Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EFL Learners' Perspectives Towards Online Reading Module of IELTS: A Study at Tertiary Level

This paper seeks to investigate the attitude of students towards attending IELTS (Reading) classes online. The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is a world-wide recognized test that students/ candidates have to take to assess their English language proficiency to study or work in an English- speaking context. They have to either take the IELTS Academic or the IELTS General Training modules. In recent times with the shift from face-to-face to online classes, the students face many challenges while attending online classes of IELTS, especially the reading module. This study aims to find out the problems which are faced by Saudi students while attending online classes. For this, 40 undergraduate students, both males and females of a public university in Saudi Arabia, were chosen as participants to carry out the study. A survey questionnaire was administered to the students who experienced challenges in online classes of IELTS. Based on the findings, the study concludes with some recommendations about how students can overcome the challenges they face while having online classes of the Reading module of IELTS.
Impacts of Different Causes on the Inter‐Hemispheric Asymmetry of Ionosphere‐Thermosphere System at Mid‐ and High‐Latitudes: GITM Simulations

In this study, the Global Ionosphere Thermosphere Model is utilized to investigate the inter‐hemispheric asymmetry in the ionosphere‐thermosphere (I‐T) system at mid‐ and high‐latitudes (|geographic latitude| > 45°) associated with inter‐hemispheric differences in (a) the solar irradiance, (b) geomagnetic field, and (c) magnetospheric forcing under moderate geomagnetic conditions. Specifically, we have quantified the relative significance of the above three causes to the inter‐hemispheric asymmetries in the spatially weighted averaged E‐region electron density, F‐region neutral mass density, and horizontal neutral wind along with the hemispheric‐integrated Joule heating. Further, an asymmetry index defined as the percentage differences of these four quantities between the northern and southern hemispheres (|geographic latitude| > 45°) was calculated. It is found that: (a) The difference of the solar extreme ulutraviolet (EUV) irradiance plays a dominant role in causing inter‐hemispheric asymmetries in the four examined I‐T quantities. Typically, the asymmetry index for the E‐region electron density and integrated Joule heating at solstices with F10.7 = 150 sfu can reach 92.97% and 38.25%, respectively. (b) The asymmetric geomagnetic field can result in a strong daily variation of inter‐hemispheric asymmetries in the F‐region neutral wind and hemispheric‐integrated Joule heating over geographic coordinates. Their amplitude of asymmetry indices can be as large as 20.81% and 42.52%, which can be comparable to the solar EUV irradiance effect. (c) The contributions of the asymmetric magnetospheric forcing, including particle precipitation and ion convection pattern, can cause the asymmetry of integrated Joule heating as significant as 28.43% and 34.72%, respectively, which can be even stronger than other causes when the geomagnetic activity is intense.
Bio-Performance of Hydrothermally and Plasma-Treated Titanium: The New Generation of Vascular Stents

The research presented herein follows an urgent global need for the development of novel surface engineering techniques that would allow the fabrication of next-generation cardiovascular stents, which would drastically reduce cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The combination of hydrothermal treatment (HT) and treatment with highly reactive oxygen plasma (P) allowed for the formation of an oxygen-rich nanostructured surface. The morphology, surface roughness, chemical composition and wettability of the newly prepared oxide layer on the Ti substrate were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and water contact angle (WCA) analysis. The alteration of surface characteristics influenced the material’s bio-performance; platelet aggregation and activation was reduced on surfaces treated by hydrothermal treatment, as well as after plasma treatment. Moreover, it was shown that surfaces treated by both treatment procedures (HT and P) promoted the adhesion and proliferation of vascular endothelial cells, while at the same time inhibiting the adhesion and proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells. The combination of both techniques presents a novel approach for the fabrication of vascular implants, with superior characteristics.
PD-1 and PD-L1 Expression in Indian Women with Breast Cancer.

Objective The interaction between programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) on activated T-lymphocytes and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) on tumor cells or antigen-presenting cells sends immunosuppressive signals leading to the escape of tumor cells from the host anti-tumor immune response. Inhibiting this interaction with antibodies against PD-1 or PD-L1 is emerging as a valuable therapeutic strategy. However, tissue distribution patterns for PD-L1 and PD-1 in breast cancer patients from India are not reported, yet many clinical trials are underway. In this study the expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 in breast cancer patient samples from India was characterized. Materials and Methods The study included 392 cases of operated breast cancer (2012-2017) from a tertiary cancer care center in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Paraffin blocks were retrievable and receptor status was known. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed using anti-PD-L1 and anti-PD-1 antibodies. RNA was isolated from 76 fresh tumors and nine adjacent normal tissues (2019). PD-L1 transcript levels were measured by RT-qPCR using Hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT) as a reference gene. Results Based on IHC, PD-1 expression within tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) was observed in 55/385 cases (14%) across all breast cancer types. In triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), 21/132 cases (16%) showed PD-1 staining in TIICs. The overall expression of PD-L1 in breast tumor cells across all breast cancer subtypes and TIICs was 11% (41/378) and 39% (151/385), respectively. A relatively higher proportion of TNBC cases had PD-L1 expression in tumor cells (17/132 cases, 13%) and immune cells (68/132 cases, 52%). We also detected PD-L1 transcript expression by qRT-PCR in freshly isolated tumor samples. Conclusion These findings show that around 52% (68/132) of the TNBC cases express PD-L1 in TIICs. Hence, anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy alone or combined with chemotherapy may be a promising treatment for TNBC in Indian patients.
Listening to the Public: An Inductive Analysis of the Good Citizen in a Deliberative System

