germination.
Mental or Neural Representations: Justifying the terminology used in cognitive neuroscience

In this paper we investigate whether one of the most common uses of the concept of representation is justifiable by suggesting the conditions under which it can be accepted and how it can be related to mental states. We present mental states in terms of private experiences and public events. We argue that a representation is a relation involving three main elements as well as the user of the representation, and defend that the conditions in which we can conceive neural activity as representational are set by the context of observing a correlation between public events and patterns of neural activity. We aim at demonstrating that neural activity can be seen as both representational and non-representational - but rather constitutive - depending upon if we are considering public events under the perspective of the observer, or if we are considering private experiences under the subjective perspective.
The Correlation between Aggression, Self-esteem and Cyberbullying among Undergraduates in Malaysia

The prevalence of cyberbullying cases has been increasing over the years and it causes detrimental effects on one's mental health and psychological well-being. This cross-sectional research aims to determine the significant relationship between proactive aggression, reactive aggression and self-esteem on cyberbullying among undergraduates in Malaysia. 255 participants were recruited through purposive sampling. Questionnaires were distributed online via social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Twitter. Three validated and reliable self-report measures were used to gather responses for this including Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ), Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSES) and Cyberbullying Test (CT). RPQ consists of 23 items followed by RSES with 10 items and lastly, CT consists of 45 items. All measures yielded a high reliability ranging from . 84 to . 95. The present study has found that proactive and reactive aggressions have a significant positive relationship with cyberbullying perpetration. However, proactive aggression has a stronger relationship as compared to reactive ones. Those with high proactive aggressions tend to involve more in cyberbullying as compared to reactive aggression. Moreover, it also found a negative but non-significant relationship between self-esteem and cyberbullying perpetration among undergraduates in Malaysia. It shows that those with high self-esteem tend to be cyberbullying victims but not perpetrators due to their frequent usage of social media. This study implies that it could be useful to tackle those involved in proactive aggressions as compared to reactive aggression and those with high self-esteem. Healthy ways to channel proactive aggression in which perpetrator seeks reward or dominance should be identified rather than focusing on those who reacts aggressively to a threat or provocation.
Comparison between support vector machines and K-nearest neighbor for time series forecasting

This paper aims to use the Support Vector Machine (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbor (K-NN) for univariate time series prediction. The main goal of this study is to compare between Support Vector Machine and K-Nearest Neighbor to predict time series data. The dataset for the monthly gold prices was used during the period from Nov -1989 – Dec-2019, which represents 362 observations. SVM and K-NN models were fitted based on 90% of data as training set, and then their accuracy was compared using the statistical measure RMSE. The results indicated that SVM was better than K-NN in predicting future gold prices, based on RMSE= 33.77.
Graphical passwords: Behind the attainment of goals

Graphical authentication methods have emerged as an alternative to the conventional authentication methods over the past couple of decades. One of the most popular among types of graphical authentication methods is recognition‐based authentication, where the user taps on pass images from one or more challenge sets of images in order to authenticate. The study of existing graphical authentication systems shows that several of them compromise their security while making the method simpler, which could lead to perpetration of numerous attacks like guessing, hidden camera, smudge, shoulder surfing, and many other. Furthermore, a few of them sacrifice performance while targeting security alone. Yet, this paper proposes a new method that resists the aforementioned attacks with good performance, while preserving the benefits of graphical passwords such as ease of use and increased memorability.
Colorimetric Determination of Stability Constant of Sulfamethoxazole-Cu(II) Complex at Different Temperatures by Continuous Variation Method

Sulfamethoxazole is an antibiotic that is used for the treatment of bacterial infections such as prostatitis, bronchitis and urinary tract infections. It is effective against gram negative and gram positive bacteria. Classical equation has been used in the calculation of stability constant of SulfamethoxazoleCu(II) complex depending on the theoretical explanation of the stoichiometry. The formation of Cu(II) complex with sulfamethoxazole was studied colorimetrically at an absorption maximum of 430 nm at 25, 30, 35 and 40 C. The data showed that Cu(II) and sulfamethoxazole combine in the molar ratio of 1:2 at pH 7.4 with ionic strength maintained using 0.1M KNO3. Calculated stability constants values were 4.02 x 10, 2.93 x 10, 1.37 x 10 and 9.21 x 10 using continuous variation method. Calculated ∆G for the complex were -3.77 x 10, -3.75 x 10, -3.62 x 10 and 3.57 x 10. The stoichiometry, stability constant and Gibbs free energy results suggested that sulfamethoxazole used in the study is a good chelating agent and can be an efficient antidote in the therapy of Cu(II) overload or poisoning.
Factors Influencing Compliance with The Utilization of Effective Malaria Treatment and Preventive Measures in Wulu, South Sudan

Abstract Background High incidence of malaria disease in South Sudan may be largely due to poor/non-compliance with effective treatment and preventive measures. This study examined factors limiting/enhancing compliance with the utilization of known and effective malaria treatment and preventive measures in Wulu, South Sudan. Methods A case-control study involving 396 respondents was conducted. Participants were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire to elicit information regarding socio-demographics and factors influencing compliance with using available treatment and preventive measures for malaria. Result Respondents diagnosed with malaria reported lack of insecticide treated nets (51.5%) and forgetfulness (16.6%) as reasons for not using insecticide treated nets. About 26% of them lacked the knowledge of insecticide treated net's usefulness, while 57.5% of them did not consider it necessary to have door/window barriers. About 44% of all respondents forgot to take prescribed drugs at the right time while 14.5% of them did not complete drug prescriptions because they felt relief of symptoms. There were significant associations between identified factors of compliance to treatment/preventive measures and occurrence of malaria (all at p = 0.001). Having insecticide treated nets (OR: 5.78; CI: 3.46–9.00), awareness of its benefits (OR: 8.76; CI: 3.02–25.37), being taught on its use (OR: 3.35; CI: 2.17–5.18) and understanding of its use (OR: 3.80; CI: 2.01–7.20) were significantly associated with year-round utilization of insecticide treated nets. Conclusion Poor access to and knowledge of malaria treatment, control and preventive measures are leading barriers to their effective utilization in Wulu.
The effect of alum dose on the consolidation behaviour of coagulated clay dispersions.

