Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Psychological Analysis of Corruption in Nigeria

Corruption will likely appear on everyone’s list of factors obstructing Nigeria’s path toward sustainable development; yet, rather than decrease, corruption has proliferated to all segments of Nigeria, making it the "common cold" of Nigeria’s social ills. Typical responses to corruption have involved the overthrow of whole regimes or removal of individual officials implicated in the incidences that have come to light. Unfortunately, these replacements often end up being more corrupt than their predecessors. However, a perusal of the literature has revealed a surprising dearth of psychological variables in the discussion of the mechanisms involved in corruption. In order for Nigeria to successfully combat corruption and pave way for sustainable development, the possible causes and proposed solutions have to be explored from the various facets that make up this complex phenomenon. This article attempts to fill that void by using Maslow’s concept of hierarchy of needs, and Bandura’s perspective of social learning theory to analyze the physical and psychological conditions in Nigeria today that tend to have predictable effects on behavior, including corruption. It is my argument that overlooking the psychological viewpoint is a major reason why current attempts at tackling corruption have failed. Introduction Corruption is one of the most dangerous social ills of any society. This is because corruption, like a deadly virus, attacks the vital structures that make for society’s progressive functioning, thus putting its very existence into serious peril. This is particularly true for developing countries in that limited but valuable funds and resources that are initially earmarked for industries, hospitals, schools, and other infrastructures are either outrightly embezzled, misappropriated, or otherwise severely depleted through kickbacks and over-invoicing by agents of government. Furthermore, corruption stifles businesses that are unwilling to engage in this nefarious activity; ironically, it also eventually destroys the companies that yield to this practice, thus halting or at least delaying considerably, the march toward economic progress and ultimately sustained development. Perhaps even more damaging than the foregoing is the fact that corrupt leaders tend to cling to power in the knowledge that their activities cannot withstand the scrutiny of an open government. This desperate desire for self-preservation ultimately results in very ruthless repression of individuals and groups that advocate for democracy and accountability.
Caregiver’s sensorimotor magnets lead infant’s vowel acquisition through auto mirroring

Mother-infant vocal communication is a sort of mystery of human cognitive development since they can communicate although their body structures and therefore their utterable areas are different. This paper proposes a method that aids unconscious guidance in mutual imitation for infant development based on a biasing element with two different kinds of modules. The first is based on the normal magnet effect in perceiving heard vocal sounds as the listenerpsilas own vowels (perceptual magnet) and also includes another magnet effect for imitating vocal sounds that resemble the imitatorpsilas vowels (articulatory magnet). The second is based on what we call ldquoauto mirroring bias,rdquo by which the heard vowel is much closer to the expected vowel because the otherpsilas utterance is an imitation of the listenerpsilas own utterance. Computer simulation results of mother-infant interaction show the validity of the proposed bias. Finally future issues are discussed.
Sample reconstruction with deep autoencoder for one sample per person face recognition

One sample per person (OSPP) face recognition is a challenging problem in face recognition community. Lack of samples is the main reason for the failure of most algorithms in OSPP. In this study, the authors propose a new algorithm to generalise intra-class variations of multi-sample subjects to single-sample subjects by deep autoencoder and reconstruct new samples. In the proposed algorithm, a generalised deep autoencoder is first trained with all images in the gallery, then a class-specific deep autoencoder (CDA) is fine-tuned for each single-sample subject with its single sample. Samples of the multi-sample subject, which is most like the single-sample subject, are input to the corresponding CDA to reconstruct new samples. For classification, minimum L2 distance, principle component analysis, sparse represented-based classifier and softmax regression are used. Experiments on the Extended Yale Face Database B, AR database and CMU PIE database are provided to show the validity of the proposed algorithm.
Air pollution and child respiratory health: a case-crossover study in Australia and New Zealand.