Significant research has demonstrated that deliberative participation has a number of benefits for participants, leaving them more informed, efficacious, and engaged. Unfortunately, this model of the good citizen may be at odds with both what citizens want out of engagement and what might be most beneficial for self-empowerment. Activism, rather than deliberation, might be a more effective means of influencing public decisions, but traits associated with activism are often considered antithetical to deliberative participation. This paper utilizes a case study to ask what participants want out of engagement and whether their conception of the good citizen aligns with theoretical deliberative norms. Findings suggest that participants in a hybrid model of engagement that blends deliberative discussion with interest group politics want opportunities for public input that center interest formation and recognition, equity, and empowerment. These results suggest a need to better integrate the voices of citizens in normative deliberative theory and research.
Impact of globalization on stock market development in India

Objective of this paper is to examine the impact of globalisation on stock market development in India using commonly recognised indicators to test this impact. India implemented significant reforms to foster development in capital markets. These reforms were brought in with the objective of improving market efficiency, transparency, and preventing unfair trade practices. Indicators used in our study are good proxies for the test of market development and deepening. Results of this study show that the stock markets in India have experienced exponential growth over the study period. Our analysis finds that all selected indicators show significant improvement in stock markets of India. After liberalisation market capitalisation ratio, value traded ratio and turn-over ratio increases and volatility ratio has declined. Our results demonstrate overall development in stock markets and operational efficiency in stock markets of India.
The Silkworm as a Source of Natural Antimicrobial Preparations: Efficacy on Various Bacterial Strains

The global spread of multi-resistant pathogens responsible for infections, which cannot be treated with existing drugs such as antibiotics, is of particular concern. Antibiotics are becoming increasingly ineffective and drug resistance is leading to more difficult-to-treat infections; therefore, new bioactive compounds with antimicrobial activity are needed and new alternative sources should be found. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are synthesized by processes typical of the innate immune system and are present in almost all organisms. Insects are extremely resistant to bacterial infections as they can produce a wide range of AMPs, providing an effective first line of defense. The AMPs produced by insects therefore represent a possible source of natural antimicrobial molecules. In this paper, the possibility of using plasma preparations from silkworm (Bombyx mori) larvae as a source of antimicrobials was evaluated. After simple purification steps, insect plasma was analyzed and tested on different Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains. The results obtained are encouraging as the assays on Escherichia coli and Enterobacter cloacae showed significant decrease in the growth of these Gram-negative bacteria. Similar results were obtained on Gram-positive bacteria, such as Micrococcus luteus and Bacillus subtilis, which showed strong susceptibility to the silkworm AMPs pool. In contrast, Staphylococcus aureus displayed high resistance to Bombyx mori plasma. Finally, the tested plasma formulations were assessed for possible storage not only at 4 °C, but also above room temperature. In conclusion, partially purified plasma from silkworm could be a promising source of AMPs which could be used in formulations for topical applications, without additional and expensive purification steps.
Role of Benzoic Acid and Lettucenin A in the Defense Response of Lettuce against Soil-Borne Pathogens

Soil-borne pathogens can severely limit plant productivity. Induced defense responses are plant strategies to counteract pathogen-related damage and yield loss. In this study, we hypothesized that benzoic acid and lettucenin A are involved as defense compounds against Rhizoctonia solani and Olpidium virulentus in lettuce. To address this hypothesis, we conducted growth chamber experiments using hydroponics, peat culture substrate and soil culture in pots and minirhizotrons. Benzoic acid was identified as root exudate released from lettuce plants upon pathogen infection, with pre-accumulation of benzoic acid esters in the root tissue. The amounts were sufficient to inhibit hyphal growth of R. solani in vitro (30%), to mitigate growth retardation (51%) and damage of fine roots (130%) in lettuce plants caused by R. solani, but were not able to overcome plant growth suppression induced by Olpidium infection. Additionally, lettucenin A was identified as major phytoalexin, with local accumulation in affected plant tissues upon infection with pathogens or chemical elicitation (CuSO4) and detected in trace amounts in root exudates. The results suggest a two-stage defense mechanism with pathogen-induced benzoic acid exudation initially located in the rhizosphere followed by accumulation of lettucenin A locally restricted to affected root and leaf tissues.
Advanced Carbon Materials Derived from Polybenzoxazines: A Review

