Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Campylobacter: A Foodborne Pathogen with Emerging Antimicrobial Resistance

Campylobacter is one of the major foodborne pathogens of concern in its growing trend of antimicrobial resistance. C. jejuni and C. coli are the major causative agents, with C. jejuni contributing to most of the cases in approximately 90% in the world. Infection is transmitted to humans due to consumption of contaminated food and water. Campylobacteriosis caused by C. jejuni is commonly presented with severe diarrhoea, abdominal pain, fever, headache, nausea, and vomiting with some extreme cases resulting in Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) and acute flaccid paralysis. Symptoms are severe in cases of children below 5 years, elderly and individuals who are immunocompromised. The infection is usually sporadic, and self-limiting and thus does not require antibiotics for treatment. Still, the antimicrobial resistance in Campylobacter is a major concern because of the transmission of resistance from animal sources to humans. This review highlights the recent epidemiology, geographical impact, resistance mechanisms, spread of Campylobacter spp. and the strategies to control the transmission of Campylobacter from veterinary sources and its antimicrobial resistance.
A performance study of meta‐heuristic approaches for quadratic assignment problem

The quadratic assignment problem (QAP) is a well‐known challenging combinatorial optimization problem that has received many researchers' attention with varied real‐world and industrial applications areas. It is noteworthy to mention that a plethora of nature‐inspired optimization algorithms have successfully been used to solve various optimization problems, including several variants of the QAPs. In this article, a comprehensive literature review is presented to show the most relevant nature‐inspired algorithms that have been used in solving the QAP. More so, extensive experiments are conducted and analyzed to show the performance of the well‐known state‐of‐the‐art nature‐inspired meta‐heuristic optimization algorithms in solving the QAP, including the ant colony optimization (ACO), bat algorithm, genetic algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), and tabu search algorithm. Besides, a modified variant of the discrete PSO algorithm is implemented and compared with existing approaches. The six selected algorithms' performances, including the modified PSO, are validated on eight commonly used QAP instances of varying complexity and size, considering the quality of solutions achieved and computational time consumed by the representative algorithms. The numerical results revealed that the most competitive algorithm was ACO, while the GA appeared to be the worst performed algorithm among the six compared meta‐heuristic algorithms. However, based on the extensive analysis conducted on the tested algorithms, further improvements are suggested, including implementing new modified versions of the tested algorithms to tackle the QAP and its variant instances.
Clear Theories Are Needed to Interpret Differences: Perspectives on the Bilingual Advantage Debate

Abstract The heated debate regarding bilingual cognitive advantages remains ongoing. While there are many studies supporting positive cognitive effects of bilingualism, recent meta-analyses have concluded that there is no consistent evidence for a bilingual advantage. In this article we focus on several theoretical concerns. First, we discuss changes in theoretical frameworks, which have led to the development of insufficiently clear theories and hypotheses that are difficult to falsify. Next, we discuss the development of looking at bilingual experiences and the need to better understand language control. Last, we argue that the move from behavioural studies to a focus on brain plasticity is not going to solve the debate on cognitive effects, especially not when brain changes are interpreted in the absence of behavioural differences. Clearer theories on both behavioural and neural effects of bilingualism are needed. However, to achieve this, a solid understanding of both bilingualism and executive functions is needed first.
Classification of Sicilian Red Wines from Autochthonous and Allochthonous Cultivars According to Anthocyanin Pattern

The anthocyanin pattern of Sicilian wines produced from autochthonous and allochthonous grape varieties was characterized and classified by stepwise forward canonical discriminant analysis. Anthocyanins were determined in 83 samples of Sicilian young red wines from autochthonous and allochthonous grape varieties (Nero d’Avola, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah) by a rapid HPLC method suitable for routine analysis, over two vintages, 2004 and 2005. Wines from the same grape variety produced in different years had similar anthocyanin patterns. Malvidin-3-glucoside was the major component, and the total anthocyanidin glycoside concentration was higher than that of anthocyanidin acylglycoside in all Sicilian wines studied. The application of canonical discriminant analysis showed that 100% of 2004 samples and that 96% of 2005 samples were correctly classified according to grape variety. Furthermore, discriminant analysis found the highest degree of differentiation in wines from the autochthonous cultivar Nero d’Avola.
The Influence of Thermal Stress on Serum Biochemical Profile in Sheep

