Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Methodological Credibility

Background: When evaluations are broadly disseminated, the public can use them to support a program or to advocate for change. Methods: To explore how evaluations are perceived and used by the public, individuals in a sample of 425 people in the United States were recruited through an online crowdsourcing service called Mechanical Turk (www.mturk.com). Participants were randomly assigned to receive different versions of a press release describing a summative evaluation of a program. Each condition contained a unique combination of methods (e.g., randomized controlled design) and findings (positive or negative) to describe the evaluation and its findings. Participants in each condition responded to questions about their trust in the content of the evaluation findings and their attitudes toward the program. Results: Results indicated that the type of evaluation methods and the direction of the findings both influenced the credibility of the findings and that the credibility of the findings moderated the relationship between the direction of the evaluation findings and attitudes toward the evaluated program. Additional evaluation factors to explore in future research with the public are recommended.
Species-Specific Responses of Juvenile Rockfish to Elevated pCO2: From Behavior to Genomics

In the California Current ecosystem, global climate change is predicted to trigger large-scale changes in ocean chemistry within this century. Ocean acidification—which occurs when increased levels of atmospheric CO2 dissolve into the ocean—is one of the biggest potential threats to marine life. In a coastal upwelling system, we compared the effects of chronic exposure to low pH (elevated pCO2) at four treatment levels (i.e., pCO2 = ambient [500], moderate [750], high [1900], and extreme [2800 μatm]) on behavior, physiology, and patterns of gene expression in white muscle tissue of juvenile rockfish (genus Sebastes), integrating responses from the transcriptome to the whole organism level. Experiments were conducted simultaneously on two closely related species that both inhabit kelp forests, yet differ in early life history traits, to compare high-CO2 tolerance among species. Our findings indicate that these congeners express different sensitivities to elevated CO2 levels. Copper rockfish (S. caurinus) exhibited changes in behavioral lateralization, reduced critical swimming speed, depressed aerobic scope, changes in metabolic enzyme activity, and increases in the expression of transcription factors and regulatory genes at high pCO2 exposure. Blue rockfish (S. mystinus), in contrast, showed no significant changes in behavior, swimming physiology, or aerobic capacity, but did exhibit significant changes in the expression of muscle structural genes as a function of pCO2, indicating acclimatization potential. The capacity of long-lived, late to mature, commercially important fish to acclimatize and adapt to changing ocean chemistry over the next 50–100 years is likely dependent on species-specific physiological tolerances.
Application of Soluplus to Improve the Flowability and Dissolution of Baicalein Phospholipid Complex

In this study, a novel ternary complex system (TCS) composed of baicalein, phospholipids, and Soluplus was prepared to improve the flowability and dissolution for baicalein phospholipid complex (BPC). TCS was characterized using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), infrared spectroscopy (IR), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The flowability, solubility, oil–water partition coefficient, in vitro dissolution, and in vivo pharmacokinetics of the system were also evaluated. DSC, IR, PXRD, and SEM data confirmed that the crystal form of baicalein disappeared in BPC and TCS. Furthermore, the angle of repose of TCS of 35° indicated an improvement in flowability, and solubility increased by approximately eight-fold in distilled water when TCS was compared with BPC (41.00 ± 4.89 μg/mL vs. 5.00 ± 0.16 μg/mL). Approximately 91.24% of TCS was released at the end of 60 min in 0.5% SDS (pH = 6.8), which suggested that TCS could improve the dissolution velocity and extent. Moreover, TCS exhibited a considerable enhancement in bioavailability with higher peak plasma concentration (25.55 μg/mL vs. 6.05 μg/mL) and increased AUC0–∞ (62.47 μg·h/mL vs. 50.48 μg·h/mL) with 123.75% relative bioavailability compared with BPC. Thus, Soluplus achieved the purpose of improving the flowability and solubility of baicalein phospholipid complexes. The application of Soluplus to phospholipid complexes has great potential.
I am engaged, I feel good, and I go the extra-mile: reciprocal relationships between work engagement and consequences

The purpose of the present study was to examine longitudinal relationships between work engagement and mental-health problems, job satisfaction, and extra-role performance (traditionally considered as work-engagement “outcomes”) in terms of reciprocal causality. On the basis of the Conservation of Resources theory, the Broaden-and-Build theory, and previous studies, we hypothesized that the relationships between work engagement and such variables are reciprocal over time. The study was conducted among 157 schoolteachers, and the time lag was of five months on average. Results of structuralequation-modelling analysis showed that the model with reciprocal relationships exhibited the best fit with the data. Specifically, work engagement at T1 predicted mental-health problems, job satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviours at T2. Moreover, T1 mental-health problems were negatively related to T2 work engagement, whereas T1 job satisfaction and T1 organizational-citizenship behaviours were positively related to T2 work engagement. Overall, our findings provide evidence for a reciprocal influence between engagement and these constructs, meaning that none of them can be considered as only a cause or only a consequence.
Organism-Adapted Specificity of the Allosteric Regulation of Pyruvate Kinase in Lactic Acid Bacteria