This comprehensive review article summarizes the key properties and applications of advanced carbonaceous materials obtained from polybenzoxazines. Identification of several thermal degradation products that arose during carbonization allowed for several different mechanisms (both competitive ones and independent ones) of carbonization, while also confirming the thermal stability of benzoxazines. Electrochemical properties of polybenzoxazine-derived carbon materials were also examined, noting particularly high pseudocapacitance and charge stability that would make benzoxazines suitable as electrodes. Carbon materials from benzoxazines are also highly versatile and can be synthesized and prepared in a number of ways including as films, foams, nanofibers, nanospheres, and aerogels/xerogels, some of which provide unique properties. One example of the special properties is that materials can be porous not only as aerogels and xerogels, but as nanofibers with highly tailorable porosity, controlled through various preparation techniques including, but not limited to, the use of surfactants and silica nanoparticles. In addition to the high and tailorable porosity, benzoxazines have several properties that make them good for numerous applications of the carbonized forms, including electrodes, batteries, gas adsorbents, catalysts, shielding materials, and intumescent coatings, among others. Extreme thermal and electrical stability also allows benzoxazines to be used in harsher conditions, such as in aerospace applications.
A Simple Mitigation Model of Poverty Reduction in Indonesia

Sustainable development (SDG) aims to reduce poverty in all places, including Indonesia. The purpose of this research is to theoretically and empirically explain a simple model of mitigation and poverty reduction. This research applies a fixed-effect model and path analysis techniques using regional panel data from 35 regencies and cities in 2017-2020 in Central Java, Indonesia. Furthermore, the results showed that the Keynesian theory which states that unemployment causes poverty is valid and relevant while the statement of economic growth being the most effective aspect in poverty reduction is not entirely true. The main empirical research results confirmed that the Human Development Index (HDI) factor is the most effective aspect as a key to success and a strong foundation capital in mitigating and reducing poverty. Mean-while, Income per Capita (IPC), government spending, GRDP, and investment are the main drivers to increase HDI and reduce poverty.
Wood Density and Ring Width in Quercus rotundifolia Trees in Southern Portugal

Quercus rotundifolia Lam. , known as holm oak or evergreen oak, occurs naturally in the western Mediterranean region, mainly as part of the agroforestry or agrosilvopastoral systems in Portugal (“montado”) and Spain (“dehesa”), and is economically important for acorn production. Less attention has been given to Q. rotundifolia wood, and its density variability is not known, namely related to tree growth. The wood density of 20 Q. rotundifolia trees was measured along the radial direction by X-ray densitometry and the factors responsible for ring width and wood density variation within and between trees were investigated at two sites located within the main species region in southern Portugal. Ring width was significantly different between sites, with an average of 1.81 mm and 1.55 mm. Wood density was very high and averaged between 888 kg/m3 and 914 kg/m3 but not significantly different between sites. Ring width and wood density showed a positive and significant correlation at both sites. Cambial age was the main source of variation for ring width and wood density, while between-tree effects accounted for a considerable proportion of wood density variation. The results are an important contribution for the species valorisation aiming at high-value wood products, also adding knowledge on the species growth of interest for tree selection and sustainable management.
Block diffusion delay attack and its countermeasures in a Bitcoin network

In the Bitcoin system, transactions and their collections (i.e., blocks) are distributed over a peer‐to‐peer (P2P) network (i.e., Bitcoin network) constructed by participating nodes. Each node maintains a distributed ledger (i.e., blockchain) consisting of retrieved blocks. Therefore, speedy block distribution over the Bitcoin network is essential for all nodes to reach a global consensus on the blockchain. On the other hand, Bitcoin clients are developed as open source software, and thus they can be modified by malicious users. Existing work has pointed out that an attacker can delay the block propagation between neighboring nodes by exploiting the regular timeout mechanism for unexpected slow block transfer caused by temporal network trouble. In this paper, we focus on block diffusion delay attacks, where multiple attackers collude with a specific miner (i.e., a special node that creates new blocks and broadcasts these blocks to the other miners) to disturb the propagation of blocks generated by competing miners. Through simulation experiments, we first reveal that about 30% of honest nodes cannot normally retrieve a block when there are only 1% of the nodes in the system are high‐degree adversary nodes in the system. This indicates that the malicious miner colluding with the attackers can intentionally delay the diffusion of the block mined by the competing miner, so as to win the competitive block diffusion even if it loses at the competitive block mining. To alleviate the block diffusion delay attack, we propose two kinds of countermeasures: a proactive approach that is a speedy recovery method from the interruption by adjusting the timeout value and a reactive approach that is a block retrieval node selection method based on the past download rate from each neighbor. Through simulation experiments, we show the countermeasures can effectively alleviate the risk.
Research on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review of Methods and Implications in General Population Samples

