Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structural basis for membrane anchoring of HIV-1 envelope spike

Env's transmembrane domain revealed HIV-1's envelope protein (Env) spans the viral membrane and grants the virus entry into host cells. Env is also the sole protein of HIV-1 that is targeted by antibodies, making it a key target for vaccine design. Dev et al. used nuclear magnetic resonance to determine an atomic-level structure of the membrane-spanning region of Env in a lipid bicelle. Env's transmembrane domain forms a well-ordered trimer, which includes a stabilizing C-terminal hydrophilic core. Disrupting this core alters the sensitivity of Env to broadly neutralizing antibodies, suggesting the potential importance of this region to vaccine design. Science, this issue p. 172 Structural analysis reveals how the transmembrane domain of HIV-1 Env protein regulates antibody binding. HIV-1 envelope spike (Env) is a type I membrane protein that mediates viral entry. We used nuclear magnetic resonance to determine an atomic structure of the transmembrane (TM) domain of HIV-1 Env reconstituted in bicelles that mimic a lipid bilayer. The TM forms a well-ordered trimer that protects a conserved membrane-embedded arginine. An amino-terminal coiled-coil and a carboxyl-terminal hydrophilic core stabilize the trimer. Individual mutations of conserved residues did not disrupt the TM trimer and minimally affected membrane fusion and infectivity. Major changes in the hydrophilic core, however, altered the antibody sensitivity of Env. These results show how a TM domain anchors, stabilizes, and modulates a viral envelope spike and suggest that its influence on Env conformation is an important consideration for HIV-1 immunogen design.
EFL students’ difficulties in writing a research proposal

This study aims to investigate EFL students’ difficulties in writing a research proposal by using Swales’ Create-A-Research-Space (cars) model and try to find out the students’ problems. This study was used as a qualitative research design. The subject of this study are twenty students and the instrument are students writing the research proposal, interview for the students and lecturer. The result of this research is the students’ problem in writing for their introduction for move 1 (75%) and for move 2 (55%), there are 4 (four) students having problems how to face the criteria for inclusion and exclusion from review was not justified and the literature review was not topic focused. Related to methodology, the choice of paradigm, methodology, data collection, and data analysis was not justified to answer the research questions (20%). Next, a detailed description of the research procedures, as well as an explanation of the reason for doing so, was not provided (15%). Continued to the detailed description of procedures and materials was not provided to allow for replication (15%). Moreover, a component of methodologies such as the research design, research site, and participants, data collection techniques, and data analysis is not included (15%). The last, for the references, were all student writing research proposals less to completed the way how to write a reference, such as uncompleted detailed related to sources. The biggest problem related to the students' ability to write a research proposal for the introduction. Some students face some difficulties in how to compose the background well, including introducing and reviewing items of previous research in the area, how to find a gap in the previous research and student's fewer references to quote.
A Novel and Facile Method to Characterize the Suitability of Metallic Iron for Water Treatment

Metallic iron (Fe0) materials have been industrially used for water treatment since the 1850s. There are still many fundamental challenges in affordably and reliably characterizing the Fe0 intrinsic reactivity. From the available methods, the one using Fe0 dissolution in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA—2 mM) was demonstrated the most applicable as it uses only four affordable chemicals: Ascorbic acid, an ascorbate salt, EDTA and 1,10-Phenanthroline (Phen). A careful look at these chemicals reveals that EDTA and Phen are complexing agents for dissolved iron species. Fe3-EDTA is very stable and difficult to destabilize; ascorbic acid is one of the few appropriate reducing agents, therefore. On the other hand, the Fe2-Phen complex is so stable that oxidation by dissolved O2 is not possible. This article positively tests Fe0 (0.1 g) dissolution in 2 mM Phen (50 mL) as a characterization tool for the intrinsic reactivity, using 9 commercial steel wool (Fe0 SW) specimens as probe materials. The results are compared with those obtained by the EDTA method. The apparent iron dissolution rate in EDTA (kEDTA) and in Phen (kPhen) were such that 0.53 ≤ kEDTA (μg h−1) ≤ 4.81 and 0.07 ≤ kPhen (μg h−1) ≤ 1.30. Higher kEDTA values, relative to kPhen, are a reflection of disturbing Fe3 species originating from Fe2 oxidation by dissolved O2 and dissolution of iron corrosion products. It appears that the Phen method considers only the forward dissolution of Fe0. The Phen method is reliable and represents the most affordable approach for characterizing the suitability of Fe0 for water treatment.
Prevalence and Risk Factors for Medication Discrepancies on Admission of Elderly Diabetics at Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya

