Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EEG alpha and theta signatures of socially and non-socially cued working memory in virtual reality

Abstract In this preregistered study (https://osf.io/s4rm9) we investigated the behavioural and neurological [electroencephalography; alpha (attention) and theta (effort)] effects of dynamic non-predictive social and non-social cues on working memory. In a virtual environment realistic human-avatars dynamically looked to the left or right side of a table. A moving stick served as a non-social control cue. Kitchen items were presented in the valid cued or invalid un-cued location for encoding. Behavioural findings showed a similar influence of the cues on working memory performance. Alpha power changes were equivalent for the cues during cueing and encoding, reflecting similar attentional processing. However, theta power changes revealed different patterns for the cues. Theta power increased more strongly for the non-social cue compared to the social cue during initial cueing. Furthermore, while for the non-social cue there was a significantly larger increase in theta power for valid compared to invalid conditions during encoding, this was reversed for the social cue, with a significantly larger increase in theta power for the invalid compared to valid conditions, indicating differences in the cues’ effects on cognitive effort. Therefore, while social and non-social attention cues impact working memory performance in a similar fashion, the underlying neural mechanisms appear to differ.
The Effect of Job Insecurity on Innovative Work Behavior through Organizational Commitment in UFO Elektronika Employees

UFO Elektronika is a brand used by PT Damai Sejahtera Abadi, company engaged in furniture and electronic retail, which was founded in 2003. This study aims to determine and explain the effect of job insecurity on innovative work behavior with organizational commitment as an intervening variable on UFO Elektronika employees. This is a quantitative study with a sample of 41 employees using the saturated sampling technique. The statistical analysis used SEM-PLS with SmartPLS 3 software. The results explained that job insecurity has a negative significant effect on organizational commitment, job insecurity has a negative significant effect on innovative work behavior, organizational commitment has a positive significant effect on innovative work behavior, and organizational commitment are able to mediate the relationship between job insecurity and innovative work behavior. The implementation of research that can be applied to companies is the creation of a suggestion box that can be filled in by employees to report conditions in the workplace to minimize work insecurity caused by several factors and communicate problem solving together, compile an organizational culture to strengthen the bonds of value, company values for employees, and rewarding employees who are active in proposing innovative ideas for the success of the company.
Factors that Influence High School Female Students’ Intentions to Pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education in Malaysia

Despite the increase in the number of female students in education indicating a reversal in the gender gap, their participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in Malaysia is still a matter of concern. This study extends empirical explanations for this gender gap and identifies factors influencing high school students’ intentions to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education in Malaysia. The present study aims to develop a framework of female intention to pursue STEM education by examining the impact of five independent variables on STEM self-efficacy and in turn the impact of self-efficacy on intention. The independent variables include attitude towards STEM, self-concept, gender stereotype, motivation, and teacher stereotypes. The study also examines the independent and moderating impact of career outcome expectancy on the relationship between self-efficacy and intention. Data was collected from 211 secondary school female students in Forms 4 and 5, studying at eight secondary schools in two states in Malaysia. The data was analyzed using SmartPLS. The results of the study show that attitude, motivation, and career outcome expectancy are positive and are significant predictors of STEM self-efficacy, whereas gender and teacher stereotypes are the negative predictors. The results of the study also highlight that self-efficacy is a strong predictor of intention to pursue STEM education. These findings of the study would assist policymakers to develop suitable strategies to improve female participation in STEM education in Malaysia.
Globalization and Austerity: Flipping Partisan Effects on Fiscal Policy During (Recent) International Crises

This article investigates the effect of government partisanship on fiscal policy outputs during the three international economic crises of 1981–1984, 1990–1994 and 2008–2013. Encompassing 19–23 advanced democracies, the statistical analysis suggests that partisan effects have increased over time and are characterized, in the two last crises, by a “new asymmetry” whereby left governments pursued more contractionary fiscal policies than non-left governments over the course of the business cycle. Furthermore, it attributes left governments’ endorsement of austere fiscal policies to the constraining effects of financial markets in the context of high/surging debt. This is supported by qualitative analysis of select government responses to the Global Financial Crisis, shedding new light on the new austerity that started in the early 2010s. The ideological mix with political partisanship during hard times surely is confusing to ordinary citizens. The article cautiously points to a neglected yet important international economic origin of our political discontents.
Evaluating the Effect of Tissue Selection on the Characteristics of Extracellular Matrix Hydrogels from Decellularized Porcine Bladders

