Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chemical elucidation of structurally diverse willow lignins.

A new fast-growing wood raw material, willow (Salix matsudana cv. Zhuliu), was subjected to pulping to identify the structure of its lignin. Thus, the black liquor lignin (AL) and enzymatic mild acidolysis lignin (EMAL) were prepared, and their molecular structure and molecular weight of the isolated lignin polymers were comprehensively investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (2D-NMR HSQC), 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (13C-NMR), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The NMR results showed that syringyl (S) unit was the predominant structural monomeric unit in willow lignin, as opposed to guaiacyl (G) and p-hydroxyphenyl (H) units. The S/G ratio for the EMAL was found to be 2.02, whereas that for the AL was 0.94. The lignin in the black liquor (AL) fraction was modified during pulping, as shown by its reduced molecular weight. The two isolated lignin polymers, EMAL and AL showed low weight-average molecular weight: 4127 g/mol and 3522.5 g/mol, and in addition they exhibited low polydispersity index (Mw/Mn < 2.0).
Global survey of star clusters in the Milky Way - III. 139 new open clusters at high Galactic latitudes

Context. An earlier analysis of the Milky Way Star Cluster (MWSC) catalogue revealed an apparent lack of old (t & 1 Gyr) open clusters in the solar neighbourhood (d. 1 kpc). Aims. To fill this gap we undertook a search for hitherto unknown star clusters a ssuming that the missing old clusters reside at high Galactic latitudes|b| > 20 ◦ . Methods. We were looking for stellar density enhancements using a star count algorithm on the 2MASS point source catalogue. To increase the contrast between potential clusters and the field, we applie d filters in colour-magnitude space according to typical colour-magnitude diagrams of nearby old open clusters. The subsequent comparison with lists of known objects allowed us to select so far unknown cluster candidates. For verification they were process ed with the standard pipeline used within the MWSC survey for computing cluster membership probabilities and for the determination of structural, kinematic and astrophysical parameters. Results. In total we discovered 782 density enhancements, 522 of which were classified as real objects. Among them 139 are new open clusters with ages 8.3 < log(t [yr]) < 9.7, distances d < 3 kpc and distances from the Galactic plane 0.3 < Z < 1 kpc. This new sample has increased the total number of known high latitude open clusters by about 150%. Nevertheless, we still observe a lack of older nearby clusters up to 1 kpc from the Sun. This volume is expected to still contain about 60 unknown clusters that probably escaped our detection algorithm, which fails to detect sparse overdensitie s with large angular size.
On the Empirical Identification of Dimensions for Cross-Cultural Comparisons

In cross-cultural psychology a major goal is to identify dimensions of culture. For this purpose, the cross-cultural analysis (referred to as ecological analysis by Hofstede, 1980) is often used. Two methodological difficulties associated with this method are discussed, and their solution is proposed. A method intended to identify universal dimensions of individual difference, the pancultural analysis, is likely to produce results similar to those obtained in a cross-cultural analysis and hence is unable to achieve its purpose of identifying individual dimensions. A new procedure, based on a within-culture standardization procedure, is introduced for this purpose. A case study of the differences in the results produced by the cross-cultural and the new analyses is then used as a springboard for a further discussion of Shweder's(1973) between-within issue. The theoretical meaning of cultural and individual dimensions is also discussed.
Placental Apoptosis in Normal and Abnormal Pregnancies

The aim of this study was to demonstrate apoptosis in the human placenta in normal and abnormal pregnancies. The percentage of apoptotic cells in placental samples was quantified by analyzing the cell cycle of nuclei stained with propidium iodide using a flow cytometer. No significant difference in the percentage of apoptotic cells was obseved comparing the group of normal pregnancies (first and second trimesters) with those of missed abortions. There was also no difference in the incidence of apoptosis comparing placental samples obtained from chromosomally normal and abnormal pregnancies. Yet, there was a significant increase in the incidence of apoptosis in placental samples obtained from second and third trimesters as compared with those obtained from the first trimester (p < 0.04 and p < 0.01, respectively). There was also a significant increase in the incidence of placental apoptosis in the third as compared with the second trimester (p < 0.03).
Personal value priorities of economists

Economists often play crucial roles in designing and implementing policies in the private and public sectors; thus it is important to better understand the values that underlie their decisions. We explore the value hierarchies that characterize economists in five studies. Findings indicate that students of economics attribute more importance to self-enhancement values and less importance to universalism values than students in other fields. This profile is already apparent at the beginning of the first year of study and persists throughout the degree. The values distinctive to economists are related to work-related perceptions and attitudes and hence may influence the policy decisions and recommendations of economists.
Effectiveness of offloading methods in preventing primary diabetic foot ulcers in adults with diabetes: a systematic review