Background: Climatic factors, such as high temperature, high relative humidity, can induce a thermal stress in animals. The phenomenon of mammalian sensitivity to thermal stress, especially in small ruminants, is widely reported in the literature. The present study aimed to analyze temperature and humidity effects on serum metabolic profile and cortisol concentration in sheep. Methods: The experiment was conducted on 40 adult, non-lactating and non-pregnant Suffolk sheep from December 2018 to December 2019. The subgroups were formed by age (two groups): twenty sheep were about 1.5 years old (Group 1) and other twenty - about 3 years old (Group 2). Based on the value of the temperature-humidity index, the following three subgroups were formed: 1) temperature humidity index ≥20; 2) 20 greater than temperature-humidity index greater than 10 and 3) temperature-humidity index less than 10. Blood cortisol concentration and biochemical parameters were measured once per month on the same day, in identical animals. Result: The analysis of biochemical parameters revealed that Group 2 showed significantly higher values for creatinine, phosphorus, zinc and cortisol. All blood indicators, except iron, phosphorus and total bilirubin, were dependent on THI concentration. The highest positive correlation coefficient of cortisol was calculated with urea and total protein. It is concluded that both cortisol and biochemical parameters play a significant role in thermal stress reactions in the Suffolk sheep.
Voice in Human–Agent Interaction

Social robots, conversational agents, voice assistants, and other embodied AI are increasingly a feature of everyday life. What connects these various types of intelligent agents is their ability to interact with people through voice. Voice is becoming an essential modality of embodiment, communication, and interaction between computer-based agents and end-users. This survey presents a meta-synthesis on agent voice in the design and experience of agents from a human-centered perspective: voice-based human–agent interaction (vHAI). Findings emphasize the social role of voice in HAI as well as circumscribe a relationship between agent voice and body, corresponding to human models of social psychology and cognition. Additionally, changes in perceptions of and reactions to agent voice over time reveals a generational shift coinciding with the commercial proliferation of mobile voice assistants. The main contributions of this work are a vHAI classification framework for voice across various agent forms, contexts, and user groups, a critical analysis grounded in key theories, and an identification of future directions for the oncoming wave of vocal machines.
Bandwidth and Isolation Improvement of Highly Coupled Printed Array Antenna Using Multiple Shorting Posts

A novel broadband matching and decoupling network (MDN) for symmetric two-element array of microstrip patch antennas is proposed. As a distributed multiple inductive-capacitive loading, this MDN employs two groups of parallel shorting posts (vias) on the nonradiating edges of the high-coupled patches with a very-low edge-to-edge distance. This MDN excites two controllable new modified resonant half-modes, TM1/2,1 and TM3/2,0, whose aggregation provides a well-matched broad bandwidth with broadside pattern. Furthermore, a reasonable offset between these two groups of vias helps obtaining a balance between the mutual capacitive and inductive couplings, and then a broadband high isolation across the overlapped bandwidth without using the conventional large isolating structures. A resonator-based equivalent-circuit model including different mutual and cross couplings is proposed and discussed to study the coupling mechanism between the modes and the antennas. Finally, the measurement proves a bandwidth of 9.8% (3.38–3.73 GHz) with an enhanced isolation of over 27 dB. A fair comparison with the state-of-the-art approaches is drawn, and greatly reduced spatial correlation (with envelop correlation coefficient (ECC) of less than 0.06) and over 72% total efficiency (with 25% increase) make the proposed design appropriate for fifth-generation (5G) multi-input–multi-output (MIMO), and the other sensitive bi-element systems.
Diversity of cyanobacteria from thermal muds (Balaruc-Les-Bains, France) with the description of Pseudochroococcus coutei gen. nov., sp. nov.

