Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Supramolecular and entangled polymer materials : rheological models

This thesis is concerned with the dynamics and rheology of polymers, and in particular on the influence of entanglements and supramolecular “sticky” groups. The text is organised as follows: In Part I, we consider these effects in isolation. We begin with an introductory chapter detailing established theory for unentangled polymers, unentangled sticky polymers, and entangled polymers. In Chapter 2, we develop a stochastic model for linear rheology of unentangled polymers with stickers along the backbone that we then compare with experimental data and the “classic” sticky Rouse model. In Chapter 3, we explore the nonlinear rheology of a mixture of entangled polymeric chains of various lengths (polydisperse) based on coupled equations of similar form the to Rolie-Poly model [Likhtman and Graham, J. Nonnewton. Fluid Mech. 114, 1–12 (2003)]. Part II of this thesis describes the development and testing of a “toy” nonlinear rheology model for entangled supramolecular polymeric materials. We describe three stages in development and testing of this model [Boudara and Read, J. Rheol. 61, 339–362 (2017)]: Chapter 4, presents a simplified stochastic model for the rheology of entangled telechelic star polymers. In both linear and nonlinear regimes, we produce maps of the whole parameter space, indicating the parameter values for which qualitative changes in response to the applied flow are predicted. Preaveraging the stochastic equations described above, we obtain a set of non-stochastic coupled equations that produce very similar predictions. This is detailed in Chapter 5. Finally, in Chapter 6, we use the preaveraged model to explore complex flow behaviour. In Chapters 4 and 5, we observed that for some parameter values, the steady state stress versus shear rate curve is non-monotonic, which is a signature of shear banding [Fielding, J. Rheol. 60, 821–834 (2016)]. Our simulations confirm shear banding. Surprisingly, for some parameter values, the system never reaches a steady state but instead it oscillates in time between homogeneous state and recoil (coexistence of positive and negative shear rates). We investigate the mechanism behind this oscillatory behaviour.
Meaningful Work Linking High-Quality Relationships and Commitment: A Conditional Process Study with Career Orientation

This study aimed to examine the relations between high-quality relationships, meaningful work, and affective commitment, and evaluate whether protean career orientation moderates the relationship between meaningful work and affective commitment. We collected survey data from a sample of working adults to test the research hypotheses. The findings provide support for the proposed model. Consistent with the tenets of the work-as-meaning model, high-quality relationships were positively related to meaningful work, which, in turn, predicted affective commitment. Furthermore, the relationship between meaningful work and affective commitment was stronger for those high in protean career orientation. This study extends the literature on meaningful work and relational coordination. It offers practical insight for managers and others who can help foster high-quality relationships and meaningful work.
Internode Length Is Correlated with GA3 Content and Is Crucial to the Harvesting Performance of Tea-Picking Machines

High labor costs and labor shortages are limiting factors affecting the tea industry in Anhui Province. Thus, exploiting the full mechanization of shoot harvesting is an urgent task in the tea industry. Tea quality is greatly influenced by the integrity rate of tea leaves; therefore, it is important to choose tea cultivars suitable for machine picking. In this study, seven tea cultivars were used to investigate the relationship between internode length and blade angle with respect to newly formed tea shoots and machine harvesting in field experiments (Xuanchen City, Kuiling village) conducted throughout the year (in the autumn of 2021, in the early spring of 2022, and in the summer of 2022). Our results showed that the internode length (L2 or L4) had a significant and positive correlation with the integrity rate of tea buds and leaves in seven tea cultivars over three seasons. However, no significant correlation was found between the blade angle and the integrity rate of tea buds and leaves. In addition, a strong and positive correlation was found between the levels of GA1 (R2 > 0.7), GA3 (R2 > 0.85), and IAA (R2 > 0.6) regarding the internodes and internode lengths of the seven tea cultivars. Moreover, the relative expression levels of CsGA20ox, CsGA3ox1, and CsGA3ox2 in Echa1 (the longer internode) were significantly higher compared with those in Zhenong113 (the shorter internode). Overall, our results show that the internode length is an important factor for the machine harvesting of tea leaves and that the level of GA3 is strongly associated with internode length.
Fine-Tuning through Generations: Advances in Structure and Production of CAR-T Therapy

