Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Towards the Mass Fabrication of Single Electron Transistors for Biosensing Applications

The development of ultra sensitive charge sensing devices such as single-electron transistors (SETs) for next-generation biomedical applications has received considerable attention in the past few years. In this thesis, a potential approach for the mass-fabrication of metallic SETs for ultra-sensitive biosensing applications --- an important prerequisit for early diagnosis of many serious diseases --- is investigated. Using the orthodox theory of Coulomb blockade it is shown that it is possible to engineer an SET system that can satisfy the requirements for a highly sensitive charge sensor operating at room temperature while using metallic electrodes rather than semiconductor structures. In this configuration, the SET design and fabrication process is simplified greatly by lifting the dependence of the system on the confinement energy of electrons in the quantum dots (QDs), as is the case in semiconductor SETs. In return, this makes the tunnel junction properties and the geometrical arrangement of the islands and electrodes far more critical in determining the maximum operating temperature of the device. Here, the geometrical requirements for such a sensitive device are studied theoretically whilst the tunnel junction properties are studied experimentally and then theoretically to provide a thorough assessment of the abilities of the proposed SET system. Atomic-layer deposition (ALD) has proven to be a highly reliable technique for depositing uniform thickness and reproducible thin metal-oxide films and particularly the Al2O3 ALD process is known to be `ideal' with highly reproducible properties. Here, a systematic study of the electronic properties of ALD deposited Al2O3 thin films in MIM structures was performed to assess the ALD techniques applicability to the mass fabrication of quantum tunneling junctions for metallic SET structures. The two most crucial material parameters relevant to the design of metallic SET tunnel barriers are studied in detail; the dielectric constant of the film that determines the junction capacitance, and the properties of the potential barrier that mediates electron tunneling. Photolithographic techniques were used to create electrodes with a wide range of characteristic lengths as to provide a wide range of impedances. Measurements and subsequent analysis show that a high consistency can be attained over large surface areas in the film properties, and that electrode coverage is very effective, showing promise for mass-fabrication applications. Further analysis of the measurements shows that small static distortions in the barrier can affect the symmetry of MIM diode IV characteristics operating in the direct tunneling regime and that under certain circumstances the effect of surface states can be observed in the tunneling conductance.
Prediction Analysis on Coefficient of Consolidation Values in Improved Soft Clays

Consolidation is a phenomenon in soil mechanics that often causes geotechnical problems. One solution to overcome consolidation phenomena is by speeding up process of pore water pressure dissipation. The type of soil improvement to upgrade the performance of soft clay is by applying pre-fabricated vertical drain (PVD) and pre-compression simultaneously. Geotechnical instrumentations such as settlement plates, piezometers, and inclinometers were installed at the field of study to monitor magnitude of settlement during consolidation process. After the final settlement was achieved, the consolidation parameters such as coefficient of consolidation, and rate of settlement, were back calculated. Prediction analysis of consolidations parameters was performed by means of Asaoka method. The results of this study is very interesting and provide useful engineering information. It is interesting to note that this case study may be beneficial use to practicing engineers and researchers. Keywords: settlement; Asaoka method; degree of consolidation; geotechnical instrumentations; soft clay
Genetic Diversity and Pedigree Analysis of Red Currant Germplasm

