Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elemental mapping of frozen-hydrated cells with cryo-scanning X-ray fluorescence microscopy

Visualizing the elemental distributions of cells and tissues is of growing importance in biology and medical science because such data deepen our understanding of the behavior of metal-binding proteins and ions. Elemental mapping by X-ray fluorescence analysis with a hard X-ray nanobeam is very well suited for this purpose owing to its high sensitivity and high resolution. Using this technique, samples must be prepared without artifacts that are caused by treatments such as chemical fixation and staining procedures. In many studies of elemental mapping, sample preparation is not explicitly considered. To overcome this deficiency, we developed a cryo-scanning X-ray fluorescence microscope and installed it in the second experimental hutch of BL29XUL of SPring-8. We used it to observe frozen-hydrated cells that had been fixed by a quick-freezing technique to preserve elemental data of the living state at an X-ray energy of 11.5 keV. The distributions of K, Ca, Fe, Cu and Zn were successfully visualized. The distributions of these elements (especially those of K, Ca and Fe) differed from those in cells fixed with paraformaldehyde. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Existential predictors of psychological well-being

Existential Predictors of Psychological Well-Being by Alejandro Patricio Yanez Dr. Mark Floyd, Examination Committee Chair Professor of Psychology University of Nevada, Las Vegas The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between various existential variables and overall well-being in a sample of 251 university students. Subjects completed self-report instruments assessing their levels of self-actualization, death anxiety, spirituality, purpose in life, satisfaction with life, psychological well­ being, positive affect, and negative affect. The main purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which these existential variables predicted overall well-being. Results revealed that most of the aforementioned existential variables (except death anxiety) significantly predicted overall well-being. Purpose in life was the most significant predictor in the regression analysis. These results are considered within the context of limitations and implications for psychotherapy and future psychological research.
OH absorption in the first quadrant of the Milky Way as seen by THOR

Context. The hydroxyl radical (OH) is present in the diffuse molecular and partially atomic phases of the interstellar medium (ISM), but its abundance relative to hydrogen is not clear. Aims. We aim to evaluate the abundance of OH with respect to molecular hydrogen using OH absorption against cm-continuum sources over the first Galactic quadrant. Methods. This OH study is part of the H I/OH/Recombination line survey of the inner Milky Way (THOR). THOR is a Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) large program of atomic, molecular and ionized gas in the range 15° ≤ l ≤ 67° and |b|≤ 1°. It is the highest-resolution unbiased OH absorption survey to date towards this region. We combine the optical depths derived from these observations with literature 13CO(1–0) and H I observations to determine the OH abundance. Results. We detect absorption in the 1665 and 1667 MHz transitions, that is, the “main” hyperfine structure lines, for continuum sources stronger than Fcont ≥ 0.1 Jy beam−1. OH absorption is found against approximately 15% of these continuum sources with increasing fractions for stronger sources. Most of the absorption occurs in molecular clouds that are associated with Galactic H II regions. We find OH and 13CO gas to have similar kinematic properties. The data indicate that the OH abundance decreases with increasing hydrogen column density. The derived OH abundance with respect to the total hydrogen nuclei column density (atomic and molecular phase) is in agreement with a constant abundance for AV < 10−20. Towards the lowest column densities, we find sources that exhibit OH absorption but no 13CO emission, indicating that OH is a well suited tracer of the low column density molecular gas. We also present spatially resolved OH absorption towards the prominent extended H II-region W43. Conclusions. The unbiased nature of the THOR survey opens a new window onto the gas properties of the interstellar medium. The characterization of the OH abundance over a large range of hydrogen gas column densities contributes to the understanding of OH as a molecular gas tracer and provides a starting point for future investigations.
Histological Assessment of the Lobster (Homarus americanus) in the “100 Lobsters” Project