Simple Summary Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy has been highly successful in treating hematological malignancies like leukemia and lymphoma, leading to advancements in immunotherapy. The approval of anti-CD19 CAR-T cells by the FDA in 2017 has paved the way for CAR-T therapies to be extended to various cancers, autoimmune disorders, viral infections, and fibrosis. However, the therapy faces challenges, including severe side effects like cytokine release syndrome and graft-versus-host disease. Additionally, CAR-T therapy has limited efficacy against solid tumors and antigen escape, poor persistence, and difficulties in industrialization. Overall, this review provides a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with CAR-T cell therapy, highlighting the need for further advancements in CAR-T cell construction and production. By facilitating future research and development, CAR-T therapy has the potential to become a powerful tool in the fight against cancer and other diseases. Abstract Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy is a promising form of immunotherapy that has seen significant advancements in the past few decades. It involves genetically modifying T cells to target cancer cells expressing specific antigens, providing a novel approach to treating various types of cancer. However, the initial success of first-generation CAR-T cells was limited due to inadequate proliferation and undesirable outcomes. Nonetheless, significant progress has been made in CAR-T cell engineering, leading to the development of the latest fifth-generation CAR-T cells that can target multiple antigens and overcome individual limitations. Despite these advancements, some shortcomings prevent the widespread use of CAR-T therapy, including life-threatening toxicities, T-cell exhaustion, and inadequate infiltration for solid tumors. Researchers have made considerable efforts to address these issues by developing new strategies for improving CAR-T cell function and reducing toxicities. This review provides an overview of the path of CAR-T cell development and highlights some of the prominent advances in its structure and manufacturing process, which include the strategies to improve antigen recognition, enhance T-cell activation and persistence, and overcome immune escape. Finally, the review briefly covers other immune cells for cancer therapy and ends with the discussion on the broad prospects of CAR-T in the treatment of various diseases, not just hematological tumors, and the challenges that need to be addressed for the widespread clinical application of CAR-T cell therapies.
Grammatical Analysis of African American Vernacular English in The Eminem Show Album: A Linguistics Perspective

Albeit the research on African American Vernacular English (AAVE) as nonstandard form of English spoken by African Americans in lower socioeconomic classes has been documented by many scholars, little is known about it from the perspective of Wolfram's theory. To fill this lacuna, the present study aims to elucidate the grammatical elements of Eminem's lyrics song in the album "The Eminem Show. " This single case study showcased 32 lyrics song from Eminem's album with that seven grammatical features such as copula/auxiliary absence, the invariant be, the remote been, the subject verb agreement, the negation, the question formation, and the nominals. The findings found that negation is the most common grammatical features whereas the invariant be is the least common. The findings indicated that songs serve as a platform for asserting identity and criticizing diverse social, cultural, political, and economic issues. The performers are free to improvise in accordance with the tendencies and interests of the critic. Thus, the song can serve both to identify the current social crisis and as a catalyst for the crisis itself.
Advancing protected area effectiveness assessments by disentangling social‐ecological interactions: A case study from the Luangwa Valley, Zambia

Protected and conserved areas (PCAs) target at biodiversity conservation and human well-being, but often reflect low levels of effectiveness. Understanding PCAs social-ecological systems in which people and nature interact in so-called social-ecological interactions is key to understanding the roots of (in) effectiveness, and to leverage change toward resilient and sustainable systems. Despite this potential, social-ecological interactions in PCAs are commonly neglected in effectiveness evaluations. To address this gap, we elaborated a thorough understanding of the social-ecological interactions in PCAs through the following steps: In a first step, we extracted from scientific literature which social-ecological interactions influence the effectiveness of PCAs in general and derived influencing factors which shape those interactions. Based on these insights, we developed an analytical framework, which, in a second step, we applied to a case study in North Luangwa, Zambia. We elucidated three dimensions of social-ecological interactions occurring in the study area: care (e.g., conservation programs), conflict (e.g., disease transmission), and use (e.g., hunting). We visualized relationships between these interactions and associated key variables
Pain Biomarkers in Fibromyalgia Syndrome: Current Understanding and Future Directions

Fibromyalgia is a complex and heterogeneous clinical syndrome, mainly characterized by the presence of widespread pain, possibly associated with a variety of other symptoms. Fibromyalgia can have an extremely negative impact on the psychological, physical and social lives of people affected, sometimes causing patients to experience dramatically impaired quality of life. Nowadays, the diagnosis of fibromyalgia is still clinical, thus favoring diagnostic uncertainties and making its clear identification challenging to establish, especially in primary care centers. These difficulties lead patients to undergo innumerable clinical visits, investigations and specialist consultations, thus increasing their stress, frustration and even dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, research over the last 25 years regarding a specific biomarker for the diagnosis of fibromyalgia has been fruitless. The discovery of a reliable biomarker for fibromyalgia syndrome would be a critical step towards the early identification of this condition, not only reducing patient healthcare utilization and diagnostic test execution but also providing early intervention with guideline-based treatments. This narrative article reviews different metabolite alterations proposed as possible biomarkers for fibromyalgia, focusing on their associations with clinical evidence of pain, and highlights some new, promising areas of research in this context. Nevertheless, none of the analyzed metabolites emerge as sufficiently reliable to be validated as a diagnostic biomarker. Given the complexity of this syndrome, in the future, a panel of biomarkers, including subtype-specific biomarkers, could be considered as an interesting alternative research area.
Barriers to and requirements for a successful transition in inflammatory bowel disease from pediatric to adult care in Greece