Model sludges were prepared by coagulating clay dispersions (with or without added humate) with alum and/or a cationic polymer. The sludges were consolidated by centrifuging and their compressive yield stresses calculated as a function of solids content. Both the initial solids content and the final value after dewatering decreased with increasing alum:clay ratio. The adverse effect of alum dose on dewatering was evident even at the optimum dose for effective clarification and was more pronounced for humate-containing sludges. Poor dewatering was attributed to the low density of alum sludges at the gel point and to the high yield stress of networks formed at alum doses close to the charge neutralisation point. Dispersions coagulated with cationic polyacrylamide alone dewatered to higher solids than did alum sludges, but when added after alum, the polymer had no beneficial effect on ultimate solids content. The data confirms that the addition of polymer to alum sludges is beneficial to improving the rate of dewatering only.
Design and Implementation of a Dual-Input Single-Output Photovoltaic Converter

In many solar inverters, a dc/dc converter is mainly located between the solar arrays and the inverter. This study presents an enhanced maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm for photovoltaic (PV) systems that drives solar array voltages to track a reference value and decreases fluctuations and oscillations in PV voltage. Different from the previously presented methods, a novel MPPT method is proposed that ensures tracking accuracy by considering output voltage in addition to input voltage and currents. The proposed method detects d I / d V variations, compares the output voltage with the desired reference to shift operation mode and refreshes step size. The digital filtering, enhanced PI, and perturb-and-observe (P&O) tracking features of the proposed MPPT method make it robust to mitigate source fluctuations and sensitivity to partial shading based oscillations. In order to validate the success of the proposed method, a test rig has been installed with dual boost converters. The performance improvements have been verified by both simulation and experimental results that are compared to InCon and P&O MPPT methods. It is also confirmed by experimental results that the proposed MPPT method provides robust control capability in terms of tracking the reference voltage and rejecting the effects of various shading situations on solar arrays.
Intestine wall histostructure peculiarities with peritonitis and mechanical intestine obstruction (experimental study)

Today, the histological criteria for differential diagnosis of dynamic ileus due to peritonitis and mechanical obstruction of the intestine remain undeveloped. In this regard, the aim of the work was to establish the difference in morphological changes occurring in the intestinal wall during dynamic and mechanical ileus in the experiment. The experiment was conducted on 33 sexually mature Wistar rats. In 15 animals of the first group, mechanical ileus was modeled by ligation of the lumen of the small intestine at the middle of the distance between the duodenojejunal junction and the ileocecal angle. In 15 rats of the second group, a dynamic ileus model was formed in the form of peritonitis by introducing fecal suspension into the lumen of the abdominal cavity. The control group included 3 animals who underwent laparotomy without the formation of mechanical ileus and peritonitis. For histological examination, fragments of the intestinal wall were sampled 1 cm above the site of the obstruction with mechanical ileus and the portion of the small intestine with peritonitis. Statistical processing was performed in an Excel package using parametric statistics methods. It was stated that with mechanical ileus purulent inflammation develops in the intestine wall beginning from the mucous membrane spreading over wall thickness which can cause its destruction within 48 hours; with dynamical ileus purulent inflammation develops in the intestine wall, it captures particularly serous and muscle layers without causing violations of mucosa cover structure and without intestine wall destruction within 48 hours. Under experimental dynamic ileus, changes in the mucous membrane were reactive in nature and consisted of manifestations of compensatory-adaptive and regenerative processes in response to a violation of the trophism of various structures of the intestinal wall.
Antimicrobial Activity of Aqueous and Alcoholic Extracts of Chamomile, Fleawort, Aquatic Pennyroyal and Nettle Plants on Klebsiella pneumoniae and Comparing Their Effects with Common Antibiotics

Background: In recent years, the use of medicinal plants has increased due to their lower side effects and costs compared to chemical drugs and patients' adaptation to these drugs. This study was performed to investigate the antibacterial effect of aqueous and alcoholic extract of four native medicinal plants of Gilan province against the bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae. Materials & Methods: In this study, plant species were collected from different areas of Gilan province and extraction was performed. The antibacterial effect of the extracts was investigated by the disc diffusion method. Then, using microdilution method, the minimum inhibitory concentration of bacterial growth was determined. Results & Conclusion: The results showed that chamomile alcoholic extract with the maximum average halo diameter of 14 mm showed the best effect against K. pneumoniae. The bacterium showed resistance against the aqueous and alcoholic extracts of fleawort. Also, the ethanolic extracts of nettle and chamomile plants had the best antibacterial effect at 0.39 mg/ml. The minimum inhibitory concentration of aqueous extract of fleawort plant against Klebsiella pneumoniae was 12.5 mg/ml which was lower than other types of extracts. According to the results, these extracts can be used as antibacterial products in the pharmaceutical and food industries and in the treatment of infection symptoms.