RATIONALE The strength of the association between outdoor air pollution and hospital admissions in children has not yet been well defined. OBJECTIVES To estimate the impact of outdoor air pollution on respiratory morbidity in children after controlling for the confounding effects of weather, season, and other pollutants. METHODS The study used data on respiratory hospital admissions in children (three age groups: < 1, 1-4, and 5-14 years) for five cities in Australia and two in New Zealand. Time series of daily numbers of hospital admissions were analyzed using the case-crossover method; the results from cities were combined using a random-effects meta-analysis. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Significant increases across the cities were observed for hospital admissions in children for pneumonia and acute bronchitis (0, 1-4 years), respiratory disease (0, 1-4, 5-14 years), and asthma (5-14 years). These increases were found for particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 microm (PM2.5) and less than 10 microm (PM10), nephelometry, NO2, and SO2. The largest association found was a 6.0% increase in asthma admissions (5-14 years) in relation to a 5.1-ppb increase in 24-hour NO2. CONCLUSIONS This study found strong and consistent associations between outdoor air pollution and short-term increases in childhood hospital admissions. A number of different pollutants showed significant associations, and these were distinct from any temperature (warm or cool) effects.
A 0.039mm2 inverter-based 1.82mW 68.6dB-SNDR 10MHz-BW CT-ΣΔ-ADC in 65nm CMOS

We propose design techniques for the realization of power- and area-efficient CT-ΣΔ-ADCs in ultra deep submicron CMOS: A resonant single-opamp 3rd order integrator with loss compensation, an inverter-based opamp with digitally-assisted biasing and common mode control, a pseudo-differential modulator topology with quasi-1.5-bit quantization and FIR-DACs with passive DT compensation. A highly compact 41.4 fJ/conv. -step, 77 dB-SFDR, 1.1 V ADC has been implemented to prove these concepts. The entire active analog circuitry in this minimalistic 3rd order modulator consists of only 10 CMOS inverters.
Inhibition of TLR4-Induced IκB Kinase Activity by the RON Receptor Tyrosine Kinase and Its Ligand, Macrophage-Stimulating Protein

The RON receptor tyrosine kinase regulates the balance between classical (M1) and alternative (M2) macrophage activation. In primary macrophages, the ligand for Ron, macrophage-stimulating protein (MSP), inhibits the expression of inducible NO synthase, a marker of classically activated macrophages, whereas promoting the expression of arginase I, a marker of alternative activation. Ron−/− mice express increased levels of IL-12, a product of classically activated macrophages, after endotoxin administration, resulting in increased serum IFN-γ levels and enhanced susceptibility to septic shock. In this study, we demonstrate that MSP inhibits LPS-induced IL-12p40 expression, and this inhibition is dependent on the docking site tyrosines in Ron. To further define this inhibition, we examined the effect of Ron on signaling pathways downstream of Ron. We found that MSP does not inhibit the MyD88-independent activation of IFN regulatory factor 3 and production of IFN-β in response to LPS, nor does it inhibit MyD88-dependent TGF-β–activated kinase phosphorylation or MAPK activation in primary macrophages. However, the induction of IκB kinase activity, IκB degradation, and DNA binding of NF-κB after LPS stimulation is delayed in the presence of MSP. In addition, Ron inhibits serine phosphorylation of p65 and NF-κB transcriptional activity induced by LPS stimulation of TLR4. Finally, MSP inhibits the NF-κB–dependent upregulation of the nuclear IκB family member, IκBζ, a positive regulator of secondary response genes including IL-12p40. LPS also induces expression of Ron and an N-terminally truncated form of Ron, Sf-Ron, in primary macrophages, suggesting that the upregulation of Ron by LPS could provide classical feedback regulation of TLR signaling.
HLA-DR1 and HLA-DR3 phenotypes and insulin antibody production in diabetic Sicilian patients.

We have evaluated the role played by HLA antigens in the control of humoral response to exogenous insulin in a sample of Sicilian insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus patients. The results demonstrate that HLA-DR1-positive patients show the highest mean values of insulin antibody, whereas HLA-B18,DR3-positive patients show the lowest. Thus, present observations show that HLA-DR1- and HLA-DR3-linked genes do play opposite roles in the humoral immune response to an exogenous protein, i.e. injected insulin. These results might be consistent with the findings concerning the mechanisms involved in the resistance and/or susceptibility to immunological diseases. In this regard, the fact that no immunological spontaneous disorder has been shown to be associated with HLA-DR1, whereas several have been shown to be associated with HLA-DR3, is intriguing.
Acute gastroduodenal disease after thermal injury. An endoscopic evaluation of incidence and natural history.