Pyruvate kinase (PYK) is a critical allosterically regulated enzyme that links glycolysis, the primary energy metabolism, to cellular metabolism. Lactic acid bacteria rely almost exclusively on glycolysis for their energy production under anaerobic conditions, which reinforces the key role of PYK in their metabolism. These organisms are closely related, but have adapted to a huge variety of native environments. They include food-fermenting organisms, important symbionts in the human gut, and antibiotic-resistant pathogens. In contrast to the rather conserved inhibition of PYK by inorganic phosphate, the activation of PYK shows high variability in the type of activating compound between different lactic acid bacteria. System-wide comparative studies of the metabolism of lactic acid bacteria are required to understand the reasons for the diversity of these closely related microorganisms. These require knowledge of the identities of the enzyme modifiers. Here, we predict potential allosteric activators of PYKs from three lactic acid bacteria which are adapted to different native environments. We used protein structure-based molecular modeling and enzyme kinetic modeling to predict and validate potential activators of PYK. Specifically, we compared the electrostatic potential and the binding of phosphate moieties at the allosteric binding sites, and predicted potential allosteric activators by docking. We then made a kinetic model of Lactococcus lactis PYK to relate the activator predictions to the intracellular sugar-phosphate conditions in lactic acid bacteria. This strategy enabled us to predict fructose 1,6-bisphosphate as the sole activator of the Enterococcus faecalis PYK, and to predict that the PYKs from Streptococcus pyogenes and Lactobacillus plantarum show weaker specificity for their allosteric activators, while still having fructose 1,6-bisphosphate play the main activator role in vivo. These differences in the specificity of allosteric activation may reflect adaptation to different environments with different concentrations of activating compounds. The combined computational approach employed can readily be applied to other enzymes.
Faking It Is Hard to Do: Entrepreneurial Norm Enforcement and Suspicions of Deviance

Recent research suggests that many norms may be upheld by closet deviants who engage in enforcement so as to hide their deviance. But various empirical accounts indicate that audiences are often quite sensitive to this ulterior motive. Our theory and experimental evidence identify when inferences of ulterior motive are drawn and clarify the implications of such inferences. Our main test pivots on two contextual factors: (1) the extent to which individuals might try to strategically feign commitment and (2) the contrast between 'mandated' enforcement, where individuals are asked for their opinions of deviance, and 'entrepreneurial' enforcement, where enforcement requires initiative to interrupt the flow of social interaction. When the context is one where individuals might have a strategic motive and enforcement requires entrepreneurial initiative, suspicions are aroused because the enforcers could have remained silent and enjoyed plausible deniability that they had witnessed the deviance or recognized its significance. Given that the mandate for enforcement might be rare, a key implication is that norms might frequently be underenforced.
Stability of trions in coupled quantum wells modeled by two-dimensional bilayers

We report variational and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo calculations of the binding energies of isolated indirect trions and biexcitons in ideal two-dimensional bilayer systems within the effective-mass approximation, and with a Coulomb 1 / r interaction between charge carriers. The critical layer separation at which trions become unbound has been studied for various electron-hole mass ratios, and found to be over an order of magnitude larger than the critical layer separation for biexcitons.
Photovoltaics panels – economic return based on the real effectiveness

This article examines the efficiency of photovoltaic panels in a real environment and their economic returns over their lifetime. Introductory section describes the general principle of converting sunlight into electricity and judged the system on which measurements were taken. The next part deals with the determination of the efficiency of photovoltaic panels and this issue of conversion of the direction of the solar radiation flow on a horizontal surface of a solarimeter towards the direction normal to the plane surface of the photovoltaic panels is described. On the basis of this transfer can be determined by the total global radiation falling on the surface of the PV panels and determine their true effectiveness. It is described effects of air pollution on the efficiency of PV panels. The last section deals with the economic return assessed system. Key-Words: photovoltaics, economical evaluation, photodiode, cell, solar radiation, azimuth, pollution, efficiency, invertor.
Periodontal Status and Quality of Life: Impact of Fear of Pain and Dental Fear