This represents the first report on the genetic diversity of red currant germplasm collections based on genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) data. Genotypes of 75 individuals of different origin were assessed in more than 7.5K genome positions. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis has been performed. There are five accessions that are significantly isolated from each other and from the rest of the analyzed cultivars. F1 offspring of R. petraeum Wulf (Rote Hollandische) and Gondouin, as well as Rote Spatlese (F2 of R. petraeum and F2 of R. multiflorum Kit.), are the most genetically isolated on the MDS plot. Ribes multiflorum is closer to the rest of cultivars than the three abovementioned accessions. Purpurnaya cultivar (F1 of Rote Spatlese) is located between Rote Hollandische and R. multiflorum. Other genotypes, mostly represented by varieties having several species in a pedigree, occupied the rest of MDS plot relatively evenly. Descendants of R. multiflorum have been placed in the left part of MDS plot, which underlines their genetic diversity from other accessions. White- and pink-fruited cultivars were clustered together, underlining genetic relatedness. Admixture analysis of GBS data reveals six clusters (K = 6). Presumably, clustering reflects relatedness to R. petraeum, R. rubrum, R. vulgare var macrocarpum, R. multiflorum, R. vulgare, and Jonker van Tets. Based on genotyping data, F1 offspring of R. warscewiczs Jancz (cultivar Viksne), R. altissimum Turcz (Cirald), and R. palczewskii (Jancz.) Pojark (Skorospelaya) have not exhibited strict separation and were placed in a pool with other varieties. This supports modern taxonomic classifications that do not consider R. altissimum and R. palczewskii as independent species.
Registered Drug Packs of Antimicrobials and Treatment Guidelines for Prostatitis: Are They in Accordance?

The aim of this study was to analyze if registered drug packs of antibiotics are in accordance with national guidelines for prostatitis treatment regard to the amount of drug units. ; Methods: Croatian, UK (NICE), Australian, Spanish and Slovenian national guidelines were analyzed in this study. Results: Comparing treatment guidelines with registered drug packs resulted in perfect accordance only for drug packs registered in the UK with the NICE guidelines, where even split-pack dispensing is possible. Interestingly, when comparing drug packs registered in the UK with treatment proposed in the national guidelines of Croatia, Italy, Spain, Australia, USA and Slovenia, they matched almost perfectly. In other investigated countries, registered drug packs’ national guidelines’ analysis showed mismatch in 25–100% of recommendations (Italy and Slovenia, respectively). Conclusions: Mismatch between registered drug packs that are dispensed to patients and treatment guidelines may result in excess units of antimicrobials that may be misused by the patient in the future, or excess antimicrobials may become unnecessary waste, further promoting antimicrobial resistance. Greater accordance of registered drug packs of antimicrobials with treatment guidelines may lower rates of antimicrobials misuse.
Molecular Characterization of Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Isolated from Intensive Care Unit Patients in Jordanian Hospitals

Acinetobacter baumannii is a common cause of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) worldwide, mostly occurring in intensive care units (ICUs). Extended-spectrum beta lactamases (ESBL)-positive A. baumannii strains have emerged as highly resistant to most currently used antimicrobial agents, including carbapenems. The most common mechanism for carbapenem resistance in this species is β-lactamase-mediated resistance. Carbapenem-hydrolyzing class D oxacillinases are widespread among multidrug-resistant (MDR) A. baumannii strains. The present study was conducted to determine the presence and distribution of blaOXA genes among multidrug-resistant A. baumannii isolated from ICU patients and genes encoding insertion sequence (IS-1) in these isolates. Additionally, the plasmid DNA profiles of these isolates were determined. A total of 120 clinical isolates of A. baumannii from various ICU clinical specimens of four main Jordanian hospitals were collected. Bacterial isolate identification was confirmed by biochemical testing and antibiotic sensitivity was then assessed. PCR amplification and automated sequencing were carried out to detect the presence of blaOXA-51, blaOXA-23, blaOXA-24, and blaOXA-58 genes, and ISAba1 insertion sequence. Out of the 120 A. baumannii isolates, 95% of the isolates were resistant to three or more classes of the antibiotics tested and were identified as MDR. The most frequent resistance of the isolates was against piperacillin (96.7%), cephalosporins (97.5%), and β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations antibiotics (95.8%). There were 24 (20%) ESBL-producing isolates. A co-existence of blaOXA-51 gene and ISAba1 in all the 24 ESBL-producing isolates was determined. In addition, in the 24 ESBL-producing isolates, 21 (87.5%) carried blaOXA-51 and blaOXA-23 genes, 1 (4.2%) carried blaOXA-51 and blaOXA-24, but all were negative for the blaOXA-58 gene. Plasmid DNA profile A and profile B were the most common (29%) in ESBL-positive MDR A. baumannii isolates while plasmid DNA profile A was the most common in the ESBL-negative isolates. In conclusion, there was an increase in prevalence of MDR-A. baumannii in ICU wards in Jordanian hospitals, especially those having an ESBL phenotype. Thus, identification of ESBL genes is necessary for the surveillance of their transmission in hospitals.
The Prevalence and Risk Factors for Urinary Tract Infection in Kidney Transplant Recipients in the First Year After Transplantation

