Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distributed under Creative Commons Cc-by 4.0 Gene Expression Analysis of Overwintering Mountain Pine Beetle Larvae Suggests Multiple Systems Involved in Overwintering Stress, Cold Hardiness, and Preparation for Spring Development

Cold-induced mortality has historically been a key aspect of mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), population control, but little is known about the molecular basis for cold tolerance in this insect. We used RNA-seq analysis to monitor gene expression patterns of mountain pine beetle larvae at four time points during their overwintering period—early-autumn, late-autumn, early-spring, and late-spring. Changing transcript profiles over the winter indicates a multipronged physiological response from larvae that is broadly characterized by gene transcripts involved in insect immune responses and detoxification during the autumn. In the spring, although transcripts associated with developmental process are present, there was no particular biological process dominating the transcriptome.
Effectiveness of a Closed-System Transfer Device in Reducing Surface Contamination in a New Antineoplastic Drug-Compounding Unit: A Prospective, Controlled, Parallel Study

Background The objective of this randomized, prospective and controlled study was to investigate the ability of a closed-system transfer device (CSTD; BD-Phaseal) to reduce the occupational exposure of two isolators to 10 cytotoxic drugs and compare to standard compounding devices. Methods and Findings The 6-month study started with the opening of a new compounding unit. Two isolators were set up with 2 workstations each, one to compound with standard devices (needles and spikes) and the other using the Phaseal system. Drugs were alternatively compounded in each isolator. Sampling involved wiping three surfaces (gloves, window, worktop), before and after a cleaning process. Exposure to ten antineoplastic drugs (cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, dacarbazine, 5-FU, methotrexate, gemcitabine, cytarabine, irinotecan, doxorubicine and ganciclovir) was assessed on wipes by LC-MS/MS analysis. Contamination rates were compared using a Chi2 test and drug amounts by a Mann-Whitney test. Significance was defined for p<0.05. Overall contamination was lower in the “Phaseal” isolator than in the “Standard” isolator (12.24% vs. 26.39%; p < 0.0001) although it differed according to drug. Indeed, the contamination rates of gemcitabine were 49.3 and 43.4% (NS) for the Standard and Phaseal isolators, respectively, whereas for ganciclovir, they were 54.2 and 2.8% (p<0.0001). Gemcitabine amounts were 220.6 and 283.6 ng for the Standard and Phaseal isolators (NS), and ganciclovir amounts were 179.9 and 2.4 ng (p<0.0001). Conclusion This study confirms that using a CSTD may significantly decrease the chemical contamination of barrier isolators compared to standard devices for some drugs, although it does not eliminate contamination totally.
First- and second-generation design and engineering students: experience, attainment and factors influencing them to attend university

ABSTRACT Challenges for students who are ‘first-in-family’ to attend university have been discussed within widening participation discourse. However, in the UK, ‘first-in-family’ or first-generation students have frequently been conflated with those experiencing poverty or from lower socio-economic groups. This research integrated survey data with assessment data from final-year design and engineering students in a UK university to examine students’ attainment, the influences on why students decide to attend university and students’ experiences during their degree programmes. Analysis of the data showed variations in the reasons for first- and second-generation students wanting to go to university, particularly a significant difference in the influence of parents. First-generation students described significantly less parental influence on the decision to attend university than second- or subsequent-generation students. Smaller differences in students’ experiences and attainment in university were also noted. Whilst first-generation students reported differences in study habits, their attainment was, on average, marginally higher than that of their peers. Building on others’ theoretical work, which suggests the importance of social capital within higher education (HE), this research highlights the difference in social influences on both university application and expectations of university for those with and without a family history of tertiary education. Further research is needed to explore, in larger samples, whether the social influences on individuals’ perception of HE are in turn shaped by whether or not their parents attended university, and further, what impact this may have, not only on degree outcomes but also on the broader benefits typically associated with graduate experience.
Camouflaged invasion of Lake Malawi by an Oriental gastropod

In this study we report the first animal invasion, to our knowledge, into Lake Malawi. The colonizer is a non‐native morph of the gastropod Melanoides tuberculata that differs substantially in external shell characters from co‐occurring indigenous forms. However, because the species possesses extensive within‐Africa geographical variation in shell morphology, it was unclear whether the invasion was range expansion of a native African morph, or a colonization from elsewhere. Mitochondrial DNA sequences indicate a southeast Asian origin for the invader, suggesting that shell variation found among indigenous allopatric populations camouflaged an intercontinental invasion.
North Pacific Gyre Oscillation links ocean climate and ecosystem change

