Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electron attachment mass spectrometry as a diagnostics for electronegative gases and plasmas

Electron attachment mass spectrometry (EAMS) has been developed to study mixtures of electronegative gases and plasmas. A quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) has been used to detect negative ions, formed from sampled species by attachment of low energy electrons. Varying the electron energy allows to collect the attachment cross section of the considered species. EAMS appears to be a very powerful technique to study the chemistry of electronegative gases. Unlike ionization mass spectrometry, where cross sections are low at the threshold and rather flat over a broad range of electron energies, attachment resonances are sharp and distinct. Also very limited fragmentation of the parent negative ion occurs, so a given molecule yields only a few different negative ions. This facilitates identification of components in a gas mixture. It is particularly advantageous for detection of large, fragile molecules, which break up after ionization, but can be easily transformed into large negative ions. Moreover, sensiti.
Spa-goers’ Characteristics, Motivations, Preferences and Perceptions: Evidence from Elounda, Crete

Spa and wellness tourism is one of the fastest-growing market segments in the hospitality and tourism industry. The aim of this study is to investigate and identify spa-goers’ characteristics, motivations, preferences and perceptions, providing a better understanding of the main features of this type of tourists’ behavior and expectations from a spa and wellness centre. Primary quantitative research was conducted via a structured questionnaire in a sample of 123 spa customers at Elounda in Crete. The results of the study revealed a number of important factors that influence them when choosing a spa, namely the cleanliness and the maintenance of a spa, the staff knowledge and hygiene, the personnel behavior and courtesy, and the quality of services. In addition, the main reason for visiting the spa is for stress relief/relaxation, followed by physical health improvement and beauty treatments. Findings and discussion of this study are useful to industry practitioners (spa and wellness service providers who wish to develop appropriate marketing strategies and enhance customer satisfaction) and academic researchers interested in spa and wellness tourism.
Professional Learning in Unlikely Spaces: Social Media and Virtual Communities as Professional Development

In this case study, results demonstrate that an individualâ? s use of social media as professional learning spans understanding, networking, professional identity development, and transformative learning. Specifically, virtual online communities facilitated through social media provide professional networks, social relationships and learning beyond the scope of the individualâ? s usual experience. Case study method reveals strategies, extent, and impact of learning providing insight into this phenomenon. The significance of the research includes purposefully facilitating professional learning through informal learning contexts, including social media and online communities beyond technology-centric fields. Discussion and recommendations include using social media and virtual communities as instructional strategies for graduate studies and continued learning beyond formal education.
Automatic Crack Detection in Built Infrastructure Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

This paper addresses the problem of crack detection which is essential for health monitoring of built infrastructure. Our approach includes two stages, data collection using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and crack detection using histogram analysis. For the data collection, a 3D model of the structure is first created by using laser scanners. Based on the model, geometric properties are extracted to generate way points necessary for navigating the UAV to take images of the structure. Then, our next step is to stick together those obtained images from the overlapped field of view. The resulting image is then clustered by histogram analysis and peak detection. Potential cracks are finally identified by using locally adaptive thresholds. The whole process is automatically carried out so that the inspection time is significantly improved while safety hazards can be minimised. A prototypical system has been developed for evaluation and experimental results are included.
Loss of lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 1 leads to photoreceptor degeneration in rd11 mice

Retinal degenerative diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa and Leber congenital amaurosis, are a leading cause of untreatable blindness with substantive impact on the quality of life of affected individuals and their families. Mouse mutants with retinal dystrophies have provided a valuable resource to discover human disease genes and helped uncover pathways critical for photoreceptor function. Here we show that the rd11 mouse mutant and its allelic strain, B6-JR2845, exhibit rapid photoreceptor dysfunction, followed by degeneration of both rods and cones. Using linkage analysis, we mapped the rd11 locus to mouse chromosome 13. We then identified a one-nucleotide insertion (c.420–421insG) in exon 3 of the Lpcat1 gene. Subsequent screening of this gene in the B6-JR2845 strain revealed a seven-nucleotide deletion (c.14–20delGCCGCGG) in exon 1. Both sequence changes are predicted to result in a frame-shift, leading to premature truncation of the lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase-1 (LPCAT1) protein. LPCAT1 (also called AYTL2) is a phospholipid biosynthesis/remodeling enzyme that facilitates the conversion of palmitoyl-lysophosphatidylcholine to dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC). The analysis of retinal lipids from rd11 and B6-JR2845 mice showed substantially reduced DPPC levels compared with C57BL/6J control mice, suggesting a causal link to photoreceptor dysfunction. A follow-up screening of LPCAT1 in retinitis pigmentosa and Leber congenital amaurosis patients did not reveal any obvious disease-causing mutations. Previously, LPCAT1 has been suggested to be critical for the production of lung surfactant phospholipids and biosynthesis of platelet-activating factor in noninflammatory remodeling pathway. Our studies add another dimension to an essential role for LPCAT1 in retinal photoreceptor homeostasis.
Diagnosis and Identification of Blastocystis Subtypes in Primary School Children in Jakarta