Background: Medications discrepancies are defined as the variations in drug regimens during transition from one health care worker or hospital to another. The elderly diabetic patients are at risk of medication discrepancies due to their multiple comorbidities resulting in different medications from the many healthcare providers they are likely to see and physiological changes as a result of advanced age; hence the need for medication reconciliation. Objectives: The main objective of the study was to measure the prevalence and identify risk factors for medication discrepancies at admission of inpatient elderly diabetics at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). Methods: The study design was cross sectional descriptive study in which patients aged 60 years and above were recruited at the time of admission at the medical wards in 2016. Convenient sampling was conducted. A comparison of the medication used before and after admission was done to determine the number of discrepancies if any. Admitting clinicians were interviewed to determine if discrepancies were intentional or not. Linear regression was conducted to determine risk factors for the number of errors per patient. Results: Among the 163 patients recruited, 1089 medication discrepancies were identified, 63.2% of the patients had at least one unintentional discrepancy. The number of unintentional discrepancies per patient was 1.5 per patient. The most common discrepancy was omissions 236 (98.3%). Independent risk factors for discrepancies were the number of medications prior to admission (adjusted β coefficient 1.377 (95% CI: 0.767, 1.987)), hypertension (β 0.992 (95% CI: 0.094, 1.890)) and those with discharge forms from other facilities (β 0.701 (95% CI: 0.010, 1.392)). Age had a negative association with medication discrepancies (β -0.755 (95% CI: -1.284, -0.226)). Conclusion: The prevalence of medication discrepancies was high hence the need for medication reconciliation to reduce these discrepancies. Key words : Medication Reconciliation, Unintentional discrepancies, Diabetes, Elderly diabetics
Paternity after microscopic inguinal surgery of varicocele in infertile males: A 5-years follow up

Objectives: Infertility affects about 15% of couples. One of the most common causes of male infertility is varicocele. In this study, the live birth rate after microscopic inguinal varicocelectomy and some related factors were studied in Northeast of Iran. Design and patients: In this cross-sectional study, 976 infertile males who underwent microscopic inguinal varicocelectomy (2004-2009) in an academic hospital were studied and 264 were randomly selected. Female factors were ruled out. Data regarding age, varicocele grade and live birth rate were recruited and entered into SPSS-14 software; T-test and χ2 were used to analyze the variables. Results: The mean (±SD) age was 29.09 (±4.80) years, 139 (52.7%) reported to have a successful result after a mean (±SD) duration of 21.74 (±6.24) months. Unilateral varicocelectomy had significantly more positive results (58.8%) than bilateral (20.9%) but the relationship with grade was not significant. Primary type had 54.5% live birth v.s. 31.8% in secondary type (P-value< 0.05). The mean duration between operation and live birth was significantly different in primary and secondary type (P-value<0.05). Conclusions: Surgery of primary infertility could reveal to a higher live birth rate in a much shorter duration; also unilateral varicoceles are better responders to the surgery.
Effects of Agrobacterium sp. I26, Manure and Inorganic Fertilizers to Pb Content of Rice Grains Planted in Pb Polluted Soil

Chemical waste from textile industries discharged directly into rivers will affect paddy soil irrigation surrounding these factories. Thus, heavy metal pollution may occur in this paddy soil. Bioremediation can remediate polluted heavy metals by removing the pollutant. Agrobacterium sp. I26 and manure were studied as a bioremediation agent because both use biological processes in remediation. The effectivity of bioremediation agent (Agrobacterium sp. I26 or manure) and inorganic fertilizer in inhibiting the absorption of Lead (Pb) in rice, as well as the production of rice, was studied. This study used a factorial Randomized Completely Block Design (RCBD), which consisted of two factors: a) inorganic fertilizers (P): without inorganic fertilizers (P0) and with inorganic fertilizers (P1); b) bioremediation agents (K): without bioremediation agents (K0), with Agrobacterium sp. I26 (K1), with manures (K2). From these two factors, six treatment combinations with four repetitions, resulting in 24 experiment units were obtained. Results of this study showed that Agrobacterium sp. I26 and manures are able to inhibit Pb absorption in rice grains. The best treatment of this study was the combination of inorganic fertilizers with Agrobacterium sp. I26, which showed the highest weight of 1000 seeds (31.95 g), 14.96% higher compared to control, and was able to inhibit Pb absorption by rice grain up to a threshold (0.29 μg/g), 39.58% lower compared with control.
Patterns and Determinants of Preconception Health Behaviors in Iranian Women