Decadal fluctuations in salinity, nutrients, chlorophyll, a variety of zooplankton taxa, and fish stocks in the Northeast Pacific are often poorly correlated with the most widely‐used index of large‐scale climate variability in the region ‐ the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). We define a new pattern of climate change, the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO) and show that its variability is significantly correlated with previously unexplained fluctuations of salinity, nutrients and chlorophyll. Fluctuations in the NPGO are driven by regional and basin‐scale variations in wind‐driven upwelling and horizontal advection – the fundamental processes controlling salinity and nutrient concentrations. Nutrient fluctuations drive concomitant changes in phytoplankton concentrations, and may force similar variability in higher trophic levels. The NPGO thus provides a strong indicator of fluctuations in the mechanisms driving planktonic ecosystem dynamics. The NPGO pattern extends beyond the North Pacific and is part of a global‐scale mode of climate variability that is evident in global sea level trends and sea surface temperature. Therefore the amplification of the NPGO variance found in observations and in global warming simulations implies that the NPGO may play an increasingly important role in forcing global‐scale decadal changes in marine ecosystems.
International education as a novel entity in a public education system: the establishment of a new public international school in Israel

Abstract This study traces the founding process of Eastern Mediterranean International School (EMIS) by analysing the motivations and interests of different stakeholders involved in the establishment process. In this novel initiative students from Palestine, Israel, and other countries study within the Israeli public school system towards an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with founders, educators, Ministry of Education officials, a parents’ survey, and content analysis of related documents, the authors show how the school was established and approved despite the supposedly contradicting hegemonic discourse of the official Israeli policy. They conclude by suggesting some implications for scholars and policy-makers.
Penguin Promises: encouraging aquarium visitors to take conservation action

Abstract This study investigates the impact of an innovative conservation action campaign called Penguin Promises implemented at uShaka Sea World in Durban, South Africa. Communication tools included interpretive signage, exhibits with and without animals, presentations, and personal interactions, along with a specially designed postcard, on which visitors could write a promise (pledge) to make a change in their daily lives to become more environmentally responsible. Visitors who completed a card were contacted a year or more after their visit and asked about the outcomes of their promise. The results (N = 316) showed that 49.4% of respondents could give an example of something positive they had done for the environment, that they attributed to the campaign. Based on the study, recommendations are provided for the design of effective visitor conservation action campaigns.
Markov chains and mixing times

For our purposes, a Markov chain is a (finite or countable) collection of states S and transition probabilities pij, where i, j ∈ S. We write P = [pij] for the matrix of transition probabilities. Elements of S can be interpreted as various possible states of whatever system we are interested in studying, and pij represents the probability that the system is in state j at time n+ 1, if it is state i at time n. We will think of a Markov chain as a stochastic process with state space SN, representing all sequences X0, X1, X2, . , where Xn is the state of the system at time n. The characterisation just given of the transition probabilities can be expressed as
Knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices of construction workers towards tetanus vaccine in Northern Italy

Construction workers (CWs) are both more exposed to tetanus and at higher risk to be inadequately immunized. Our aim was to evaluate tetanus immunization status and knowledge/attitudes towards tetanus vaccination in CWs in Italy. In this field report, the immunization status of 554 unskilled CWs (i.e. labourers). Immunization status was assessed recalling immunization booklets/certificates. Attitudes and knowledge were collected through a standardized questionnaire. In 240/554 CWs, immunization status was inadequate/not documented: in 184 subjects (33.2%), the last vaccination shot was older than 10 years, whereas basal immunization was incomplete in 20 cases, more frequently in foreign-born people (FBP) than in Italian born (IBP) (OR=7.116). In 198 cases (35.7%), an Occupational Physician (OPh) performed last booster, usually with monovalent (T, n=173) vaccine. The main reason for inadequate immunization was having forgotten the periodic booster (148/554; 26.7%), whereas 42 subjects (7.6%) deliberately avoided tetanus vaccine because of personal/religious beliefs, more frequently in FBP than in IBP (OR=3.182). In summary, the prevalence of inadequate immunization status was relatively high (43.4%): the high prevalence of “forgotten boosters” enlightens the key role of OPh in recalling and promoting vaccination policies. Moreover, the inappropriate use of Td vaccine points out the opportunity for educational campaigns in OPh.
The influence of Korean preschool teachers’ work environments and self-efficacy on children’s peer play interactions: the mediating effect of teacher–child interactions

ABSTRACT The present study investigated the structural relationships between Korean preschool teachers’ work environments, self-efficacy, and children’s peer play interactions; it also examined the mediating influence of teacher–child interactions on these relationships. This study performed SEM analysis on 1193 teachers’ survey responses from the 2014 Panel Study on Korean Children. The results showed that, first, teachers’ self-efficacy not only directly influenced teacher–child interactions but also influenced children’s peer play interactions through teacher–child interactions. Second, teachers’ work environments not only directly influenced teacher–child interactions, but also influenced children’s peer play interactions (mediated by teacher–child interactions). Third, teacher–child interactions had a direct effect on children’s peer play interactions. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the influence of Korean preschool teachers’ work environments and self-efficacy on children’s peer play interactions, mediated by teacher–child interactions.
THE KILOPARSEC-SCALE KINEMATICS OF HIGH-REDSHIFT STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