Blastocystis hominis is an enteric protozoan with many subtypes. It is frequently found in children and may cause chronic diarrhea. This study revealed Blastocystis subtypes among primary school children and comparison of molecular technique and culture method in Blastocystis diagnosis. A total of 141 stools were collected, examined microscopically, selected into the Blastocystis and negative parasite groups, for diagnostic comparison between culture and 18S rRNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods. Positive PCR amplicons were subsequently sequenced for subtyping. The PCR results revealed 89%, 78%, 80% and 88% sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values, respectively, in comparison with the culture method (McNemar, p > 0.05). Sixteen PCR samples were successfully sequenced and resulted in three Blastocystis subtypes 1, 3 and 4. In conclusion, PCR was sensitive enough and can be used to exclude Blastocystis infection up to 88% of the cases. Subtypes 3 and 1 were the main subtypes found in apparently healthy school children in Jakarta.
The twist measure for IR evaluation: Taking user's effort into account

We present a novel measure for ranking evaluation, called Twist (τ). It is a measure for informational intents, which handles both binary and graded relevance. τ stems from the observation that searching is currently a that searching is currently taken for granted and it is natural for users to assume that search engines are available and work well. As a consequence, users may assume the utility they have in finding relevant documents, which is the focus of traditional measures, as granted. On the contrary, they may feel uneasy when the system returns nonrelevant documents because they are then forced to do additional work to get the desired information, and this causes avoidable effort. The latter is the focus of τ, which evaluates the effectiveness of a system from the point of view of the effort required to the users to retrieve the desired information. We provide a formal definition of τ, a demonstration of its properties, and introduce the notion of effort/gain plots, which complement traditional utility‐based measures. By means of an extensive experimental evaluation, τ is shown to grasp different aspects of system performances, to not require extensive and costly assessments, and to be a robust tool for detecting differences between systems.
Dosimetric accuracy at low monitor unit settings.

I read with interest the article by Das et al (1991) and appreciate the authors' concern over the accuracy of dosimetry systems at high dose rates and low monitor unit settings. The purpose of writing this letter is to underline that, in the UK, the accuracy of patients' treatments should not be jeopardized as suggested, in that short exposures on linear accelerators have been deprecated for the past 20 years (HMSO, 1972; DHSS, 1975; NRPB, 1988).
Substrate Placement Influences Reactivity in Non-heme Fe(II) Halogenases and Hydroxylases*

Background: SyrB2 is a non-heme Fe(II) halogenase that reacts on tethered amino acid substrates. Results: Hydroxylation and hydrogen abstraction are less sensitive to substrate positioning at the active site than halogenation. Conclusion: Observed halogenation of native l-Thr substrate by SyrB2 can be explained by positioning effects. Significance: Our work could inform how to redesign tether-dependent enzymes toward alternative products. We employ error-corrected density functional theory methods to map out the dependence of reactivity on substrate position for SyrB2, a member of a family of non-heme iron halogenases and hydroxylases that are only reactive toward amino acid substrates delivered via prosthetic phosphopantetheine arms. For the initial hydrogen abstraction step, the inherent flexibility of the phosphopantetheine molecule weakens the position dependence for both the native substrate (threonine for SyrB2) and alternative substrates. Over a 5 Å window of substrate positions, the tethered hydrogen abstraction step proceeds with nearly identical activation energies and donor-acceptor distances in the transition state. The propensity of a particular substrate toward halogenation or hydroxylation is found to depend strongly on the substrate placement following hydrogen abstraction, with deeper substrate delivery into the active (for native substrates) site favoring halogenation and shallower substrate delivery favoring hydroxylation.
The IX Operating System

The conventional wisdom is that aggressive networking requirements, such as high packet rates for small messages and μs-scale tail latency, are best addressed outside the kernel, in a user-level networking stack. We present ix, a dataplane operating system that provides high I/O performance and high resource efficiency while maintaining the protection and isolation benefits of existing kernels. ix uses hardware virtualization to separate management and scheduling functions of the kernel (control plane) from network processing (dataplane). The dataplane architecture builds upon a native, zero-copy API and optimizes for both bandwidth and latency by dedicating hardware threads and networking queues to dataplane instances, processing bounded batches of packets to completion, and eliminating coherence traffic and multicore synchronization. The control plane dynamically adjusts core allocations and voltage/frequency settings to meet service-level objectives. We demonstrate that ix outperforms Linux and a user-space network stack significantly in both throughput and end-to-end latency. Moreover, ix improves the throughput of a widely deployed, key-value store by up to 6.4× and reduces tail latency by more than 2× . With three varying load patterns, the control plane saves 46%--54% of processor energy, and it allows background jobs to run at 35%--47% of their standalone throughput.
Dominant factors influencing precipitation efficiency in a continental mid-latitude location