Background: End-stage renal disease (ESRD) needs replacement therapy and most often, kidney transplantation is the best therapeutic option. Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most important complications after renal transplantation that affects transplantation outcomes. Objectives: This study aimed to define the incidence rate, UTI risk factors among kidney transplant recipients, and causative organism of UTI and their antibiotic susceptibility. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we collected clinical, demographic, and laboratory data from 268 transplant recipients in Ali-Asghar Hospital from 2011 - 2018. Data collected from patients were analyzed with SPSS software version 25. Results: According to the results, 50 (18.7%) had UTI in the first year after renal transplantation. Female gender and underlying cause of renal failure were predisposing factors for UTI. The most common causative organism was Escherichia coli (58.4%). The antibiotic susceptibility results showed nitrofurantoin and meropenem as the most effective antibiotics for Escherichia coli. Conclusions: The UTI was more common in women and patients with analgesic nephropathy and lupus nephritis. The most common causative organism was E. coli and meropenem and nitrofurantoin were the most effective drug choices.
Oil sands production scheduling and waste management with optimum cut-off grade policy

Cut-off grade is the criterion that separates ore from waste and it determines the amount of ore and waste material in the final pit limit. To generate an optimum production schedule for the mine life, cut-off grade optimisation is used to determine the cut-off grade, duration of mining of the grade and the amount of material mined. This research developed a heuristic optimisation model that generates an optimum cut-off grade policy and a schedule for ore and waste material including overburden (OB), interburden (IB) and tailings coarse sand (TCS) dyke materials for dyke construction in oil sands mining. Scenarios investigated include: no stockpiling and stockpiling with limited reclamation duration. The scenario of reclaiming the stockpile after one year had the highest net present value (NPV) as well as the highest cut-off grade profile. Reclaiming the stockpile after two years had less NPV due to reduction in processing recovery resulting from oxidation.
Efficacy and mechanisms of a brief adaptive goal-setting intervention for physical activity: A randomised pilot trial

ABSTRACT Adaptive goal-setting (AGS) interventions, which tailor physical activity (PA) goals to changing individual capability over time, have previously shown efficacy for improving physical activity compared with more standard, static goal-setting (SGS). However, trials to date have been fully automated, which negatively impacts generalisability to more traditional coaching interventions providing human coach support. Furthermore, data on underlying mechanisms of action of AGS are lacking. The purpose of the current pilot trial was to address these two research gaps by preliminarily evaluating both efficacy and change in putative underlying mechanisms of AGS during a 6-week, coach-supplemented PA intervention. 38 sedentary adults (89.5% female) engaging in <150 min of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week and without medical or psychiatric conditions contraindicating increased PA, were randomised to receive 6 weeks of either AGS or SGS. PA was assessed daily and mechanistic variables were assessed up to once weekly. Results indicated that as expected, AGS produced a significantly greater initial PA increase relative to SGS (d = 0.14). However, the AGS group also showed a small (d = 0.01), unexpected, subsequent decrease in PA that was greater than under SGS. A non-significant trend towards greater improvement in implicit attitudes towards PA following AGS was also observed (d = 0.62) but change in implicit attitudes did not mediate intervention effects on PA. Findings suggest that a brief, coach-supplemented AGS intervention was not superior to SGS for increasing PA, but also highlight that implicit attitude variables may warrant further study as potential mechanisms of AGS. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04505241.
Distribution System Services Provided by Electric Vehicles: Recent Status, Challenges, and Future Prospects