Background: Preconception health behaviors (PCHBs) include couples’ planning for pregnancy and changing their lifestyle to have a greater chance of fertility and desirable pregnancy outcomes. Although starting preconception care has been considered in Iran for nearly a decade it has not received enough attention. For this reason there is a dearth of studies in this area. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the patterns and determinants of PCHBs in women referred to healthcare centers in Mashhad Iran. Methods: In this cross-sectional study 480 married women who had decided to become pregnant were selected from five different health centers in Mashhad through a multistage cluster sampling method. The data collection tool was a self-structured valid reliable questionnaire consisting of the three following parts: women’s demographic data questions about knowledge and attitudes about PCHBs and a checklist of PCHBs that were being performed. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS v16.5 with descriptive and inferential statistics including the Pearson correlation Chi square and Kruskal-Wallis tests. A P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: It was found that 77.7% of women had attended preconception care (PCC) programs. About 31.7% and 68.3% of women carried out preconception and interconception care respectively. About 39.8% of women used a folic acid supplement in the correct way. Only 6.9% of women engaged in regular physical activities. Approximately 33.1% of women had dental care; 9.8% received genetic counseling; and 33.3% carried out blood testing. There were significant relationships between attending PCC programs and using a folic acid supplement engaging in physical activities having blood tests and receiving dental care and genetic counseling (P < 0.0001). There were positive correlations between knowledge score and acid folic consumption (r = -0.181 P = 0.001) physical activity (r = 0.184 P = 0.001) and fruit consumption (r = 0.126 P = 0.001) respectively. Conclusions: Although the majority of women had PCC records and received advice from healthcare professionals to carry out PCHBs most of them did not adhere to the PCHB guideline recommendations. It is therefore suggested that strategies should be adopted to establish PCC services in the healthcare system and encourage clients to adhere to the PCHB guideline recommended by the ministry of health.
Ascochyta Blight and Weed Density Affected by the Rolling Times and the Packing Force Levels of Land Roller in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Production

A field experiment was conducted to examine the impacts of the rolling times [pre-emergence and post-emergence] and the packing force levels of land roller [0 kNm-1, 2.15 kNm-1, 2.70 kNm-1, 3.27 kNm-1, 3.84 kNm-1, 4.41 kNm-1] on the disease severity of Ascochyta blight (AB), total weed density, dry weed biomass weight, the density of dominant weed species and grain yield per plant in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) production. The effect of land rolling time on total weed density, dry weed biomass weight and grain weight per plant was not significant, but land rolling at post-emergence (61.34%) had significantly higher disease severity of AB than that at pre-emergence (51.87%). The packing force levels of land roller had a significant effect on the disease severity of AB, total weed density, dry weed biomass weight and grain yield per plant. The increased packing force of land roller increased the disease severity of AB. The dry weed biomass weight and total weed density was the highest at the 2.70 kNm-1 of the packing force while the 3.27 kNm-1 of the packing force resulted in the highest grain weight per plant among treatments.
Leveraging machine learning for predicting flash flood damage in the Southeast US

Flash flood is a recurrent natural hazard with substantial impacts in the Southeast US (SEUS) due to the frequent torrential rainfalls that occur in the region, which are triggered by tropical storms, thunderstorms, and hurricanes. Flash floods are costly natural hazards, primarily due to their rapid onset. Therefore, predicting property damage of flash floods is imperative for proactive disaster management. Here, we present a systematic framework that considers a variety of features explaining different components of risk (i.e. hazard, vulnerability, and exposure), and examine multiple machine learning methods to predict flash flood damage. A large database of flash flood events consisting of more than 14 000 events are assessed for training and testing the methodology, while a multitude of data sources are utilized to acquire reliable information related to each event. A variable selection approach was employed to alleviate the complexity of the dataset and facilitate the model development process. The random forest (RF) method was then used to map the identified input covariates to a target variable (i.e. property damage). The RF model was implemented in two modes: first, as a binary classifier to estimate if a region of interest was damaged in any particular flood event, and then as a regression model to predict the amount of property damage associated with each event. The results indicate that the proposed approach is successful not only for classifying damaging events (with an accuracy of 81%), but also for predicting flash flood damage with a good agreement with the observed property damage. This study is among the few efforts for predicting flash flood damage across a large domain using mesoscale input variables, and the findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.
Species Differences in Phenology Shape Coexistence

Ecological theory produces opposing predictions about whether differences in the timing of life-history transitions, or “phenology,” promote or limit coexistence. Phenological separation is predicted to create temporal niche differences, increasing coexistence, yet phenological separation could also competitively favor one species, increasing fitness differences and hindering coexistence. We experimentally manipulated relative germination timing, a critical phenological event, of two annual grass species, Vulpia microstachys and V. octoflora, to test these contrasting predictions. We parameterized a competition model to estimate within-season niche differences, fitness differences, and coexistence and to estimate coexistence when year-to-year fluctuations of germination timing occur. Increasing germination separation caused parallel changes in niche and fitness differences, with the net effect of weakening within-year coexistence. Both species experienced a competitive advantage by germinating earlier, and a 4-day head start allowed the generally inferior competitor to exclude the otherwise superior competitor. The overall consequence of germination separation was to limit coexistence within a given year, although year-to-year variation in the relative timing of germination was sufficient to support long-term coexistence. Our results clarify how phenological differences structure competitive interactions and highlight the need to quantify year-to-year variation in these differences to better understand species coexistence.
The Effect of the Corporate Social Responsibility of Franchise Coffee Shops on Corporate Image and Behavioral Intention