Background. Oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) is impacted by periodontal disease and orofacial pain. There is a limited research examining the impact of avoidance of care or physiological arousal related to the fear of pain response on periodontal-related OHRQoL. Methods. Data are from the Center for Oral Health Research in Appalachia family-based study focusing on 1,339 adults. Measures included a modified Periodontal Screening and Recording Index across sextants of dentition, dental fear survey, Fear of Pain Questionnaire-9, and Oral Health Impact Profile-14. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the effects of periodontal disease screening indicators on OHRQoL including the mediating role of dental fear while accounting for fear of pain. Results. A significant total effect was found for the mandibular anterior sextant, components of dental anxiety/fear, and indicators of OHRQoL (pain and discomfort, β = .165, p = .001; psychosocial impact, β = .199, p < .001). The maxillary anterior region was significantly associated with pain discomfort (β = .116, p = .017) and functionality (β = .130, p = .011). Conclusions. Findings provide a granular perspective of periodontal disease indicators and OHRQoL. Dental avoidance/anticipatory fear and physiological arousal mediate OHRQoL in individuals who have indicators of periodontal disease in sextants that may be visible and susceptible to higher pain and psychosocial impact.
Using small scale specimens for AMPT dynamic modulus and fatigue tests

The feasibility of performing dynamic modulus and fatigue performance tests using reduced scale specimens in an asphalt mixture performance tester (AMPT) was investigated in this study. Among mixtures that had different nominal maximum aggregate sizes and that were laboratory prepared or field cored from accelerated pavement test sections, ten different mixtures were characterized. Included in the characterization of the field cored materials was indirect tension dynamic modulus. Based on an exploratory portion of the study, an aspect ration for 38 mm diameter specimens was recommended. It was shown by the experimental results that the modulus of the small scale specimens can be quite similar to the full size specimens, as well as tending to be slightly softer at high temperature and low reduced frequencies. More comparable is phase angle, and it tends to be slightly higher for the small scale specimens when different. It was revealed that two out of three data quality indicators from small size dynamic modulus are as good as that of full size dynamic modulus from data analysis comparing the full size and small scale specimens. For about one third of the data points the third quality indicator was worse, but the majority of tests satisfied recommended values. It was shown by the fatigue test results that between full size and small scale specimens, the modulus reduction at failure and endurance limit are comparable. Where small scale was larger or smaller than full scale specimens in fatigue resistance, there was no consistent trend; and between the two sized specimens, the ranking was mostly preserved. The small scale approach which can allow the field-compacted fatigue and stiffness characteristics of pavement to be assessed is very promising, overall. Field validation of cracking tests, performance based quality assurance, and forensic investigations are all applications of this research.
Interpreting Neural Network Judgments via Minimal, Stable, and Symbolic Corrections

The paper describes a new algorithm to generate minimal, stable, and symbolic corrections to an input that will cause a neural network with ReLU neurons to change its output. We argue that such a correction is a useful way to provide feedback to a user when the neural network produces an output that is different from a desired output. Our algorithm generates such a correction by solving a series of linear constraint satisfaction problems. The technique is evaluated on a neural network that has been trained to predict whether an applicant will pay a mortgage.
Performance Evaluation of Bluetooth Low Energy: A Systematic Review

Small, compact and embedded sensors are a pervasive technology in everyday life for a wide number of applications (e.g., wearable devices, domotics, e-health systems, etc.). In this context, wireless transmission plays a key role, and among available solutions, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is gaining more and more popularity. BLE merges together good performance, low-energy consumption and widespread diffusion. The aim of this work is to review the main methodologies adopted to investigate BLE performance. The first part of this review is an in-depth description of the protocol, highlighting the main characteristics and implementation details. The second part reviews the state of the art on BLE characteristics and performance. In particular, we analyze throughput, maximum number of connectable sensors, power consumption, latency and maximum reachable range, with the aim to identify what are the current limits of BLE technology. The main results can be resumed as follows: throughput may theoretically reach the limit of ~230 kbps, but actual applications analyzed in this review show throughputs limited to ~100 kbps; the maximum reachable range is strictly dependent on the radio power, and it goes up to a few tens of meters; the maximum number of nodes in the network depends on connection parameters, on the network architecture and specific device characteristics, but it is usually lower than 10; power consumption and latency are largely modeled and analyzed and are strictly dependent on a huge number of parameters. Most of these characteristics are based on analytical models, but there is a need for rigorous experimental evaluations to understand the actual limits.
Identification of novel acetylcholinesterase inhibitors through e-pharmacophore-based virtual screening and molecular dynamics simulations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder is the most common cause of dementia among elderly people. To date, the successful therapeutic strategy to treat AD is maintaining the levels of acetylcholine via inhibiting acetylcholinesterase (AChE). The present study involves identification of newer AChE inhibitors by dual approach of e-pharmacophore and structure-based virtual screening of Asinex library. Robustness of docking protocol was validated by enrichment calculation with ROC value . 71 and BEDROC value . 028. Among 11 selected hits, ZINC72338524 with best MM-GBSA dG binding shows optimal range of CNS properties and ligand–AChE complex stability. Further, molecular dynamics study revealed its molecular interactions with Trp86, Phe338, and Tyr341 amino acid residues of catalytic anionic site and Tyr124, Ser125, and Trp286 amino acid residues of peripheral anionic site. Physicochemical properties and ADMET risk prediction indicates their potential in druggability and safety.
Low-cost Standard Signatures in Wireless Sensor Networks: A Case for Reviving Pre-computation Techniques?