Trend-setting countries have promoted or even employed an increased number of electric vehicles (EVs) and other distributed energy resources (DERs) in their power systems. This development has triggered new and increasing challenges in the distribution system planning and operation, whereby the distribution systems must adapt to the increased share of DERs. However, EVs may also offer new opportunities and can be used to support the grid by providing several local and global power- and energy-based services. This paper presents a review and classification of the services potentially available from EVs for distribution systems, referred to as EV distribution system services (EV-DSS). A detailed description of recent services and approaches is given, and an assessment of the maturity of EV-DSS is provided. Moreover, challenges and prospects for future research are identified, considering key topics, such as the design of the market framework, economic assessment, battery degradation, and the impacts of the transmission system operator service provision by EVs on distribution networks. Thus, this paper offers a tool for stakeholders concerning services available from EVs and provides a broad literature framework that can be used as a base for further investigations. It is aligned with the current requirements to move toward the realistic implementations of EV-DSS.
Expression retargeting from images to three‐dimensional face models represented in texture space

Facial expressions play a very important role in creating a vivid and realistic virtual character. This paper proposes a convolutional neural network‐based facial expression retargeting framework named EXPUV‐Net, which can extract expression information from an image and transfer it to a specified 3D face. With the help of the nonlinear generator, the proposed framework can generate rich facial expressions and does not rely on the blendshape model. A data augmentation approach is adopted in this paper, which can improve the adaptability of the proposed framework. The framework can realize expression retargeting for face models with different topologies. This paper also demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed framework through some experiments and compares it with some linear face model‐based methods for facial component extraction and face reconstruction. The results show that the proposed framework has better performance than the linear methods. The proposed framework is very helpful for facial expression generation for virtual characters.
Construct of the Association between Sleep Quality and Perinatal Depression: A Literature Review

Pregnancy is characterized by hormonal and physiological changes; some of these changes cause changes in sleep, presenting excessive sleep in early pregnancy due to the action of progesterone, and difficulty sleeping at the end of pregnancy due to weight gain and frequency of urination. Objective: to identify and systematize the evidence on the association between sleep quality and perinatal depression in pregnant and postpartum women. Methods: an integrative literature review was carried out with a search in the CINAHL, MEDLINE, and SCOPUS databases using the PRISMA flowchart. Results: Of the 92 articles, 10 studies were included according to the eligibility criteria. Results indicate that poor sleep quality during pregnancy is predictive of prenatal and postnatal depression. Sleep quality worsens with increasing gestational and maternal age. Conclusions: Sleep quality during pregnancy is associated with perinatal depression, a global public health problem with high prevalence. Due to its severe consequences for women, children, and families, perinatal depression needs to be identified early, preferably during pregnancy or soon after childbirth, justifying the priority of screening and prevention.
Genome-Wide Analysis of the Peptidase M24 Superfamily in Triticum aestivum Demonstrates That TaM24-9 Is Involved in Abiotic Stress Response

The peptidase M24 (Metallopeptidase 24, M24) superfamily is essential for plant growth, stress response, and pathogen defense. At present, there are few systematic reports on the identification and classification of members of the peptidase M24 proteins superfamily in wheat. In this work, we identified 53 putative candidate TaM24 genes. According to the protein sequences characteristics, these members can be roughly divided into three subfamilies: I, II, III. Most TaM24 genes are complex with multiple exons, and the motifs are relatively conserved in each sub-group. Through chromosome mapping analysis, we found that the 53 genes were unevenly distributed on 19 wheat chromosomes (except 3A and 3D), of which 68% were in triads. Analysis of gene duplication events showed that 62% of TaM24 genes in wheat came from fragment duplication events, and there were no tandem duplication events to amplify genes. Analysis of the promoter sequences of TaM24 genes revealed that cis-acting elements were rich in response elements to drought, osmotic stress, ABA, and MeJA. We also studied the expression of TaM24 in wheat tissues at developmental stages and abiotic stress. Then we selected TaM24-9 as the target for further analysis. The results showed that TaM24-9 genes strengthened the drought and salt tolerance of plants. Overall, our analysis showed that members of the peptidase M24 genes may participate in the abiotic stress response and provided potential gene resources for improving wheat resistance.
Attitudes toward Mental Health Services among Detained Adolescents: The Role of CU Traits