BackgroundThe incidence of foot ulceration related to diabetes is increasing. Many foot care professionals recommend offloading measures as part of management strategies for modulating excess pressure to prevent development of diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). These measures may include padding, insoles/orthotic devices and footwear. There is a lack of evidence-based guidance on the effectiveness of the different offloading options for preventing primary ulceration in those with diabetes. ObjectivesTo identify, critically appraise and synthesize the best available evidence on methods of offloading to prevent the development, and reduce the risk, of primary foot ulceration in adults with diabetes.The question addressed by the review was: what is the effectiveness of methods of offloading in preventing primary DFUs in adults with diabetes? Inclusion criteria Types of participantsAdults 18 years and older with diabetes mellitus, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, duration or type of diabetes, with no history of DFUs and in any clinical setting will be included. Types of interventions and comparatorsInterventions will include all external methods of offloading. All comparators will be considered. Studies that utilize interventions not considered usual practice in the prevention of DFUs will be excluded. OutcomesThe primary outcome will be primary foot ulceration. The secondary outcome will be indications of changes in plantar pressure. Types of studiesThis review will consider all quantitative study designs. Search strategyA three-step strategy for published and unpublished literature will be used. Fourteen databases will be searched for studies in English up to November 2013. Data extractionThe JBI-MAStARI extraction tool was used to extract relevant data. Data synthesisResults were summarized using narrative and tables. ResultsThree studies which examined the effectiveness of four different offloading interventions met the inclusion criteria. There is limited evidence that use of a footwear system (prototype shoe plus polyurethane or cork insole) may prevent a break in the skin; use of customized rigid orthotic devices may contribute to a reduction in the grade and number of calluses; and a manufactured shoe plus customized insole may reduce plantar pressure and therefore reduce the potential risk of skin ulceration. ConclusionThere is limited and low-quality evidence that in a population of adults with diabetes with no history of DFU, the use of footwear with customized or prefabricated orthotic devices may provide some reduction in plantar pressure and therefore help to prevent a primary DFU. There is a lack of evidence on the relative effectiveness of different offloading options.
Code-Mixing as a Communicative Strategy among the University Level Students in Pakistan

This paper explores code-mixing as a communicative strategy among the students at the university level. A sample of sixty students from four universities was selected for the purpose of collecting spoken data. The instrument used to collect spoken corpus was a short interview, seeking information about their life. A questionnaire comprising 20 items was also distributed among 150 students of these institutes in order to analyze their perception of code-mixing as a communicative strategy. The transcription and analysis of the recorded data reveals that the university students employed code-mixing as an authentic communicative strategy. The results of the questionnaire also show that they conceived code-mixing as a strong communicative tool.
Effects of a neuromuscular controller on a powered ankle exoskeleton during human walking

Wearable devices to assist abnormal gaits require controllers that interact with the user in an intuitive and unobtrusive manner. To design such a controller, we investigated a bio-inspired walking controller for orthoses and prostheses. We present (i) a Simulink neuromuscular control library derived from a computational model of reflexive neuromuscular control of human gait with a central pattern generator (CPG) extension, (ii) an ankle reflex controller for the Achilles exoskeleton derived from the library, and (iii) the mechanics and energetics of healthy subjects walking with an actuated ankle orthosis using the proposed controller. As this controller was designed to mimic human reflex patterns during locomotion, we hypothesize that walking with this controller would lead to lower energetic costs, compared to walking with the added mass of the device only, and allow for walking at different speeds without explicit control. Preliminary results suggest that the neuromuscular controller does not disturb walking dynamics in both slow and normal walking cases and can also reduce the net metabolic cost compared to transparent mode of the device. Reductions in tibialis anterior and soleus activity were observed, suggesting the controller could be suitable, in future work, for augmenting or replacing normal walking functions. We also investigated the impedance patterns generated by the neuromuscular controller. The validity of the equivalent variable impedance controller, particularly in stance phase, can facilitate serving subject-specific features by linking impedance measurement and neuromuscular controller.
Cognitive impairment and driving