Porcine urinary bladder is one of the most used organs to fabricate extracellular matrix (ECM) hydrogel. Although there are two different ECM types inside a bladder, i.e., urinary bladder matrix (UBM) and a subtype ECM (sECM), most studies have only employed UBM for hydrogel fabrication, and overlooked the potential use of sECM. In another aspect, the delamination of UBM from bladders is a time-consuming process; consequently, the use of the whole bladder (WB) will likely increase production yield. Therefore, the objective of this study was to fabricate hydrogels from sECM and WB and compare them to UBM. The results indicated that different layers of the bladder shared almost the same biochemical composition. In terms of gelation kinetics, rheology and morphology, although hydrogels from UBM and sECM exhibited some discrepancies, those from UBM and WB interestingly possessed almost the same characteristics. In in vitro studies, all the hydrogels possessed nearly the same biochemical effects towards L929 viability and C2C12 differentiation. These results could preliminarily indicate that the use of sECM should no longer be ignored, and WB could be a promising substitution for UBM hydrogels, eliminating the need for time-consuming delamination processes, as well as increasing the possibility of mass production.
Zinc, Copper and Iron in Consumed Fish from Tapajós River Basin, PA, Brazil

Nowadays, a wide range of ecosystems are under anthropogenic disturbance. Aquatic organisms are exposed to a large number of toxic substances and can be used for environmental monitoring. Zinc, copper and iron are essential metals, however, in high concentrations have toxic effects. This study investigated the concentration of these elements in fish muscle from Tapajos river basin to estimate human exposure and its spatial variation along the Tapajos river. Fish (n = 129) from four areas along 400 km of the Tapajos river (Bubure, Itaituba, Alter do Chao and Santarem) were assessed. Metal concentrations were measured by flame atomic absorption spectrometry after acid mineralization. Zinc, copper and iron concentrations in fish ranged from 2 to 15 μg. g -1 wet weight (w.w.), 1 to 4 μg. g -1 w.w. and 5 to 286 μg. g -1 w.w. , respectively. The concentrations of these elements were below the maximum residue level permitted in food established by the Brazilian legislations (ANVISA). The estimated daily ingestion values of the three elements did not exceed the reference value proposed by World Heath Organization based on a diet composed of these fish species. Zinc, copper and iron are essentials, therefore, there is also a recommendation of the minimum daily ingestion to avoid deficiency. Considering a daily consumption of 200 g of these fish, the population no reaches of the recommended minimum value of these elements. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.17807/orbital.v10i4. 1066
Maternal input to infants and toddlers after an early hospitalization: a longitudinal study

ABSTRACT Maternal input addressed to children after an early hospitalization (EH) was longitudinally compared to maternal input directed to typically developing children (TD), at 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months of age. The data were analyzed with the CHILDES tools for (a) word-tokens (b) word-types (c) Mean Length of Utterances (MLU) and (d) questions in which the mothers request a response or a turn. Nonsignificant differences between groups were found. Only questions were significantly higher for EH mothers than for TD mothers across the five sessions. Lexical Correspondence Analysis (LCA) on these two datasets show qualitative differences between the two groups. Depression and anxiety at 12 months and children attachment behaviour assessed at 18 months do not play a role from EH mothers. These findings suggest that EH mothers have a specific conversational style encouraging their infants and toddlers to request salient information or to perform an action.
Earnings management of brazilian firms in the IFRS era: The role of economic and institutional factors

This study investigates whether accounting quality – more specifically regarding the level of earnings management by accruals – is associated with a country’s economic and institutional factors that change over time in IFRS era. Based on a sample of 1,387 Brazilian firm-year observations and data regarding 2011 to 2018, econometric models are estimated considering the absolute amount of discretionary accruals as proxy for earnings management and different aspects related to economic and institutional factors of preeminent importance to an emerging economy. We show that in general, high inflation, stock market volatility, and policy uncertainty rates, as well as lower regulatory quality, on average, are associated with a higher level of earnings management in Brazil. This study contributes to the accounting literature in emerging economies discussing the role of economic and institutional factors on accounting quality in the IFRS era in one of the largest developing country in the world. Compared to developed countries or even to other developing economies, Brazil stands out as an emerging economy of considerable economic and political instability, making it a valuable setting for this analysis.
Development of a Novel Bi-Enzymatic Nanobiocatalyst for the Efficient Bioconversion of Oleuropein to Hydroxytyrosol

Lipase A from Candida antarctica (CalA) and β-glucosidase from Thermotoga maritima (bgl) were covalently co-immobilized onto the surface of chitosan-coated magnetic nanoparticles (CS-MNPs). Several parameters regarding the co-immobilization procedure (glutaraldehyde concentration, incubation time, CS-MNPs to enzyme mass ratio and bgl to CalA mass ratio) were evaluated and optimized. The developed nanobiocatalyst was characterized by various spectroscopic techniques. Biochemical parameters such as kinetic constants and thermal stability were also evaluated. The nanobiocatalytic system revealed an increase in the Km constant followed by a decrease in Vmax value compared with the native enzymes, while a significant increase (>5-fold higher) of the thermal stability of the immobilized CalA, both in individual and in co-immobilized form, was observed after 24 h incubation at 60 °C. Finally, the nanobiocatalyst was efficiently applied for the bioconversion of oleuropein to hydroxytyrosol, one of the most powerful naturally derived antioxidants, and it could be recycled for up to 10 reaction cycles (240 h of constant operation) at 60 °C, retaining more than 50% of its initial activity.
Correlation Based Time Evolution of the Archeomagnetic Field