ABSTRACT Cyanobacteria are able to synthesize a high diversity of natural compounds that account for their success in the colonization of a variety of ecological niches. Many of them have beneficial properties. The mud from the thermal baths of Balaruc-Les-Bains, one of the oldest thermal baths in France, has long been recognized as a healing treatment for arthro-rheumatic diseases. To characterize the cyanobacteria living in these muds, several strains were isolated from the water column and biofilms of the retention basin and analyzed using a polyphasic approach. Morphological, ultrastructural and molecular (16S rRNA gene and 16S-23S ITS region sequencing) methods were employed to identify nine cyanobacterial strains belonging to the orders Chroococcales, Synechococcales, Oscillatoriales and Nostocales. The combination of morphological and genetic characteristics supported the description of a new genus and species with the type species as Pseudochroococcus coutei. The taxonomic diversity in the muds from Thermes de Balaruc-Les-Bains appears higher than previously documented, providing new candidate taxa for their observed therapeutic properties.
Biocompatibility and Osseointegration of Calcium Phosphate-Coated and Non-Coated Titanium Implants with Various Porosities

The aim of the investigation was to study the influence of pore size and the presence of a biologically active calcium phosphate coating in porous 3D printed titanium implants on the process of integration with the bone tissue. Materials and Methods Samples of cylindrical implants with three different pore diameters (100, 200, and 400 μm) were fabricated from titanium powder on the Arcam 3D printer (Sweden) using electron beam melting technology. A calcium phosphate coating with a thickness of 20±4 μm was applied to some of the products by microarc oxidation. Cytotoxicity of the implants was determined in vitro on human dermal fibroblast cultures. The samples were implanted in the femoral bones of 36 rabbits in vivo. The animals were divided into 6 groups according to the bone implant samples. The prepared samples and peri-implant tissues were studied on days 90 and 180 after implantation using scanning electron microscopy and histological methods. Results All samples under study were found to be non-toxic and well biocompatible with the bone tissue. There were revealed no differences between coated and non-coated implants of 100 and 200 μm pore diameters in terms of their histological structure, intensity of vascularization in the early stages, and bone formation in the later stages. Samples with pore diameters of 100 and 200 μm were easily removed from the bone tissue, the depth of bone growth into the pores of the implant was lower than in the samples with pore diameter of 400 μm (p<0.001). There were differences between coated and non-coated samples of 400 μm pore diameter, which was expressed in a more intensive osseointegration of samples with calcium phosphate coating (p<0.05). Conclusion The optimal surface characteristics of the material for repairing bone defects are a pore diameter of 400 μm and the presence of a calcium phosphate coating.
Research Progress of Chimeric RNA and Health

With the development of deep sequencing and bioinformatics technology, a large number of products produced by abnormal RNA splicing, such as chimeric RNA and chimeric/fusion proteins, have been discovered. Natural chimeric/fusion genes are new genes formed by natural fusion of two or more independent genes. Chimeric RNAs can be transcribed by natural chimeric genes, and can also be formed by cis-splicing or trans-splicing of two or more precursor mRNAs. Unlike fusion genes, the production of chimeric RNAs does not involve changes in the DNA level of chromosomes. At first, chimeric RNAs were found as tumor markers. With the deepening of research, researchers also found a large number of chimeric RNAs in normal tissues. From the perspective of biological function, chimeric RNAs can play a biological role in regulating the expression of corresponding maternal genes, translating into chimeric proteins, and forming long non-coding RNAs. The objective of the present study focused on the frontiers of chimeric RNA and reviewed its role in health and tumor study to reveal research progress of chimeric RNA and health and provide a new sight of relative disease treatment. The main conclusion of this review is that chimeric RNA may serve as a biomarker for specific tumor diagnose and treatment while its role in normal physiology needs to be revealed.
Defining Risk in Food Safety in the Philippines