Although some drivers with mild dementia may continue to drive after the condition has been diagnosed, the ability to drive a motor vehicle safely is eventually lost as the disease progresses. Clinicians involved in dementia care are often asked to make an assessment on whether a patient is fit to drive, even though they often lack basic knowledge and formal training in this area. The purpose of this review was to identify the factors that may differentiate safe from unsafe drivers with cognitive impairment and to discuss management strategies. Isolated information about staging measures or particular cognitive tests was found to be insufficient for decision making. Driving fitness counseling for patients with cognitive impairment requires a solid knowledge base, comprehensive assessment and thoughtful communication. Comprometimento cognitivo e direcao veicular: uma revisao da literatura Resumo - Alguns pacientes com demencia leve continuam a dirigir apos o diagnostico, mas a habilidade de conduzir um veiculo automotor com seguranca e perdida a medida que a doenca progride. Apesar de muitas vezes nao reunirem conhecimento e treinamento formal para essa tarefa, os profissionais de saude envolvidos na atencao ao paciente com demencia precisam emitir recomendacoes relativas a capacidade desses individuos em conduzir um veiculo. Essa revisao tem o objetivo de identificar fatores que possam determinar se um individuo com comprometimento cognitivo e capaz de conduzir um veiculo com seguranca. Informacoes isoladas relativas ao estadiamento ou a testes cognitivos especificos nao parecem ser suficientes para uma tomada de decisao apropriada. O aconselhamento nessa situacao exige conhecimentos solidos aplicados a uma avaliacao ampla, alem de estrategias de comunicacao apropriadas ao contexto. Palavras-chave: conducao de veiculo, cognicao, demencia, idoso.
A Flexible Solution-Processed Memristor

A rewriteable low-power operation nonvolatile physically flexible memristor device is demonstrated. The active component of the device is inexpensively fabricated at room temperature by spinning a TiO2 sol gel on a commercially available polymer sheet. The device exhibits memory behavior consistent with a memristor, demonstrates an on/off ratio greater than 10 000 : 1, is nonvolatile for over 1.2 times 106 s, requires less than 10 V, and is still operational after being physically flexed more than 4000 times.
Predicting Usefulness of Code Review Comments Using Textual Features and Developer Experience

Although peer code review is widely adopted in both commercial and open source development, existing studies suggest that such code reviews often contain a significant amount of non-useful review comments. Unfortunately, to date, no tools or techniques exist that can provide automatic support in improving those non-useful comments. In this paper, we first report a comparative study between useful and non-useful review comments where we contrast between them using their textual characteristics, and reviewers' experience. Then, based on the findings from the study, we develop RevHelper, a prediction model that can help the developers improve their code review comments through automatic prediction of their usefulnessduring review submission. Comparative study using 1,116 review comments suggested that useful comments share more vocabulary with the changed code, contain salient items like relevant code elements, and their reviewers are generally more experienced. Experiments using 1,482 review comments report that our model can predict comment usefulness with 66% prediction accuracy which is promising. Comparison with three variants of a baseline model using a case study validates our empirical findings and demonstrates the potential of our model.
Comparison Of Tap Water With Bottled Natural Spring Water in Terms Of Some Quality Parameters in Erzurum

Supplying healthy drinking water to meet the growing population needs is one of today’s priority issues. Drinking water requirement in cities is largely met by the network water obtained by the treatment of surface waters. Public’s interest to bottled water has increased due to the difficulties in access to drinkable water in recent years, desire of consume to healthy water, changes in consumers preferences in the last years. In this study, some physical, chemical, and microbiological quality parameters of Erzurum tap water and bottled spring water which is sold in Erzurum market are examined according to the national and international standards, compared and obtained results are evaluated It is evaluated that although tap water parametric values are generally higher than bottled water, both tap water and bottled water are safety and healthy water in terms of examined parameters.
Towards a Spatio-Temporal sKeleton Model implementation on top of SCA

This report investigates an implementation of S TKM, a Spatio-Temporal sKeleton Model. STKM expands the Grid Component Model (GCM) with an innovative programmable approach to compose an application by combining component, workflow and skeleton concepts. We explore a project ion of the model on top of SCA and its implementation using Tuscany Java SCA. Experimental results show the need and benefits of the high l evel of abstraction offered by STKM.
The large-scale clustering of radio sources