ABSTRACT The bulk precipitation efficiency (PE) of transient precipitation systems at a continental, mid-latitude location is established as a function of season and dominant cloud type (convective versus stratiform). These results quantify for the first time controls on PE that have long been assumed to be true. Moreover, previous studies have been unable to establish a link between the efficiency of precipitation systems and short-term changes in the warm cloud depth (T > −10◦C). These results show that the depth of the warm cloud layer, over which the collision—coalescence process will dominate, is not a short-term control on PE, but a seasonal one.
A Substance Use Profile of Delinquent and Homeless Youths

The overall health status of delinquent and homeless youths is of increasing concern. These high-risk youth populations have a variety of health problems, including relatively high levels of substance abuse. This study provides empirical data on the substance use behaviors of a sample of delinquent and homeless youths in San Francisco, California. The data, secured within the context of medical examinations, indicate that both samples use tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs at higher rates than the general adolescent population. The study concludes that drug education and prevention programs must be tailored to fit the needs and lifestyles of these two populations, and that the programs should be provided within the broader context of adolescent health care.
What's new in the updated U.S. Public Health Service guidelines for the management of occupational exposures to HIV and recommendations for postexposure prophylaxis?

The Occupational Medicine Forum is prepared by the ACOEM Occupational and Environmental Medical Practice Committee and does not necessarily represent an official ACOEM position. The Forum is intended for health professionals and is not intended to provide medical or legal advice, including illness prevention, diagnosis or treatment, or regulatory compliance. Such advice should be obtained directly from a physician and/or attorney. Inquiries and contributions to the Forum should be forwarded to Joseph J. Schwerha, MD, MPH by e-mail at schwer@pitt.edu.
Becoming and connecting: Elements of spirituality for women

This study explored women's understandings of spirituality through in-depth, face-to-face interviews with 12 adult women in Appalachia. Data were analyzed utilizing the constant comparative processes of naturalistic inquiry and grounded theory. The results revealed spirituality as a unifying force permeating all of life, and manifested through one's becoming and connecting. Women indicated that spirituality shapes and gives meaning to life, is expressed in one's being, knowing, and doing, and is experienced within caring connections with Self, Others, Nature, and Ultimate Other. Spirituality was related to an inner knowing and source of strength. This study contributes to understanding the concept of spirituality for nursing, affirming the importance of women's stories.
Preparative separation and purification of bufadienolides from ChanSu by high-speed counter-current chromatography combined with preparative HPLC

Eight bufadienolides were successfully isolated and purified from ChanSu by high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) combined with preparative HPLC (prep-HPLC). First, a stepwise elution mode of HSCCC with the solvent system composed of petroleum ether - ethyl acetate - methanol - water (4:6:4:6, 4:6:5:5, v/v) was employed and four bufadienolides, two partially purified fractions were obtained from 200 mg of crude extract. The partially purified fractions III and VI were then further separated by prep-HPLC, respectively, and another four bufadienolides were recovered. Their structures were confirmed by ESI-MS and 1H-NMR spectra.
BOARDROOM GENDER DIVERSITY IN JSE-LISTED SOUTH AFRICAN MINING COMPANIES

Despite the socio-political, ethical and business case for female board membership, women remain underrepresented in company boards. Using theories that support the membership of women on boards, this article presents the case for gender diversity in the boardroom. By employing a sample of 506 directors from 56 JSE-listed mining companies this article reports on the demographic characteristics, percentage of women in mining boards, and attributes that are predictive of women’s membership on boards. Results show that women serving on mining boards possess specialised knowledge in combination with advanced education. They either bring external support as outsiders, or are support specialists with financial, legal, arts and economics backgrounds. This study recommends the development of a talent management framework of women directors focused on their recruitment, development and retention.
HIV-infected men who have sex with men, before and after release from jail: the impact of age and race, results from a multi-site study

The US HIV/AIDS epidemic is concentrated among men who have sex with men (MSM). Black men are disproportionately affected by incarceration and Black MSM experience higher infection rates and worse HIV-related health outcomes compared to non-Black MSM. We compared HIV treatment outcomes for Black MSM to other HIV-infected men from one of the largest cohorts of HIV-infected jail detainees (N = 1270) transitioning to the community. Of the 574 HIV-infected men released, 113 (19.7%) self-identified as being MSM. Compared to other male subgroups, young Black MSM (<30 years old, N = 18) were significantly less likely: (1) before incarceration, to have insurance, access to an HIV healthcare provider, and use cocaine; (2) during incarceration, to receive a disease management intervention; and (3) in the 6 months post-release, to link to HIV care. Interventions that effectively link and retain young HIV-infected Black MSM in care in communities before incarceration and post-release from jail are urgently needed.
A knowledge-based strategic theory framework for knowledge management : knowledge creation and transfer in businesses