This study investigated the effects of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of franchise coffee shops on their corporate image and their customers’ behavioral intention. From 5 October 2017 to 26 October 2017, a total of 300 survey questionnaires were distributed, out of which 285 were analyzed. Accordingly, among the dimensions of CSR, only the economic, discretionary, and legal responsibilities had significant effects on corporate image. Moreover, corporate image had a significant effect on customers’ behavioral intention. Therefore, the CSR of franchise coffee shops is an important antecedent of corporate image, while corporate image is an important antecedent of behavioral intention. With respect to the pyramid of CSR, economic responsibilities should be first fulfilled prior to other social responsibilities. In addition, CSR programs will become the core task of corporate sustainable management because CSR can potentially influence consumers to have a positive behavioral intention and can result in product preferences by conveying a particular corporate image.
The Government Revenue–Expenditure Nexus in Southeast Europe: A Bootstrap Panel Granger-Causality Approach

ABSTRACT This article presents one of the first attempts to explore the relationship between government revenues and government expenditures in six Southeast European countries for the period 1999–2015, employing a bootstrap panel Granger-causality approach, which provides insight into the nature and direction of their relationship in each country. The empirical results indicate a unidirectional relationship from government revenues to government expenditures in five countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia), confirming the revenue-expenditure or tax-spend hypothesis. The findings offer support for the fiscal synchronization hypothesis only in Macedonia, where bidirectional causality between government revenues and government expenditures was found.
Towards Understanding the Initial Adoption of Online Retail Stores in a Low Internet Penetration Context: An Exploratory Work in Ghana

Online shopping has become increasingly popular in the past two decades. Yet, despite its popularity, the use of online stores on the African continent pales in comparison to other parts of the world. Moreover, in many economic contexts in Africa and including Ghana, there has been very limited research on the subject of online adoption and in particular, the fundamental factors that can influence its initial adoption, especially among young and relatively educated consumers who constitute the largest demographic group there. We, therefore, make a determined effort to fill this growing knowledge gap by exploring some fundamental factors associated to shop online by young and educated consumers. This exploratory research draws on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework and focuses on five variables of interest namely perceived ease of use, government support infrastructure, and economic considerations about pricing, perceived convenience and use intentions of online retail stores. Evidence collected from 294 research participants provides support for our research propositions Finally, our research contributions and future study directions are considered in the concluding part of the paper.
Leisure activities and mobility device use among very old people in Latvia and in Sweden

Introduction Opportunities for leisure activities and physical mobility are important for the ageing population. Therefore, we aim to describe leisure activities outside the home among very old (over 80 years of age) users and non-users of mobility devices in two European countries. Method Survey data on mobility device use, self-rated physical mobility and leisure activities outside the home were utilised for a Latvian (n = 225) and Swedish (n = 314) sample. Differences in type and number of leisure activities were studied between the countries and for four groups of participants according to use/non-use of and level of physical mobility. Results Significant differences in type and number of leisure activities were seen between the national samples and among the participant groups. In general, each participant group in the Swedish sample reported more leisure activities than did those in the Latvian sample. Non-users with good physical mobility reported significantly more leisure activities than all other participant groups. Conclusion There are differences between the two national contexts in the type and number of leisure activities reported. To support very old people’s participation in outdoor leisure activities, we need more knowledge as to how physical, institutional and sociocultural environments affect very old people’s opportunities to engage in and perform such activities.
'Crossover kids': Offending by child protection-involved youth

The over-representation of children from child protection backgrounds in the youth justice system is a significant and longstanding concern. While the association between child maltreatment and youth offending is established, the pathway of child protection-involved youth to criminal justice outcomes has received little attention. This paper presents selected findings of a detailed case file audit of 300 crossover children appearing before the Victorian Children’s Court in 2016–17. Findings explore children’s exposure to maltreatment and other adversity, as well as their child protection involvement, co-occurring challenges, offending and sentencing outcomes. The risk factors for earlier and more serious offending are also examined. Results indicate that crossover children present with more serious offending profiles than other court-involved children. The findings emphasise the need to prevent, divert and respond to crossover children’s criminal justice contact.