The observed two-point angular correlation function, w(θ), of milliJansky (mJy) radio sources exhibits the puzzling feature of a power-law behaviour up to very large (∼10°) angular scales which cannot be accounted for in the standard hierarchical clustering scenario for any realistic redshift distribution of such sources. After having discarded the possibility that the signal can be explained by a high-density local (z ≤ 0.1) source population, we find no alternatives to assuming that - at variance with all the other extragalactic populations studied so far, and in particular with optically selected quasars - the radio sources responsible for the large-scale clustering signal were increasingly less clustered with increasing look-back time, up to at least z ≃ 1. The data are accurately accounted for in terms of a bias function which decreases with increasing redshift, mirroring the evolution with cosmic time of the characteristic halo mass, M*, entering the non-linear regime. In the framework of the 'concordance cosmology', the effective halo mass controlling the bias parameter is found to decrease from about 10 15 M ⊙ h -1 at z ≃ 0 to the value appropriate for optically selected quasars, ≃10 13 M ⊙ h -1 , at z ≃ 1.5. This suggests that, in the redshift range probed by the data, the clustering evolution of radio sources is ruled by the growth of large-scale structure, and that they are associated with the densest environments virializing at any cosmic epoch. The data provide only loose constraints on the radio source clustering at z ≥ 1 so that we cannot rule out the possibility that at these redshifts, the clustering evolution of radio sources enters a different regime, perhaps similar to that found for optically selected quasars. The dependence of the large-scale shape of w(0) on cosmological parameters is also discussed.
Pretreatment of Mice with Streptomycin Provides a Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Colitis Model That Allows Analysis of Both Pathogen and Host

ABSTRACT Salmonella enterica subspecies 1 serovar Typhimurium is a principal cause of human enterocolitis. For unknown reasons, in mice serovar Typhimurium does not provoke intestinal inflammation but rather targets the gut-associated lymphatic tissues and causes a systemic typhoid-like infection. The lack of a suitable murine model has limited the analysis of the pathogenetic mechanisms of intestinal salmonellosis. We describe here how streptomycin-pretreated mice provide a mouse model for serovar Typhimurium colitis. Serovar Typhimurium colitis in streptomycin-pretreated mice resembles many aspects of the human infection, including epithelial ulceration, edema, induction of intercellular adhesion molecule 1, and massive infiltration of PMN/CD18+ cells. This pathology is strongly dependent on protein translocation via the serovar Typhimurium SPI1 type III secretion system. Using a lymphotoxin β-receptor knockout mouse strain that lacks all lymph nodes and organized gut-associated lymphatic tissues, we demonstrate that Peyer's patches and mesenteric lymph nodes are dispensable for the initiation of murine serovar Typhimurium colitis. Our results demonstrate that streptomycin-pretreated mice offer a unique infection model that allows for the first time to use mutants of both the pathogen and the host to study the molecular mechanisms of enteric salmonellosis.
Good Performance of Immunoglobulin M Assays in Diagnosing Genotype 3 Hepatitis E Virus Infections

ABSTRACT We have evaluated three anti-hepatitis E virus (anti-HEV) immunoglobulin M (IgM) assays, the EIAgen HEV IgM assay (Adaltis), the HEV IgM enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay 3.0, and the Assure HEV IgM rapid test (MP Diagnostics), for the routine detection of acute genotype 3 HEV. Their sensitivities were fairly good (90%, 88%, and 82%), and their specificities were excellent (100%, 99.5%, and 100%).
Online privacy sensitivity and gender: A case study of a highly -educated adult population

Individual privacy is an increasingly significant concern. However, some individuals do not seem to be concerned with protecting their own personally identifiable information when they are on the Internet while others appear to be hypersensitive when asked to provide even the most generic data. In the last several years, legislation has been enacted to assist in managing the collection and misuse of personal information; yet, a large segment of the population is still very concerned about the unauthorized release or misuse of their personally identifiable information. The problem is of broad interest to businesses with online sales sites, to marketers, to companies with other online presences, and to the academic and research communities. This study will help to identify privacy sensitivity levels as they manifest in different segments of the research population. Various attitudinal items and demographic characteristics will be studied. There are conflicting studies that deal with privacy sensitivity in the current literature. For instance, in regards to gender and privacy sensitivity, some studies find that there are no differences in levels of privacy while others find that gender is a factor in a person’s level of privacy sensitivity. This study will provide a foundation of solid research that will address these discrepancies. It has not been definitively determined whether women are more concerned about privacy and whether they have a higher privacy sensitivity level in regards to sharing information online than to males. Previous research has not found a conclusive answer to this issue. This quantitative case study uses a survey to measure individuals’ online privacy sensitivity and draws comparisons with various demographic factors including gender and level of education. Four research questions are answered in the study. The population used for this study is a very highly educated group of research scientists, support staff, and administrative staff within one of four unique University Affiliated Research Centers in the United States. These people solve complex problems associated with our nation’s security; this interesting study looks not at their global view of privacy, but at their individual views and how they react on a personal level.