Abstract To determine the incidence and the natural history of acute gastroduodenal disease after thermal injury, early and serial gastroduodenoscopies were performed in 32 adult patients with burns. Gastric erosions were present in 25 of 29 (86 per cent) with large burns. Seventeen of 23 (74 per cent) had lesions within 72 hours after the burn. In seven patients (22 per cent) a gastric ulcer developed. Ulcerations occurred only in diffusely abnormal areas and were not discovered before 72 hours after the burn. Nine patients (28 per cent) had a duodenal ulceration; all but one had concomitant gastric disease. In two cases, an ulcer was observed to evolve from an erosive "duodenitis. " The early development, morphology and histology of the lesions suggested ischemic damage of the mucosa. Nine of 15 patients studied serially had progression of mucosal disease; sepsis, hypotension and hypoxia complicated the clinical course. Life-threatening hemorrhage or perforation occurred mainly in patients with ulcers (e.
STRUCTURED SKIN CARE REGIMEN TO PREVENT PERINEAL DERMATITIS IN THE ELDERLY

A preliminary investigation was conducted to determine the efficacy of a structured skin care regimen to prevent perineal dermatitis in incontinent geriatric psychiatry patients. A 10-week, prospective, clinical trial was conducted (n = 15). Four weeks (weeks 2 to 5) were devoted to monitoring the unstructured pretreatment nursing skin care practice and to determining the incidence of perineal dermatitis in incontinent patients. Four weeks (weeks 7 to 10) were also spent implementing and observing the structured nursing skin care regimen. The study revealed that 33% (three) of the subjects in the unstructured skin care group and 33% (two) of the subjects in the structured skin care group had perineal dermatitis. In subjects with a combination of urine and stool incontinence perineal dermatitis developed within 2 days. The findings suggest that perineal dermatitis occurs quickly in the presence of urine and stool incontinence. Further research is needed to validate the efficacy of a structured skin care regimen to prevent perineal dermatitis.
ETHNOMEDICINAL PLANTS USED AGAINST JAUNDICE IN BANGLADESH AND ITS ECONOMICAL PROSPECTS

In Bangladesh, traditional plant-based medicines have always been used to treat hepatitis and jaundice. In the present work, we focused on medicinal plants used to treat jaundice and hepatitis. About 95 plant species belonging to about 75 family were found to be used against jaundice or hepatitis by the traditional healers. The most important plant species are Alocasia indica, Aloe barbadensis, Asparagus racemosus, Averrhoa carambola, Bixa orellana, Boerhaavia diffusa, Cucumis sativus, Cajanus Cajan, Cassia fistula, Eclipta alba, Hemidesmus indicus, Lagenaria siceraria, Mentha arvensis, Momordica charantea, Oroxylum indicum, Saccharum officinarum, Tamarindus indica etc. The ethnomedicinal inventory is presented by plant name, local name, family, chemical constituents, parts used and distribution in Bangladesh.
Preimplantation development of mouse: A view from cellular behavior

A mature animal body contains a variety of different cell types, and these cells are distributed in a well‐organized fashion along the body axes. One of the major questions in developmental biology is how cells acquire different characteristics. In addition, it is important to understand how the embryo forms the body axes and how cells are allocated along these axes during development. Among mammalian species, the molecular mechanisms that regulate embryonic development have been well analyzed and characterized in mice. Here, mouse preimplantation embryonic development is briefly summarized and our current understanding of this complex process based on recent observations is reviewed.
The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).