Increasing concern about the mental health sequelae to the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a surge in research and publications on the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder in general population samples in relation to the pandemic. We examined how posttraumatic stress disorder in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic has been studied to date and found three general themes: (1) assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms relied on self-report measures and often did not determine direct trauma exposure as required by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition Criterion A to diagnose posttraumatic stress disorder; (2) inadequate assessment of pre-existing mental disorders and co-occurring stress; and (3) the use of cross-sectional designs in most studies, often relying on snowball sampling strategies to conduct online surveys. Notwithstanding these methodological limitations, these studies have reported moderate to severe posttraumatic symptoms in 25.8% of the general population on average in relation to the pandemic (ranging from 4.6% to 55.3%). Opportunities for advancing future research that will inform public health planning are discussed.
Parkinson’s disease – a review of pathogenesis, recent advances in management, and challenges of care in sub-Saharan Africa

Parkinson’s disease (PD) remains a common neurodegenerative movement disorder with significant morbidity, which is expected to increase worldwide in the coming decades. Since its initial description, much has been elucidated about its etiology, pathogenesis, and the role of genetic and environmental risk factors. Effective treatments, including surgical therapies, have been discovered. Despite these strides, many questions remain unanswered; PD remains an active research area with ongoing efforts to discover newer treatment modalities and identify neuroprotective strategies. As with many neurological conditions, there is an unequal distribution of health resources, resulting in some management challenges in low resource settings, especially sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In this communication, we provide an overview of PD etiopathogenesis, including genetics and management strategies, including some recent advances with respect to treatment options and disease modification approaches. Finally, we discuss some challenges of PD management in low-resource settings and highlight efforts to turn the tide.
Development of a Prediction Model to Estimate the Glycemic Load of Ready-to-Eat Meals

The glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) of a single food item has been used to monitor blood glucose level. However, concerns regarding the clinical relevance of the GI or GL have been raised on their applicability to a combination of several foods consumed as meal. This study aimed to investigate the glycemic response after consuming commercially purchased ready-to-eat meal and to develop the GL prediction formula using the composition of nutrients in each meal. Glycemic responses were measured in healthy adults with various mixed meals comprising approximately 25 g, 50 g, and 75 g of carbohydrates. After fasting, participants consumed test meals, and the glycemic response was measured for a subsequent 120 min. The GI and GL values for mixed meals were calculated as area under curve for each participant. For the prediction formula, 70 mixed meals were analyzed, of which the GI and GL values of 64 participants were used. The prediction formula produced was as follows: GL = 19.27 + (0.39 × available carbohydrate) – (0.21 × fat) – (0.01 × protein2) – (0.01 × fiber2). We hope that this prediction formula can be used as a useful tool to estimate the GL after consuming ready-to-eat meals.
Reply to Comment on ‘Carbon intensity of corn ethanol in the United States: state of the science’

Spawn-Lee et al published a comment on our recent paper, ‘Carbon intensity of corn ethanol in the United States: state of the science. ’ Their commentary is critical of our methodology and conclusions regarding greenhouse gas (GHG) life cycle analyses (LCAs) for corn starch ethanol and gives particular attention to the estimation of emissions from land use change (LUC). Several of the concerns stated by Spawn-Lee et al were raised in prior publications and are addressed in the recently published literature, thus, we respond to those points in brief and refer readers to those papers for more information. In response to their remaining concerns, we present detailed information in support of our approach for assessing LCAs of corn starch ethanol and our findings. Our original paper and the corroborating information provided here demonstrate that our methods are robust and our results are credible. Further, we hope this response contributes to constructive discussion and research on estimation of GHG emissions and LUC linked to corn starch ethanol.
Concurrent engineering: the moderating effect of uncertainty on new product development success

This work analyses, using linear regression, the link between concurrent engineering and success in the new product development (NPD) process under varying uncertainty conditions. The results indicate that, in environments of low or moderate uncertainty, overlapping of activities, inter-functional integration and teamwork positively affect the NPD performance in terms of development time, quality and success in launching new products. Conversely, such effects are not seen in conditions of high uncertainty. Therefore, the conclusion is that the use of concurrent engineering must depend on the context or specific conditions in which the innovative process of the company is managed.