Food safety is a fundamental public health concern that is dependent on various factors such as changing global food production patterns, public expectations, and international trade policies.1,2 As a member of the World Trade Organization, the Philippines has agreed to follow the Uruguay Round of Trade Organization, the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement, and Technical Barriers to Trade that permits countries to take legitimate measures to protect the life and health of their consumers in relation to food safety matters while prohibiting them from using those measures in a way that unjustifiably restricts food trade.3,4,5 The Philippines is also a member of the Codex Alimentarius Commission that aims to ensure consumer protection and to facilitate international trade.6 With these objectives, Codex focuses on the development of food standards based on risk analysis and independent scientific advice provided by expert bodies organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization.7 Risk analysis is a systematic and disciplined methodology that provides policymakers with the science-based information and evidence needed for effective and transparent decision-making, leading to improvements in food safety and public health.8 In the Philippines, Republic Act No. 10611 or the Food Safety Act of 2013, serves as the framework for implementing the farm to fork food safety regulatory system which ensures a high level of consumer health protection, fair trade practices and global competitiveness of Philippine foods by controlling hazards in the food chain, adoption of precautionary measures based on scientific risk analysis, and adoption of international standards.9 CONTACT Abigail S. Rustia asrustia@up.edu. ph Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Home Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Enviro Research Publishers. This is an Open Access article licensed under a Creative Commons license: Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY). Doi: 10.12944/CRNFSJ.9. 1.23 Article History Received: 20 January 2020 Accepted: 07 September 2020
Inequalities in the reproductive health knowledge and practices of unmarried adolescent boys and girls in Eastern India: a cross-sectional survey

Background: Adolescents lack adequate knowledge, self-efficacy, and access to sexual and reproductive health services; thereby, predisposing them to sexual violence, sexually transmitted infections, early marriage, and high fertility rates. Socio-economic inequalities fuel such problems, but we have limited evidence from some of the least developed states of Eastern India. Therefore, we aimed to assess the inequalities in the reproductive health knowledge and practices of unmarried adolescents (10-19 years) from marginalized populations in one district each from the state of Bihar and Assam in India.Methods: It was a community-based cross-sectional study with a quantitative research methodology. In our study, we captured data on five domains related to reproductive health, including knowledge about HIV/AIDS, and contraceptives, awareness and perceptions related to right age at marriage, general self-efficacy, menstrual hygiene practices among girls, and access to health services for reproductive health problems; besides socio-demographic details. We performed a 2-step cluster analysis to gain insights into the patterns of reproductive health knowledge and self-efficacy among unmarried adolescent boys and girls, separately. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was employed to identify the predictors associated with the cluster membership determined through cluster analysis.Results: A total of 811 boys and 826 girls participated in the study. Three-clusters were identified for boys and girls in the analysis, varying from high to low knowledge and self-efficacy for boys, and high to low knowledge with constant low self-efficacy in all the three clusters for girls. Higher educational status and increasing age were positively associated with the high knowledge clusters among boys and girls. Additionally, marginalized social class and working status were associated with higher knowledge cluster in girls.Conclusions: We emphasize on the need of comprehensive (covering a broad range of reproductive health issues, such as child marriage, contraceptives, HIV/AIDS, menstrual hygiene, etc.), contextualized (relevant for adolescents in the least developed states like Bihar), and customized (tailored for different cultures and religions through appropriate means) sexual and reproductive health education for adolescents.
THE IN VITRO ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF SOME ESSENTIAL OILS FROM AROMATIC PLANTS