WHY: Sleep is a necessary part of life. However, normal aging changes, medical problems, psychiatric problems, and psychosocial issues can alter the pattern and quality of sleep as one grows older, and thus affect the quality of life in the older adult. Assessment of sleep patterns enables the nurse to intervene immediately by implementing interventions with the client, or by referring the client for further assessment. BEST TOOL: The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) is an effective instrument used to measure the quality and patterns of sleep in the older adult. It differentiates “poor” from “good” sleep by measuring seven areas: subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, use of sleeping medication, and daytime dysfunction over the last month. The client self-rates each of these seven areas of sleep. Scoring of answers is based on a 0 to 3 scale, whereby 3 reflects the negative extreme on the Likert Scale. A global sum of “5” or greater indicates a “poor” sleeper. Although there are several questions that request the evaluation of the client’s bedmate or roommate, these are not scored (not reflected in attached instrument). Refer to “More on the Topic”, Buysse et al., 1989, for these questions. TARGET POPULATION: The PSQI can be used for both an initial assessment and ongoing comparative measurements with older adults across all health care settings. VALIDITY/RELIABILITY: The PSQI has internal consistency and a reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) of 0.83 for its seven components. Numerous studies using the PSQI have supported high validity and reliability. STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS: The PSQI is a subjective measure of sleep. Self-reporting by clients can empower the client, but can reflect inaccurate information if the client has difficulty understanding what is written, or can not see or physically write out responses. Moreover, the scale is presented in English. The scale can be adapted to enable the client to respond verbally to items on the scale by having the nurse read the statements to the client.
Experimental comparison between double gate, ground plane, and single gate SOI CMOSFETs

For the first time, we report an experimental comparison between planar double gate, single gate and ground plane CMOSFETs. Thanks to an original process, we managed to co-integrate, on the same wafer, these three devices with a TiN metal gate. Short channel effect control, static performance and mobility are quantified for each architecture. The advantages of double gate devices over ground plane and single gate transistors are experimentally highlighted. Ground plane MOSFETs require an optimized BOX in order to achieve a 30% in the saturation current.
Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Induces CD83 Degradation in Mature Dendritic Cells with Immediate-Early Kinetics via the Cellular Proteasome

ABSTRACT Mature dendritic cells (DCs) are the most potent antigen-presenting cells within the human immune system. However, Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is able to interfere with DC biology and to establish latency in infected individuals. In this study, we provide new insights into the mechanism by which HSV-1 disarms DCs by the manipulation of CD83, a functionally important molecule for DC activation. Fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) analyses revealed a rapid downmodulation of CD83 surface expression within 6 to 8 h after HSV-1 infection, in a manner strictly dependent on viral gene expression. Soluble CD83 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, together with Western blot analysis, demonstrated that CD83 rapidly disappears from the cell surface after contact with HSV-1 by a mechanism that involves protein degradation rather than shedding of CD83 from the cell surface into the medium. Infection experiments with an ICP0 deletion mutant demonstrated an important role for this viral immediate-early protein during CD83 degradation, since this particular mutant strain leads to strongly reduced CD83 degradation. This hypothesis was further strengthened by cotransfection of plasmids expressing CD83 and ICP0 into 293T cells, which led to significantly reduced accumulation of CD83. In strong contrast, transfection of plasmids expressing CD83 and a mutant ICP0 defective in its RING finger-mediated E3 ubiquitin ligase function did not reduce CD83 expression. Inhibition of the proteasome, the cellular protein degradation machinery, almost completely restored CD83 surface expression during HSV-1 infection, indicating that proteasome-mediated degradation and HSV-1 ICP0 play crucial roles in this novel viral immune escape mechanism.
Effect of Dietary Calcium and Phosphorus Depletion on Vitamin D Metabolism and Calcium Binding Protein in the Growing Pig

Twenty-four young pigs were divided into three groups and each fed a replete, low calcium (Ca) or low phosphorus (P) diet. It was found that the deficient diets induced rises in renal 25 hydroxy-vitamin D 1,hydroxylase (1-hydroxylase) activity, circulating 1,25 dihydroxy-vitamin D3 (1,25 (OH)2-D3) and Ca binding protein (CaBP) and intestinal 1,25(OH)2D3 and CaBP. All these rises were statistically significant in the low Ca group but only the rises in the 1-hydroxylase activity and intestinal 1,25(OH)2D3 were significant in the low P group. A high degree of correlation existed between the parameters. There was no enhancement of intestinal 1,25(OH)2D3 or CaBP concentration relative to the 1-hydroxylase activity in the low P pigs as occurs in the chick. The low-P-induced rise in 1-hydroxylase activity was independent of parathyroid hormone.
Threshold detection of wideband signals: A noise-induced maximum in the mutual information.