ABSTRACT The emergence of epizootic shell disease in the American lobster (Homarus americanus) has been devastating to the industry in the coastal waters of southern New England. A comprehensive assessment of the disease syndrome, known as the “100 Lobsters” Project, was initiated to examine health and physiological parameters among laboratories involved in the research on lobster shell disease. A histological study of the 100 lobsters was undertaken as part of that assessment. Tissues from 90 lobsters from Rhode Island and 19 lobsters from Maine were examined as a general health assessment of the 100 lobsters. Approximately half the lobsters from Rhode Island were selected because they had frank epizootic shell disease, whereas none of the lobsters from Maine exhibited the syndrome. In addition to epizootic shell disease, the histological findings revealed 3 other idiopathic syndromes—necrotizing hepatopancreatitis, idiopathic blindness, and nonspecific granulomas—in higher prevalences in lobsters from Rhode Island compared with those from Maine. Necrotizing hepatopancreatitis, a newly described disease syndrome in lobsters, was observed in 15% of the lobsters from Rhode Island. Idiopathic blindness was present in 54% of the lobsters from Rhode Island, and 16% of the animals from Maine. This is the first report of the syndrome in lobsters from Maine. None of the idiopathic syndromes was associated with epizootic shell disease. The detection of multiple disease syndromes such as epizootic shell disease, necrotizing hepatopancreatitis, and idiopathic blindness may be indicative of exposure to environmental stressors in Narragansett Bay, RI.
The Development and Evaluation of an Online Formative Assessment upon Single-player Game in E-learning Environment

This study developed a game-based formative assessment, called tic-tac-toe quiz for single-player version (TRIS-Q-SP), in an energy education e-learning system. This assessment game combined tic-tac-toe with online assessment, and revised the rule of tic-tac-toe for stimulating students to use online formative assessment actively. Additionally, to investigate which types of formative feedback were appropriate for use in this game-based formative assessment, immediate elaborated feedback (IEF) and no immediate elaborated feedback (NIEF) mechanisms were designed and incorporated in TRIS-Q-SP. The findings revealed that all participants improved their energy knowledge through the e-learning system, and expressed enjoyment and positive opinions toward the TRIS-Q-SP. However, the various statistical results suggested that providing IEF for each question answered in TRIS-Q-SP was the optimal design. This design facilitated the enhancement of energy knowledge acquisition when comparing it with NIEF condition, and did not affect all participants’ enjoyment perceptions.
Vietnamese EFL Students’ Perceptions of Noticing-Based Collaborative Feedback on Their Writing Performance

It has been theoretically and empirically acknowledged that collaborative feedback is beneficial to learning achievement. However, feedback research remains relatively contentious due to learners’ differing viewpoints on how feedback is best given. Although a large number of studies have explored learners’ perspectives on collaborative feedback, little classroom-based research has promoted noticing through collaborative feedback. To address this, this study aims to infuse noticing-based collaborative correction into secondary classrooms to explore students’ perceptions of such feedback practice on their written output. Forty-one students’ responses to the list of close-ended questionnaires revealed a strong consensus about this potential approach although there are indications that the participants’ dependent learning styles had influenced these findings. An obvious implication of this is that students might benefit from various scaffolding sources, and thus there is a need for teachers to be aware of the influence of reciprocal learning among learners so that the quality of feedback practices may be enhanced.
The effect of Plantago major seed mucilage combined with carbopol on the release profile and bioadhesive properties of propranolol HCl buccoadhesive tablets