We present the results of a spectroscopic survey of the kinematic structure of star-forming galaxies at redshift z ∼ 2–3 using Keck/OSIRIS integral field spectroscopy. Our sample is comprised of 12 galaxies between redshifts z ∼ 2.0 and 2.5 and one galaxy at z ∼ 3.3 which are well detected in either Hα or [O iii] emission. These galaxies are generally representative of the mean stellar mass of star-forming galaxies at similar redshifts, although they tend to have star formation rate surface densities slightly higher than the mean. These observations were obtained in conjunction with the Keck laser guide star adaptive optics system, with a typical angular resolution after spatial smoothing ∼0. ″15 (approximately 1 kpc at the redshift of the target sample). At most five of these 13 galaxies have spatially resolved velocity gradients consistent with rotation while the remaining galaxies have relatively featureless or irregular velocity fields. All of our galaxies show local velocity dispersions ∼60–100 km s−1 , suggesting that (particularly for those galaxies with featureless velocity fields) rotation about a preferred axis may not be the dominant mechanism of physical support. While some galaxies show evidence for major mergers such evidence is unrelated to the kinematics of individual components (one of our strongest merger candidates also exhibits unambiguous rotational structure), refuting a simple bimodal disk/merger classification scheme. We discuss these data in light of complementary surveys and extant UV-IR spectroscopy and photometry, concluding that the dynamical importance of cold gas may be the primary factor governing the observed kinematics of z ∼ 2 galaxies. We conclude by speculating on the importance of mechanisms for accreting low angular momentum gas and the early formation of quasi-spheroidal systems in the young universe.
Parents’ Perceptions of and Responses to Children’s Emotions: Relations With Meta-Emotion Philosophy and Adult Attachment

SYNOPSIS Objective. This study investigated how parents’ perceptions of, feelings toward, and anticipated responses to children’s emotions relate to parents’ meta-emotion philosophy and attachment. Design. Parents (112 mothers and 95 fathers) completed an online research study where they viewed photographs of unfamiliar girls and boys (aged 10–14 years) displaying varying intensities of happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and neutral expressions. Parents labeled the emotion, identified the emotion’s intensity, and reported their mirrored emotion and responses. They also completed measures assessing their meta-emotion philosophy and attachment. Results. Meta-emotion philosophy predicted parents’ responses to children’s negative emotion, in that greater emotion-coaching predicted greater accuracy in labeling emotions (boys only), a greater likelihood to interact with children, and for mothers to be further from the mean in either direction in their mirrored emotion. Attachment also predicted parents’ responses to children’s negative emotions: Parents higher in anxiety reported more mirrored emotion, and those higher in avoidance reported less mirrored emotion, lower intensity, and less willingness to interact (boys only). In exploratory models for positive emotion, parents’ meta-emotion philosophy did not predict their responses, but parents higher in attachment avoidance rated girls’ positive emotions as less intense, reported less mirrored emotion, less willingness to interact, and less supportive responses, and those higher in anxiety showed the opposite pattern. Conclusion. Despite methodological limitations, results offer new evidence that parents’ ratings on a standardized emotion perception task as well as their anticipated responses toward children’s emotion displays are predicted by individual differences in their attachment and meta-emotion philosophy.
Women watching television : gender, class, and generation in the American television experience

Few issues are more important to feminist scholars than that of gender identity, especially women's gender identity. Of particular concern are the ways in which culture shapes this identity. The author of this study focuses on one of the most powerful image-shaping forces within American culture - television - and examines the relationship between the representations television presents to women of themselves and their own self-images. She asks how women's self-conceptions correspond to television images, whether women identify with the female characters they see on television, and whether women use television images in forming their own self-images. The answers to these questions depend on several factors, the most important being the social class of the women studied. The author contends that women's inclinations to identify with television characters varies with their assessment of the realism of these characters and their social world. She finds that working-class women are much more likely to find television characters and situations "real" than are middle-class women, but that their evaluations of realism reflect their wishes about reality - especially material reality - rather than any objective assessment of the accuracy of television's depiction of their own experience. In her exploration of this and other complexities, Andrea Press draws on feminist analyses of traditional theories of identification, Marxist and socialist analyses of class, and mainstream social scientific studies of the mass media audience.
Perspectives on interdisciplinary undergraduate research