Background The incidence of pediatric-onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is rising, while the relapsing and often severe nature of IBD, and its impact on emotional and pubertal development and social maturation underline the need for a successful transition from pediatric to adult care. Methods A web-based survey was distributed via the Hellenic Group for the Study of IBD, the Hellenic Society of Gastroenterology Department of North Greece, and the Hellenic Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition. Results The questionnaire was answered by 98 individuals (78 adult and 20 pediatric gastroenterologists, out of 357 and 30, respectively). The response rate was 25.3%. A higher response rate was found among pediatric (66.6%) vs. adult gastroenterologists 21.8% (P<0.001). Pediatric gastroenterologists believed that the appropriate age for transition was either 16-17 or 17-18 years, whereas 59% of the adult gastroenterologists chose the age group of 16-17 years. Both adult and pediatric gastroenterologists stated that the most significant initiators for a successful transition process were cognitive maturity and patients’ ability to manage their disease independently. The lack of communication and collaboration between pediatric and adult gastroenterologists was the main barrier to the transition process, as identified by adult gastroenterologists (27.7%). In contrast, 43.5% of pediatric gastroenterologists suggested that differences in the follow up of patients with IBD between pediatric and adult clinics were the main restrictions. Conclusion These results highlight the need for a transitional education program for pediatric IBD patients, and the importance of improving collaboration among adult and pediatric gastroenterologists.
mHealth Self-Monitoring Model for Medicine Adherence of Patients With Diabetes in Resource-Limited Countries: Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has led to serious challenges and emphasized the importance of using technology for health care operational transformation. Consequently, the need for technological innovations has increased, thus empowering patients with chronic conditions to tighten their adherence to medical prescriptions. Objective This study aimed to develop a model for a mobile health (mHealth) self-monitoring system for patients with diabetes in rural communities within resource-limited countries. The developed model could be based on the implementation of a system for the self-monitoring of patients with diabetes to increase medical adherence. Methods This study followed a quantitative approach, in which data were collected from health care providers using a questionnaire with close-ended questions. Data were collected from district hospitals in 3 South African provinces that were selected based on the prevalence rates of diabetes and the number of patients with diabetes treated. The collected data were analyzed using smart partial least squares to validate the model and test the suggested hypotheses. Results Using variance-based structural equation modeling that leverages smart partial least squares, the analysis indicated that environmental factors significantly influence all the independent constructs that inform patients’ change of behavior toward the use of mHealth for self-monitoring of medication adherence. Technology characteristics such as effort expectancy, self-efficacy, and performance expectancy were equally significant; hence, their hypotheses were accepted. In contrast, the contributions of culture and social aspects were found to be insignificant, and their hypotheses were rejected. In addition, an analysis was conducted to determine the interaction effects of the moderating variables on the independent constructs. The results indicated that with the exception of cultural and social influences, there were significant interacting effects on other independent constructs influencing mHealth use for self-monitoring. Conclusions On the basis of the findings of this study, we conclude that behavioral changes are essential for the self-monitoring of chronic diseases. Therefore, it is important to enhance those effects that stimulate the behavior to change toward the use of mHealth for self-monitoring. Motivational aspects were also found to be highly significant as they triggered changes in behavior. The developed model can be used to extend the research on the self-monitoring of patients with chronic conditions. Moreover, the model will be used as a basic architecture for the implementation of fully fledged systems for self-monitoring of patients with diabetes.
Algorithm for zeros of monotone maps in Banach spaces

Let $E$ be a $p$-uniformly convex real Banach space with uniformly G$\hat{a}$teaux differentiable norm such that $\frac {1}{p} + \frac {1}{q} = 1, p \geq 2$ and $E^{*}$ its dual space. Let $A: E \rightarrow E^{*}$ be a bounded and $t$-strongly monotone mapping such that $A^{-1}0 \neq \emptyset. $ We introduced an explicit iterative algorithm that converges strongly to the unique point $x^{*} \in A^{-1}0$ in arbitrary real Banach spaces.
Effectiveness of Behaviour Change Communication Initiatives on Vitamin A Supplementation Knowledge Among Caregivers of Children Aged 6-59 Months in Vihiga County, Kenya