The development of mucoadhesive polymers may be traced back to 1947, when gum tragacanth and dental adhesive powders were combined to form a vehicle for applying penicillin to oral mucosa. An improvement in this system resulted when CMC and petrolatum were combined to form the vehicle (1). In recent years, much interest has been shown in the development of bioadhesive systems. These dosage forms can be administered by different routes such as ocular, buccal, nasal, rectal, vaginal) either for local therapy or for systemic drug delivery. In particular, the buccal route appears to offer a series of advantages compared with other routes, such as rapid onset of action, high blood supply, avoidance of first pass effect and exposure of drug to gastrointestinal tract (2). Buccal drug delivery necessitates the use of Abstract Buccoadhesive drug delivery systems have distinct advantages in comparison with oral administration. Plant exudates like gum or mucilage are being studied for their use as pharmaceutical adjuvant. The aim of this study is to evaluate the properties of the Plantago major seed mucilage as a mucoadhesive agent and propranolol hydrochloride is chosen as a model drug. Mucoadhesive tablets of propranolol hydrochloride were formulated by combination of two mucoadhesive polymers include Carbopol 934P and Plantago major mucilage, and properties such as in vitro drug release, swelling, erosion, mucoadhesive force were studied. The results show increase in bioadhesive strength and decrease in release rate with increase in percent of Carbopol 934P, as F13 (containing Carbopol 934P alone) and F8 (containing mucilage alone) show the highest bioadhesive strength and highest release rate respectively and these results were matched to swelling results which decrease in swelling of matrices results in decrease in bioadhesion. Matrices with both Plantago major mucilage and Carbopol have the optimum drug release in bioadhesive formulation of propranolol tablets.
Budgetary Participation and Managerial Performance: The Impact of Information and Environmental Volatility

The present study investigates the effects of participation of managers in budgeting on their management performance in the Tehran regional electricity company. Variables of this study are participation in budgeting, performance of managers, adequacy of funding and resource allocation, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and organizational trust. The type of research is survey. The study population consists of all middle level managers of Tehran Regional Electricity Company who according to the approved organizational chart were 34 in 2012. The research tool is a questionnaire. Analysis of data collected is accomplished by using the SPSS and smartPLS. The results show a significant correlation between the variables of managers' participation in budgeting and organizational trust, adequacy of funding and resource allocation and job satisfaction, organizational trust of managers on organizational commitment, organizational commitment and competence in the absorption of funding and optimal resource allocation and finally the competence in funding and optimal resource allocation of managers as well as job satisfaction and management performance.
Biodegradation of phenol by free and immobilized Candida tropicalis NPD1401

The present research aimed to evaluate the free and immobilized cell of Candida tropicalis NPD1401 for phenol degradation. Immobilized cell of C. tropicalis degraded efficiently up to 98% at a concentration of 1000 mg/l of phenol whereas free cells degraded up to 63% of the same concentration under 9 days of incubation. Stored immobilized beads were reused after 15 days and found to have successfully degraded 62.1% of phenol in the mineral salt medium (MSM). Growth of C. tropicalis was observed in the phenol containing medium by measuring the dry weight of biomass (0.89 g/l at concentration 1000 mg/l) and the degradation was monitored using analytical techniques. Liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC-MS) analysis confirmed that phenol was degraded by ortho-pathways by the finding of metabolite cis, cis-muconic acid, phenyl phosphate and catechol. Next, isolated strain was identified on the basis of PCR amplification of sequence D2 region of the large subunit of 28S rDNA and it was confirmed as C. tropicalis. By observing the efficiency of the isolate it may be used for the further bioremediation purpose of the phenol contaminated site in the environments. Key words: Candida tropicalis, phenol, ortho-pathway, Cis-cis-muconic acid, immobilized cell.
Transfer of Value Functions via Variational Methods

We consider the problem of transferring value functions in reinforcement learning. We propose an approach that uses the given source tasks to learn a prior distribution over optimal value functions and provide an efficient variational approximation of the corresponding posterior in a new target task. We show our approach to be general, in the sense that it can be combined with complex parametric function approximators and distribution models, while providing two practical algorithms based on Gaussians and Gaussian mixtures. We theoretically analyze them by deriving a finite-sample analysis and provide a comprehensive empirical evaluation in four different domains.
On the Mechanisms of Rain Formation in an Idealized Supercell Storm