In some nonlinear dynamic systems, the addition of noise to a weak periodic signal can increase the detectability of the signal, a phenomenon belonging to a class of noise-induced cooperative behavior known as stochastic resonance (SR). There has been much recent speculation on the possible role of SR in signal processing by sensory neurons. However, most results have focused exclusively on increasing the output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of time-periodic signals, even though many real-world signals (e.g., those encountered in some neurophysiological and communications applications) are not of this form. Here we consider a generalization of SR, based on the Shannon mutual information between the transmitted and received signal. This generalization can be applied to cases (e.g., the information transmitted by the output spike train of an integrate-fire model neuron which we consider here), involving aperiodic input signals for which the output SNR might be ill-defined, uninformative, or irrelevant. Since the SR-like effect in the transmitted information disappears with the optimal choice of model parameters, we suggest that such an effect is likely to be particularly relevant to systems, e.g., neuronal populations, in which natural circuit constraints may render parameter optimization impractical.
Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer

AbstractStereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) offers a promising opportunity for cure and/or palliation to patients with recurrent head and neck cancer whose comorbidities, performance status, and history of prior treatment may preclude many other salvage options. Stereotactic body radiation therapy appears to have a favorable response and toxicity profile compared with other nonoperative salvage options for recurrent head and neck cancer. However, the risk of severe toxicity remains, with carotid blowout syndrome a unique concern, although the incidence of this complication may be minimized with alternating-day fractionation. The short overall treatment time and low rates of acute toxicity make SBRT an optimal vehicle to integrate with novel systemic therapies, and several phase II studies have used concurrent cetuximab as a radiosensitizer with SBRT with promising results. Ongoing studies aim to evaluate the potential synergistic effect of SBRT with immune checkpoint inhibitors in recurrent head and neck cancer.
Lipid Peroxidation in Judoists Using Oral Contraceptives

Abstract 12 female judoists using oral contraceptives (OCU) containing 0.03 mg ethinylestradiol and 3 mg drospirenone for 20±12 months (mean±SD) were compared with a control group of 14 judoist noncontraceptive users (NCU) in order to evaluate resting (T1) and postexercise (T2) lipid peroxidation (LPO) and antioxidant parameters. Data were collected 20 min before and 10 min after a morning session of judo training and included determination of lag phase (Lp) before free radical-induced oxidation, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), α-tocopherol, retinol, and oxidative stress markers related to LPO. Significantly higher resting oxidative stress (+125.8 and +165.2% for malondialdehyde and lipid peroxides, respectively) and lower values of Lp and GPx ( − 23.4 and − 12.1%, respectively) were observed in the OCU compared with NCU. The judo training session induced an increase in plasma LPO whatever the treatment. We noted significant increases in Lp (+14.7%; p<0.05 vs. preexercise) and GPx (22.1%; p<0.05 vs. preexercise) only in the NCU group. We suggest that a judo training session favourably altered some antioxidants in NCU but not in OCU. As excessive oxidative stress is linked to the development of several chronic diseases, the use of agents to reduce antioxidants may be reasonable in OCU.
Cervical ganglioneuroblastoma

A case of primary cervical ganglioneuroblastoma is reported. It is a very rare tumour, only one example of this differentiated form of neuroblastoma having been previously recorded as a primary tumour in the neck. The incidence, clinical features, pathology and prognosis of primary cervical neuroblastoma have been discussed.
Binary classification with noise via fuzzy weighted least squares twin support vector machine

A new weighted least squares twin support vector machine for binary classification with noise is proposed in this paper. By using the distances from the sample points to their class center, fuzzy weights are constructed. The fuzzy weighted least squares twin support vector machine is presented by following the fuzzy weighted mechanism, thus reducing the influence of the noise. The simulation results on three UCI data and two-moons data demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.