Essential oils (EOs) are plant secondary metabolites with a wide range of therapeutic effects (antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory). Thus, this study aims to assess the antibacterial/antifungal activity of six essential oils against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli strains and Candida albicans yeast, as follows: oregano oil; tea tree oil; a mixture of oils obtained from clove, cinnamon, lime, rosemary and eucalyptus; Frankincense oil; basil oil; black pepper oil. The antimicrobial activity was assessed by means of agar disk diffusion method. Based on the diameter of inhibition zones and the statistical analyses, our results have shown that the S. aureus strains were highly susceptible to all types of EOs and the biological effect was similar for oregano and basil essential oils. Regarding E. coli, the oregano, basil and tea tree EOs exerted a significant and similar antibacterial effect, while antifungal activity was reported for the tea tree and basil essential oils. Based on our results, we also identified the main active constituents from the analysed samples that appear to be responsible for the antimicrobial activity, in the context of the multicomponent extract.
Klasifikasi Level Non-Proliferatif Retinopati Diabetik Dengan Ensemble Convolutional Neural Network

Penelitian ini mengusulkan algoritma CNN ensemble classifier untuk klasifikasi level non-proliferatif Retinopati diabetik. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode transfer learning feature-extraction , dan membandingkannya dengan fine-tuning . Pada lapisan pertama lapisan klasifikasi, dibandingkan penggunaan lapisan GAP dan Flatten dengan menggunakan metode dropout . Mode terbaik digunakan sebagai mode final klasifikasi. Arsitektur yang digunakan adalah DenseNet201, InceptionV3 dan MobileNetV2, Masing-masing model diuji dengan optimasi SGD dan ADAM. Keputusan prediksi diambil berdasarkan metode average voting . Hasil pengujian masing-masing arsitektur menunjukkan hasil terbaik adalah fine tuning , GAP, dan optimasi ADAM. Model final fine-tuning DenseNet201, InceptionV3 dan MobileNetV2 dapat mengklasfikasi level retinopati diabetik dengan akurasi pada data uji masing-masing 93%, 94% dan 89%. Sedangkan performa klasifikasi model ensemble untuk masing-masing kelas memiliki akurasi terendah 95,6% dan F1-Score terendah 91.3%. K ata Kunci: retinopati diabetik, deep learning , convolutional neural network , ensemble classifier , DenseNet201, InceptionV3, MobileNetV2.
Australian tidal currents – assessment of a barotropic model (COMPAS v1.3.0 rev6631) with an unstructured grid

Abstract. While the variations of tidal range are large and fairly well known across Australia (less than 1 m near Perth but more than 14 m in King Sound), the properties of the tidal currents are not. We describe a new regional model of Australian tides and assess it against a validation dataset comprising tidal height and velocity constituents at 615 tide gauge sites and 95 current meter sites. The model is a barotropic implementation of COMPAS, an unstructured-grid primitive-equation model that is forced at the open boundaries by TPXO9v1. The Mean Absolute value of the Error (MAE) of the modelled M2 height amplitude is 8.8 cm, or 12 % of the 73 cm mean observed amplitude. The MAE of phase (10°), however, is significant, so the M2 Mean Magnitude of Vector Error (MMVE, 18.2 cm) is significantly greater. The Root Sum Square over the 8 major constituents is 26 % of the observed amplitude. We conclude that while the model has skill at height in all regions, there is definitely room for improvement (especially at some specific locations). For the M2 major-axis velocity amplitude, the MAE across the 95 current meter sites, where the observed amplitude ranges from 0.1 cm s−1 to 156 cm s−1, is 6.9 cm s−1, or 22 % of the 31.7 cm s−1 observed mean. This nationwide average result is encouraging, but it conceals a very large regional variation. Relative errors of the tidal current amplitudes on the narrow shelves of NSW and Western Australia exceed 100 %, but tidal currents are weak and negligible there compared to non-tidal currents, so the tidal errors are of little practical significance. Looking nation-wide, we show that the model has predictive value for much of the 79 % of Australia’s shelf seas where tides are a major component of the total velocity variability. In descending order this includes the Bass Strait, Kimberley to Arnhem Land and Southern Great Barrier Reef regions. There is limited observational evidence to confirm that the model is also valuable for currents in other regions across northern Australia. We plan to commence publishing ‘unofficial’ tidal current predictions for chosen regions in the near future, based on both our COMPAS model and the validation data set we have assembled.