AbstractDeep convective storms produce raindrops through three mechanisms: condensation and coalescence growth of cloud liquid droplets (i.e., warm processes), melting of ice hydrometeors, and shedding from wet hailstones. To investigate the relative importance of these mechanisms and their contributions to exotic drop size distributions (DSDs) observed near the surface in supercell storms, an idealized simulation of a supercell is performed using a modified version of the Morrison two-moment microphysics scheme. The modified scheme includes separate categories for warm, shed, and melted rain.Rain originating from melting ice dominates the rain mass at low levels, especially along the right forward-flank precipitation shield, whereas shed-rain drops dominate a region within the left forward flank. Warm rain is only dominant in the upshear portion of the rear flank of the storm at low levels, though it dominates the total rain mass within the main updraft aloft. The warm-rain mass at low levels is associat.
Comparison of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and arthroscopic findings in knee joint pathologies

Arthroscopy and MR examination were performed 40 patients with symptoms of the knee joint. These two methods were compared for lesions of the hyalen cartilage, synovia, cruciate ligaments and menisci. Artroscopy confirmed MRI findings in 91% of anterior cruci­ ate ligament tears and in 86% of meniscus tears. The MR diagnoses were confirmed by artroscopy in 71% of patients with chondral lesions. Although our results suggest that the evaluation of early stage cartilage lesions were less diagnostic the lesions of the cruci­ ate ligament and meniscus on the other hand were found highly diagnostic by MRI. Oblique-sagittal fast-spin echo-T2 images in­ creased diagnostic accuracy of anterior cruciate ligament tears. Diagnostic value was much lower in early stage chondromalacia. [Turk J Med Res 1997; 15(1):21-25]
Effect of Internal Control System on Employee Performance of Small-Scale Manufacturing Enterprises in Ondo State, Nigeria

The study was aimed at examining the influence of internal control system on employee performance. The population was 4,500 enterprises registered with the Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI) in Ondo State, out of which 195 randomly selected manufacturing enterprises formed the sample of the study. Primary data were collected and analysed using percentages and mean. The hypothesised model structure was analysed using ordered logistic regression with the significant level at p=0.05. The Pseudo R2 of 0.0353 indicated that the significant independent variables of the model accounted for 3.53% variation in the employee performance. Other factors which did not form part of the variables of the model accounted for the remaining variation. The study revealed that control environment and monitoring have significant effect on employee performance. The study concluded that internal control system significantly have influence on employee performance of small scale manufacturing enterprises in Ondo State, Nigeria. It was recommended that small scale manufacturing enterprises should give priority to be implementation of internal control system components since they influence employee performance and ultimately organisational performance.
In search of positive skewness: the case of individual investors

In this paper, we first prove analytically that the skewness of returns of portfolios built with Arrow-Debreu securities decreases with diversification. Through simulations, we also show that this result remains true in a financial market with a finite number of states of nature. We then analyze the behavior of over 85,000 individual investors at a large brokerage house. Though the main determinant of underdiversification is the portfolio value we find that the skewness of returns remains significant in explaining diversification after controlling for this value. Moreover, we show that the decrease in skewness induced by diversification is essentially driven by the share of total variance of stock returns due to common factors. These findings extend those of Mitton and Vorkink (2007) and explain the variability over time of the relationship between skewness and diversification.
Marine and River Dune Dynamics – MARID IV – 15 & 16 April 2013-Bruges , Belgium 183 Sediment transport distribution along equilibrium sand dunes

The present study focuses on distribution of sedime nt transport along mobile dunes in equilibrium. To this end, using ACVP (Acoustic Concentration and Velocity Pro filer), we have obtained simultaneous, co-located, high temporal-spatial resolution measurements of the mul ti-component flow velocity and suspended sediment concentration above dunes. In contrast to previous measurements of flow and sediment dynamics above du n s which are mostly carried out with more than one ins trument, we are now able to address sediment fluxes dir ctly for flow scales smaller than the separation distanc e between different instruments. In this paper, pre liminary ACVP results are shown in terms of flow velocities, susp ended sediment concentrations and suspended sedimen t fluxes along dune profiles .
The influence of physical exercise as a component of cardiac rehabilitation on endothelial dysfunction – review of the related research