Abstract Undergraduate Research (UR) provides deeper experiential learning opportunities for students while increasing their self-efficacy, academic success and motivation to pursue graduate studies. Many real-world problems require an integrated solution and collaboration across different disciplines; therefore, it is important that students develop skills to work across disciplines on challenging research problems. As types and complexity of UR increase, Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research (IDUR) has become more prevalent, but little is known about it. We define IDUR as “student-faculty collaboration to examine, increase, and share new knowledge or works relevant to research questions the investigation of which necessitates an interdisciplinary approach”. From the faculty perspective, and based on the results of a national sample of higher learning institutions in the U.S., we outline the enablers of and barriers to IDUR and provide quantitative and qualitative insights. Survey results show that, irrespective of the size of the institution at which they work, faculty members value mentoring students conducting IDUR although it brings with it some challenges. Our findings may help institutions better facilitate IDUR projects and inform faculty development opportunities that deepen student learning and retention via enhanced curricula in which IDUR is embedded.
Cryptococcal Antigen Screening in Patients Initiating ART in South Africa: A Prospective Cohort Study

Treating cryptococcal antigen (CrAg)-positive, antiretroviral therapy naiive patients with preemptive fluconazole resulted in markedly fewer cases of cryptococcal meningitis compared with unscreened historic cohorts. However, the same CrAg-positive patients experienced excess mortality not directly attributable to cryptococcal disease.
Genomic and bioinformatic profiling of mutational neoepitopes reveals new rules to predict anticancer immunogenicity

Srivastava et al. define a new and improved way to predict immunoprotective cancer neoepitopes based in part on the difference in MHC-binding scores between the mutant epitope and its wild-type counterpart. Remarkably, all neoepitopes that elicited tumor regression bound to class I MHC molecules with very low affinity.
TeV Observations of Markarian 501 with the Milagrito Water Cerenkov Detector

The Milagrito water Cerenkov detector near Los Alamos, New Mexico, was operated as a sky monitor at energies of a few TeV between 1997 February and 1998 May, including the period of the strong, long-lasting 1997 flare of Markarian 501. Milagrito served as a test run for the full Milagro detector. An event excess with a significance of 3.7 σ from Markarian 501 was observed, in agreement with expectations.
Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalism for constrained variational problems

We consider solutions of Lagrangian variational problems with linear constraints on the derivative. More precisely, given a smooth distribution D ⊂ TM on M and a time-dependent Lagrangian L defined on D, we consider an action functional L defined on the set ΩPQ(M, D) of horizontal curves in M connecting two fixed submanifolds P, Q ⊂ M. Under suitable assumptions, the set ΩPQ(M, D) has the structure of a smooth Banach manifold and we can thus study the critical points of L. If the Lagrangian L satisfies an appropriate hyper-regularity condition, we associate to it a degenerate Hamiltonian H on TM* using a general notion of Legendre transform for maps on vector bundles. We prove that the solutions of the Hamilton equations of H are precisely the critical points of L. In the particular case where L is given by the quadratic form corresponding to a positive-definite metric on D, we obtain the well-known characterization of the normal geodesics in sub-Riemannian geometry (see [8]). By adding a potential energy term to L, we obtain again the equations of motion for the Vakonomic mechanics with non-holonomic constraints (see [6]).
Thermal conductivity and contact resistance of metal foams

Accurate information on heat transfer and temperature distribution in metal foams is necessary for design and modelling of thermal-hydraulic systems incorporating metal foams. The analysis of heat transfer requires determination of the effective thermal conductivity as well as the thermal contact resistance (TCR) associated with the interface between the metal foam and the adjacent surfaces/layers. In this study, a test bed that allows the separation of effective thermal conductivity and TCR in metal foams is described. Measurements are performed in a vacuum under varying compressive loads using ERG Duocel aluminium foam samples with different porosities and pore densities. Also, a graphical method associated with a computer code is developed to demonstrate the distribution of contact spots and estimate the real contact area at the interface. Our results show that the porosity and the effective thermal conductivity remain unchanged with the variation of compression in the range 0–2 MPa; but TCR decreases significantly with pressure due to an increase in the real contact area at the interface. Moreover, the ratio of real to nominal contact area varies between 0 and 0.013, depending upon the compressive force, porosity, pore density and surface characteristics.
Upper‐ocean singular vectors of the North Atlantic climate with implications for linear predictability and variability

The limits of predictability of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) and upper‐ocean temperatures due to errors in ocean initial conditions and model parametrizations are investigated in an idealized configuration of an ocean general circulation model (GCM). Singular vectors (optimal perturbations) are calculated using the GCM, its tangent linear and adjoint models to determine an upper bound on the predictability of North Atlantic climate.