: Vitamin A Supplementation (VAS) is a low-cost high impact, acceptable, and clinically effective intervention recommended by the World Health Organization to combat the effects of the prevalent Vitamin A deficiency in children 6-59 months which remains a public health concern globally. Maintenance of good health and prevention of diseases in this age group therefore requires adequate intake of Vitamin A. Sadly, VAS coverage has remained low over the years, averaging 61% across 64 priority countries globally and Eastern and Southern Africa recording a coverage of 57%, Kenya 67.3% which is way below the WHO target of 80%. One of the key barriers associated with low VAS uptake is inadequate knowledge. This study was conducted to test the effectiveness of community-based intervention in scaling up VAS uptake for children aged six to fifty-nine months in Vihiga County, Kenya. A quasi-experimental pre-post design was employed with two arms, intervention, and control. In total, 393 and 389 caregivers of children 6-59 months were recruited at baseline and endline respectively at both arms. The intervention undertaken included development and dissemination of VAS behaviour change communication materials targeting caregivers of children 6-59 months using guides developed during the study. Logistic regression models were used, and Difference-In-Difference analysis applied to detect changes between the two arms. Due to the intervention, VAS knowledge by caregivers significantly increased by 18.4% (p= <0.001). Key significant factors associated with this increase were caregivers having MCH Handbook (OR=2.21, 95% CI: 1.31-3.74; p=0.003), receiving information on VAS from health worker at facility (OR=1.73, 95% CI: 1.01, 2.97; p=0.047), receiving information from community health volunteers (OR=2.35, 95% CI: 1.50, 3.66; p<0.001) and having secondary education (OR =3.36, 95% CI: 1.27-8.94; p=0.015. This study concludes that this intervention was effective in increasing the VAS knowledge among the caregivers of children aged six to 59 months.
Descent and spread of negatively buoyant thermals

Results are presented from a numerical and analytical study of negatively buoyant thermals. The numerical study consists of large-eddy simulations of thermal descent and spread. The thermals are initiated by a spherical perturbation in the homogeneous background potential temperature. Simulations covering various release heights, thermal radii and thermal buoyancies are carried out. The analysis involves matching similarity models of a thermal and an axisymmetric gravity current, hence describing the flow evolution in terms of the initial conditions and flow coefficients only. The simulations demonstrate that the flow transition through the impingement region is relatively smooth, the main flow adjustment being in the initial post-release phase of the thermal. Comparison of the simulations and the model enables determination of the coefficients, and validation of the similarity approach to predict the radial speed, reduced gravity and depth of the spreading flow on the ground. The predictions of reduced gravity and depth also depend on quantification of the increase in gravity-current volume due to entrainment, which is obtained from the simulations.
Probing ALPs at the LUXE experiment

The proposed LUXE experiment (LASER Und XFEL Experiment) at DESY, Hamburg, aims to probe QED in its non-perturbative regime. In order to do this, LUXE will study the interactions between 16.5 GeV electrons from the European XFEL and high-intensity laser pulses. This experiment also provides a unique opportunity to probe physics beyond the Standard Model: exploiting the large photon flux generated at LUXE, it is possible to design a dedicated detector to probe axion-like-particles up to a mass of 350 MeV and with photon coupling of 3 \cdot 10^{-6}3⋅10−6 GeV^{-1}−1. This reach is comparable to the projected sensitivity of experiments like FASER2 at the HL-LHC and NA62 operating in dump mode.
EFFECT OF IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT AND NITROGEN FERTILIZATION OF SHELFLIFE OF MAIZE

Maize (CO 1) was subjected to different irrigation methods (all furrow, alternate furrow and skip furrow), irrigation levels (IW/CPE ratio of 0.50 and 0.75) and nitrogen levels (75,125 and 175 kg/ha). Seeds harvested were dried to 10±0.5% moisture content and stored in 700 gauge polyethylene and gunny bags under ambient conditions of temperature and relative humidity. The storability of seeds obtained from different irrigation and N management was determined during the year 1990-91, through the parameters viz. germination (%), seedling vigour, electrical conductivity (umhos/cm), sugars (g) aminoacids (g) protcin content (%) and dehydrogenase activity (OD value). The seeds obtained from plants irrigated to the level of 0.75 IE/CPE ratio through all furrow method and supplied with 175 kg N/ha stored better than those of other treatments. The seeds stored in 700 gauge polyethylene bags maintained better viability and vigour during storage than the seeds stored in gunny bags.
Precision measurement of charmed meson properties with the BaBar detector

We present measurements of the mass of the D0 meson, the natural line width of the D∗(2010)+ meson, and the mass difference between the D∗(2010)+ and theD0 mesons using pure samples of D∗(2010)+ → D0π+ decays. The measurements are based on a data sample correspo nding t an integrated luminosity of about 477 fb −1 collected with theBABAR detector. Large improvements with respect to the existing measurements have been obtaine d for all the measured quantities.