Endothelial dysfunction means any disturbance in the vascular endothelial function. There are many data indicating that endothelial dysfunction is a source of numerous vascular diseases. Cardiac rehabilitation, especially connected with increasing physical activity, plays an important role in the prophylaxis of vascular diseases complications in patients. Physical activity causes favorable changes in the circulatory system and improves psychophysical status. It is the base of healthy life style and fundamental element of primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Cardiac rehabilitation after acute coronary incidents reduces total mortality and decreases the risk of next cardiac intervention. Similar beneficial effects may be observed in chronic heart
A Hopf algebra having a separable Galois extension is finite dimensional

It is shown that a Hopf algebra H over a field admitting a Galois extension A separable over its subalgebra of coinvariants B is of finite dimension. This answers in the affirmative a question posed by Beattie et al. in [Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 128, No. 11 (2000), 3201-3203]. It is also proven that this result holds true if H has bijective antipode and the extension A/B is Frobenius.
SDSS IV MaNGA: Dependence of Global and Spatially Resolved SFR–M∗ Relations on Galaxy Properties

The galaxy integrated Hα star formation rate–stellar mass relation, or SFR(global)–M*(global) relation, is crucial for understanding star formation history and evolution of galaxies. However, many studies have dealt with SFR using unresolved measurements, which makes it difficult to separate out the contamination from other ionizing sources, such as active galactic nuclei and evolved stars. Using the integral field spectroscopic observations from SDSS-IV MaNGA, we spatially disentangle the contribution from different Hα powering sources for ∼1000 galaxies. We find that, when including regions dominated by all ionizing sources in galaxies, the spatially resolved relation between Hα surface density (ΣHα(all)) and stellar mass surface density (Σ*(all)) progressively turns over at the high Σ*(all) end for increasing M*(global) and/or bulge dominance (bulge-to-total light ratio, B/T). This in turn leads to the flattening of the integrated Hα(global)–M*(global) relation in the literature. By contrast, there is no noticeable flattening in both integrated Hα(H ii)–M*(H ii) and spatially resolved ΣHα(H ii)–Σ*(H ii) relations when only regions where star formation dominates the ionization are considered. In other words, the flattening can be attributed to the increasing regions powered by non-star-formation sources, which generally have lower ionizing ability than star formation. An analysis of the fractional contribution of non-star-formation sources to total Hα luminosity of a galaxy suggests a decreasing role of star formation as an ionizing source toward high-mass, high-B/T galaxies and bulge regions. This result indicates that the appearance of the galaxy integrated SFR–M* relation critically depends on their global properties (M*(global) and B/T) and relative abundances of various ionizing sources within the galaxies.
Diffusion of niobium in α-iron

Diffusion coefficient of 95Nb in α-iron has been determined in the temperature range between 823 and 1163 K by use of a serial sputter-microsectioning technique. The diffusion coefficient of niobium is about two times as large as the self-diffusion coefficient in α-iron. The temperature dependence of the diffusion coefficient, D, in the whole temperature range of α-iron across the Curie temperature (TC=1043 K) can be expressed by D=(1.40−1.05+4.17)×10−1exp\\big[−\\frac(299.7±12.7 kJmol−1)[1+(0.061±0.007)s2]RT\\big] m2s−1 where s is the ratio of the spontaneous magnetization at T K to that at 0 K. The factor 0.061 in the equation is smaller than 0.156 for the self-diffusion, showing that the magnetic effect on the diffusion of niobium in α-iron is smaller than that on the self-diffusion. The activation energy 299.7 kJmol−1 for niobium diffusion in the paramagnetic iron is much higher than 250.6 kJmol−1 for the self-diffusion. Atomic size effect is predominant in the activation energies for the diffusion of transition metal solutes in the paramagnetic α-iron.