The discourse on knowledge management (KM) has emerged relatively recently in the field of management. Organisational and strategic theories have been developed which seek to explain the existence, boundaries, structure, management and competitive advantage of organisations based on knowledge. These theories are consistent with one thread from the overall discourse which argues that the management of knowledge within an organisation is an important activity required for maintaining competitive advantage in a hypercompetitive external environment. Despite the extensive interest in this area, there is sti11limited agreement even about some of its fundamental principles. This plurality of perspectives is due to the diversity of disciplines, theories and objectives with which the area is enriched by both academics and practitioners alike. Many independent KM initiatives have also been proposed for managerial use under the KM umbrella. Such activities include meetings, mentoring schemes, training, job rotation, site visits, conferences and exhibitions, and internal and external collaborations. Many of these initiatives are relatively autonomous and independent concepts. Generally these concepts have been first identified in the practitioner literature and it is unclear where they fit within academic frameworks. In particular, the relationship between KM initiatives and important related academic concepts such as knowledge transfer, organisationalleaming, knowledge creation and innovation is not clear. This lack of agreement, clarity and cohesion in the KM discourse naturally suggests the following research problem: What is the relationship between KM initiatives, organisationalleaming, knowledge transfer, knowledge creation innovation? Taking an organisation and strategic management theory perspective, an exploratory framework for understanding and explaining KM is developed within this thesis. Theoretically, this framework draws together perspectives from the resource-based view of the firm, organisational learning and innovation literatures to propose that the two fundamental KM processes are knowledge transfer and creation. Knowledge transfer supports learning and the utilisation of available internal and external knowledge resources within an organisation. Through knowledge transfer and learning, new knowledge can be created and organisational innovation takes place. These two
Antagonistic Transcription Factor Complexes Modulate the Floral Transition in Rice

Rice flowering depends on formation of transcriptional complexes, some of which act at the shoot apical meristem, whereas others promote or repress the floral transition by acting from the leaves. Plants measure day or night lengths to coordinate specific developmental changes with a favorable season. In rice (Oryza sativa), the reproductive phase is initiated by exposure to short days when expression of HEADING DATE 3a (Hd3a) and RICE FLOWERING LOCUS T 1 (RFT1) is induced in leaves. The cognate proteins are components of the florigenic signal and move systemically through the phloem to reach the shoot apical meristem (SAM). In the SAM, they form a transcriptional activation complex with the bZIP transcription factor OsFD1 to start panicle development. Here, we show that Hd3a and RFT1 can form transcriptional activation or repression complexes also in leaves and feed back to regulate their own transcription. Activation complexes depend on OsFD1 to promote flowering. However, additional bZIPs, including Hd3a BINDING REPRESSOR FACTOR1 (HBF1) and HBF2, form repressor complexes that reduce Hd3a and RFT1 expression to delay flowering. We propose that Hd3a and RFT1 are also active locally in leaves to fine-tune photoperiodic flowering responses.
Utilization of maternal health services among Janani Suraksha Yojana beneficiaries in Puducherry, India

Background: Utilization of maternal health services among Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) beneficiaries is an important aspect to improve maternal health. Aims: This study aims to assess the antenatal, intranatal, and postnatal maternal health services received by JSY beneficiaries. Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 152 JSY beneficiaries in the rural and urban field practice area attached to a tertiary care institution in Puducherry, India. Antenatal, intranatal, and postnatal services received by the mothers were assessed by a pretested structured questionnaire. Results: About 144 subjects participated in the study (response rate - 94.7%). About half (79, 54.9%) of subjects belonged to 19–25 years age group. About 82.6% (119) of subjects were registered in the first trimester. The majority (142, 98.6%) had institutional delivery. All had received tetanus toxoid immunization. About 3.5% (5) of beneficiaries were sent for high-risk referral. About 77.8% (112/144) of beneficiaries had consumed at least 100 iron and folic acid (IFA) tablets. About 98.6% (142) had more than three visits. The majority of them (138, 95.7%) reached hospital within 1 h. Around 62% of women breastfed their child within 1 h after birth. The postnatal visit by health worker was 54.2% (78), and minimum one postnatal visit by postnatal mother was 48.6% (70). Conclusions: Overall maternal health services are good for JSY beneficiaries in this area. Efforts should be made to improve the quality of services for early registration of pregnancies, IFA tablet intake, early breastfeeding after birth and postnatal care services.