In a previous study, a new snapshot modeling concept for the archeomagnetic field was introduced (Mauerberger et al., 2020, https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggaa336). By assuming a Gaussian process for the geomagnetic potential, a correlation‐based algorithm was presented, which incorporates a closed‐form spatial correlation function. This work extends the suggested modeling strategy to the temporal domain. A space‐time correlation kernel is constructed from the tensor product of the closed‐form spatial correlation kernel with a squared exponential kernel in time. Dating uncertainties are incorporated into the modeling concept using a noisy input Gaussian process. All but one modeling hyperparameters are marginalized, to reduce their influence on the outcome and to translate their variability to the posterior variance. The resulting distribution incorporates uncertainties related to dating, measurement and modeling process. Results from application to archeomagnetic data show less variation in the dipole than comparable models, but are in general agreement with previous findings.
Michel Lallement, Un désir d’égalité. Vivre et travailler dans des communautés utopiques

Depuis la fin des annees 1960, aux Etats-Unis, des individus font le choix de vivre en communaute et de mettre quotidiennement en pratique des principes de vie et de travail egalitaires, en se positionnant plus ou moins a l’ecart de la societe conventionnelle. C’est sur ces « utopies concretes », definies comme des experiences « reelles », « collectives », « situees » et « morales », leurs logiques sous-jacentes, leurs permanences, leurs recompositions et donc plus generalement sur les mondes.
Optical trapping of quantum-dot conjugated AMPA-type receptors depend on initial assembling states

AMPA-type glutamate receptor (AMPAR) is one of the major neurotransmitter receptors at excitatory synapses. The initial assembling states of AMPARs at cell surface are essential for synaptic transmission, which is related with learning and memory in living neural systems. To realize artificial control of synaptic transmission, we demonstrate to modulate the initial assembling states of quantum-dot conjugated AMPARs (QD-AMPARs) with optical trapping. The optical trapping dynamics of QD-AMPARs on living neurons was evaluated with fluorescence imaging and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). The transit time at laser focus of QD-AMPARs on neurons estimated from FCS analysis increased with the culturing days and addition of neurotransmitter, which suggests that QD-AMPARs are confined at the focal spot due to optical trapping.
Subject Clitics in Microcontact: A Case Study from Heritage Friulian in Argentina and Brazil

In this paper we present data from first generation immigrants (G1) and second and third generation heritage speakers of Friulian, a Rhaeto-Romance language spoken in North-Eastern Italy and also found in Argentina and Brazil. The target phenomenon is subject clitics (SCL s). We show that SCL s in heritage Friulian are in a process of being reanalyzed from being agreement markers to pronouns. While SCL s are obligatory in Friulian as spoken in Italy, they are often dropped in heritage Friulian in Argentina and Brazil; this phenomenon, we argue, needs to be interpreted as the drop of pronominal subjects, and not of agreement-like SCL s. We also demonstrate that the use of SCL s (reanalyzed as pronominal subjects) is conditioned both by grammatical factors (it happens more in some grammatical persons than in others) and by discourse factors (they are used more in the case of a continuation topic than in other topicalization contexts). This means that in heritage Friulian, discourse constraints on the expression of subjects are not being lost or weakened; in fact, against the general grammaticalization trend of pronominal forms, new discourse constraints are introduced.
Strategies for prevention, circumvention, and reversal of drug resistance in tumor cells