Effective pre-computation techniques have been proposed almost 15 years ago for trimming the cost of modular exponentiations at the basis of several standard signature and key management schemes, such as the (Elliptic Curve) Digital Signature Algorithm or Diffie-Hellman key exchange. Despite their promises, the actual application of such techniques in the wireless sensor security arena has been apparently overlooked, and most of the research effort has rather focused on the identification of alternative lightweight constructions. However, modern sensor are equipped with relatively large flash memories which make memory consumption a less critical requirement, and emerging energy harvesting technologies provide occasional energy peaks which could be exploited for anticipating otherwise costly computational tasks. These trends push for a reconsideration of pre-computation techniques, which are explored in this paper as follows: (1) we further optimize prior pre-computation techniques by exploiting more recent results on Cayley graph expanders, (2) we implement an ECDSA scheme relying on pre-computations over two different wireless sensor node platforms (TelosB and MICA2), and (3) we experimentally assess the relevant performance and energy costs. In the traditional scenario of wireless sensor networks without energy harvesting, our prototype ECDSA implementation, despite still not fully optimized, outperforms prior work by almost 50%, and achieves an efficiency superior to NTRU signatures, natural candidates for low-power devices. Finally, (4) we quantitatively discuss ways to exploit harvested energy peaks to further improve efficiency.
Adaptive classification of hyperspectral images using local consistency

Abstract. A spatial method of multistructure sampling based rotation-invariant uniform local binary pattern (named MsLBPriu2) for classification of hyperspectral images is proposed. This method exploits the local property (micro-/macrostructure) of local image patches encoded in the classifier by considering a local neighboring structure around each central pixel and can well suppress the difference of rotational textures for each multicluster class. The proposed method is simple yet efficient for extracting isotropic and anisotropic spatial features from local image patches via different extended sampling on circular regions and elliptical ones with four different rotational angles. Furthermore, the rotation-invariant characteristic of extracted isotropic features is achieved by the inclusion of a rotation-invariant uniform LBP operator. Moreover, the proposed method becomes more robust with respect to the within-class variation. Finally, different classifiers, support vector machine, K-nearest neighbor, and linear discriminant analysis, are compared to evaluate MsLBPriu2 and other feature sets/entropy-based query-by-bagging active learning. We demonstrate the performance of our approach on four different hyperspectral remote sensing images. Experimental results show that the new set of reduced spatial features has a better performance than a variety of state-of-the-art classification algorithms.
Propranolol therapy for infantile hemangioma: our experience

Objective Hemangiomas are the most common benign vascular tumors of infancy. Although most infantile hemangiomas (IHs) have the ability to involute spontaneously after initial proliferation and resolve without consequence, intervention is required in a subset of IHs, which develop complications resulting in ulceration, bleeding, or aesthetic deformity. The primary treatment for this subset of IHs is pharmacological intervention, and propranolol has become the new first-line treatment for complicated hemangiomas. Here, we evaluated the efficacy of propranolol on proliferation IH in a clinical cohort including 578 patients. Methods We retrospectively reviewed a total of 578 IH patients who were treated with oral propranolol from January 2010 to December 2012. Responses to the propranolol treatment were graded as: excellent, good, poor, or no response. Based on the response to propranolol treatment (once daily at a dose of 1.0 mg/kg for patients younger than 2 months; twice daily at daily total dose of 2 mg/kg for patients older than 2 months), additional pharmacotherapies or surgery were used for IH patients for satisfactory clinical outcome. Results Five hundred and sixty (96.9%) of 578 IH patients in our study responded to oral propranolol treatment, and the response rate was significantly different for different ages of patients (P<0.05), with the youngest patients having the highest response rate. The mean time of treatment was 6 months (range, 3–12 months). For example, response rate to propranolol was 98.1% in patients younger than 2 months, compared with 93.3% in patients older than 2 months and younger than 8 months, and 73.7% in patients older than 8 months. One hundred and thirty one patients who exhibited incompletely involuted hemangiomas were further treated with timolol maleate (n=89) or pulsed dye laser (n=42). One hundred and seventeen (89.3%) of 131 patients showed a positive response. There were no instances of life-threatening complications after propranolol. However, minor side effects were observed including 10 (1.73%) cases of sleep disturbance, 7 (1.21%) cases of diarrhea, and 5 (0.86%) cases of bronchospasm. Conclusion IH requires early intervention. During the involution phase, tapering propranolol dosage can be done to minimize side effects before discontinuing treatment. For patients exhibiting telangiectasia and chromatosis after propranolol treatment, administration of a 0.5% solution of timolol maleate or pulse dye laser is an effective therapeutic approach for complete involution.