ABSTRACT Youth involved in the juvenile justice system are at risk for a multitude of psychological and adjustment difficulties. Unfortunately, oftentimes these individuals do not receive the services needed. Attitudes toward mental health services contribute to whether an individual receives help; yet little is known about factors that are associated with detained youths’ attitudes regarding help. The current study advanced the literature by further examining how youth self-reports of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and aggression were related to attitudes toward mental health services among 229 detained youth (74.5% male, Mage = 15.52 years, SDage = 1.54). Additionally, the influence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits was examined. Findings suggest that while anxiety symptoms were associated with more positive attitudes toward mental health services, symptoms of depression and CU traits were associated with less positive attitudes toward mental health services. However, CU traits did not moderate associations between symptom clusters and attitudes toward mental health services. Findings suggest the need to consider internalizing symptom clusters as well as CU traits in how to approach youth regarding treatment engagement.
Health-Related Quality of Life following Total Thyroidectomy and Lobectomy for Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma: A Systematic Review

Health-related quality of life (HrQoL) is a major concern for patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC). We aimed to systematically review the literature comparing HrQol following total thyroidectomy (TT) and hemithyroidectomy (HT) in DTC patients. A systematic review of publications indexed in Medline, Embase, and EBM reviews—Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, which evaluated HrQoL following thyroid surgery for DTC, was conducted. Of 2507 identified records, 25 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Our results suggest that patients undergoing TT may suffer more impairment in physical and social HrQoL than patients undergoing HT. Psychological-related HrQoL and long-term global HrQoL are, however, equivalent in both groups, which highlights the multidimensional nature of HrQoL and the importance of a multitude of factors aside from treatment modalities and related morbidities, such as the experience of receiving a cancer diagnosis, the fear of cancer recurrence, and other psychosocial factors. Addressing postoperative HrQoL when discussing therapeutic options with patients is an integral part of patient-centered care and informed shared decision-making, and should be approached in a holistic manner, accounting for its physical, psychological, and social aspects. This review supplies evidence regarding HrQoL following thyroid surgery, which can be employed in such decisions.
Phytochemical Analysis, Antioxidant, Antimicrobial, and Cytotoxic Activity of Different Extracts of Xanthoparmelia stenophylla Lichen from Stara Planina, Serbia

The aim of this study was to identify some of the secondary metabolites present in acetonic, methanolic, and hexanic extracts of lichen Xanthoparmelia stenophylla and to examine their antioxidant, antimicrobial, and cytotoxic activity. Compounds of the depsid structure of lecanoric acid, obtusic acid, and atranorin as well as usnic acid with a dibenzofuran structure were identified in the extracts by HPLC. The acetone extract was shown to have the highest total phenolic (167.03 ± 1.12 mg GAE/g) and total flavonoid content (178.84 ± 0.93 mg QE/g) as well as the best antioxidant activity (DPPH IC50 = 81.22 ± 0.54). However, the antimicrobial and antibiofilm tests showed the best activity of hexanic extract, especially against strains of B. cereus, B. subtilis, and S. aureus (MIC < 0.08, and 0.3125 mg/mL, respectively). Additionally, by using the MTT method, the acetonic extract was reported to exhibit a strong cytotoxic effect on the HeLa and HCT-116 cell lines, especially after 72 h (IC50 = 21.17 ± 1.85 and IC50 = 21.48 ± 3.55, respectively). The promising antioxidant, antimicrobial, and cytotoxic effects of Xanthoparmelia stenophylla extracts shown in the current study should be further investigated in vivo and under clinical conditions.