Both the intrinsic and the acquired anticancer drug resistance presents until today a major drawback in the management of cancer. The handling with drug resistance is aggravated by the facts that drug resistance is a multifactorial and multifaceted phenomenon. The development of tumor-targeted pharmacological and genetic strategies to overcome intrinsic resistance and to prevent the resistance acquisition is thus still a pressing need. We put forward the two main objectives: 1) The reversal of the pre-existing drug resistance in p53-deficient cells by either the concomitant abrogation of DNA repair functions or by the concomitant blocking of cytoprotective signaling pathways. 2) The identification of members of the novel class of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors with anticancer activity that have (or do not have) the potential to cause resistance acquisition in tumor cells. Mutations in the p53 gene and dysregulation of p53-dependent cellular processes are often associated with cancer and resistance to radio- and chemotherapy. Many Advances have been taken to reconstitute the (wildtype) p53 tumor suppressor pathway in cancer cells. We showed that genetic abrogation of the expression of the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) gene Pms2 in cells depleted for the p53 tumor suppressor function hypersensitized these cells to the cytotoxic effect of some anticancer agents through an increase in the rate of apoptosis. Expanding on this, we also showed that genetic depletion of either ATM, BRCA1, or DNA-PK resulted in an increase in the chemosensitivity of p53-deficient cells against a variety of anticancer agents. These studies indicate that tumor-targeted functional inhibition of either one or the other of these DNA repair genes may reverse resistance in p53-mutated tumors and therefore provide a strategy for increasing chemotherapy efficacy for these tumors. Analogous as well as opposing results were reported for loss of the MMR protein MLH1 in p53-deficient cells with Cisplatin. However, neither Radicicol (HSP90 inhibitor) nor LY294002 and LY294005 (Akt inhibitors) were found to reverse Cisplatin resistance specifically in MMR-deficient tumor cells. These Akt inhibitors even further decreased the sensitivity against Cisplatin, suggesting - in addition to its acknowledged cytoprotective function - a cytodestructive function of Akt. On the other hand, we showed the potential of the HDAC inhibitor SAHA to induce stable and MDR-independent resistance in HCT116 colon tumor cells. As these results differ from those reported with FK-228, we propose a novel mechanism of resistance acquisition by the SAHA, the nature of which is still obscure. This is under investigation, as is novel and intriguing molecular approach to reverse drug resistance: the liposomal delivery of (exogenous) cytochrome c to tumor cells.
Optimum thickness of GaAs top layer in AlGaAs‐based 850 nm VCSELs for 56 Gb/s PAM‐4 applications

We studied the influence of GaAs top‐layer thickness on the small‐signal modulation response and 56 Gb/s four‐level pulse‐amplitude modulation eye quality of 850 nm vertical‐cavity surface‐emitting lasers (VCSELs). We considered the proportionality of the gain‐saturation coefficient to the photon lifetime. The simulation results that employed the transfer‐matrix method and laser rate equations led to the conclusion that the proportionality should be considered for proper explanation of the experimental results. From the obtained optical eyes, we could determine an optimum thickness of the GaAs top layer that rendered the best eye quality of VCSEL. We also compared two results: one result with a fixed gain‐saturation coefficient and the other that considered the proportionality. The former result with the constant gain‐saturation coefficient demonstrated a better eye quality and a wider optimum range of the GaAs top‐layer thickness because the resultant higher damping reduced the relaxation oscillation.
The Need for Systems Awareness to Support Early-Phase Decision-Making - A Study from the Norwegian Energy Industry

In this paper, we explore the need to improve systems awareness to support early-phase decision-making. This research uses the Norwegian energy industry as context. This industry deals with highly complex engineering systems that shall operate remotely for 25+ years. Through an in-depth study in a systems supplier company, we find that engineers are not sufficiently aware of the systems operational context and do not focus on the context in the early phase. We identified the lack of a holistic mindset and the challenge of balancing internal strategy and customers’ needs as the prevalent barriers. To support the concept evaluation, the subsea system suppliers need to raise systems awareness in the early phase. The study identifies four aspects that are important to consider when developing and implementing approaches to improve systems awareness in the early phase.
“We’re a Little Different:” Business Information Literacy Perspectives on the ACRL Framework

The introduction of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education in 2015 inspired many librarians to rethink how they offer information literacy instruction. This multi-method study, using data from a survey and five focus groups, explores the use of the Framework in business information literacy (BIL). The study research questions focus on how librarians engage with the Framework in supporting the information needs of business students. Participants indicate that they make implicit, direct, and institutional use of the Framework. They also use a variety of tools aside from the Framework when designing their BIL instruction. Limitations of the Framework include the language of the document and irrelevance to some disciplinary contexts; librarians also struggle with meeting faculty expectations and finding the time for implementation. However, they find “Authority Is Constructed and Contextual,” “Information Has Value,” and “Searching as Strategic Exploration” to be the most useful frames for BIL instruction.
Sentiment analysis on twitter tweets about COVID-19 vaccines usi ng NLP and supervised KNN classification algorithm

The pandemic has taken the world by storm. Almost the entire world went into lockdown to save the people from the deadly COVID-19. Scientists around the around have come up with several vaccines for the virus. Amongthem, Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca have become quite famous. General people however have been expressing their feelings about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines on social media like Twitter. In this study, such tweets are being extracted from Twitter using a Twitter API authentication token. The raw tweets are stored and processed using NLP. The processed data is then classified using a supervised KNN classification algorithm. The algorithm classifies the data into three classes, positive, negative, and neutral. These classes refer to the sentiment of the general people whose Tweets are extracted for analysis. From the analysis it is seen that Pfizer shows 47.29%positive, 37.5% negative and 15.21% neutral, Moderna shows 46.16%positive, 40.71% negative, and 13.13% neutral, AstraZeneca shows 40.08%positive, 40.06% negative and 13.86% neutral sentiment.