Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Isolation and Characterization of Uricase Produced from Chicken Liver

Uricase is an enzyme that degrades uric acid into allantoin. One of the uricase sources is obtained from chicken species (Gallus gallus domesticus) liver which are broiler and native chicken. This study aims to determine the maximum uricase activity in broiler and native chicken liver. The uricase activity was obtained by measuring the uric acid concentration as uricase substrate using spectrophotometric method and wavelength at 291 nm. Uricase isolation was carried out into extraction process, ammonium sulfate fractionation (0-60% saturation of ammonium sulfate), and dialysis. During isolation process, centrifugation speed was also optimized to obtain the maximum uricase crude extract and uricase activity. The molecular weight of uricase was also determined by SDS PAGE. The result showed that the highest uricase activity remained using centrifugation speed of 15,000 rpm. The optimum uricase fraction for broiler chicken liver was obtained at 20-40% saturation of ammonium sulfate with uricase activity was 1.854 x 10-2 U/mg, and the uricase fraction for native chicken liver was obtained at 40-60% saturation of ammonium sulfate with uricase activity was 2.496 x 10-2 U/mg. The optimum fraction for uricase production and isolation is carried out to the dialysis process. The optimum uricase activity of broiler chicken liver crude extract was 4.921 x 10-4 U/mg, the uricase fraction was 3.989 x 10-3 U/mg, and the dialysate was 5.120 x 10-3 U/mg. While the native chicken liver crude extract was 2.980 x 10-4 U/mg, the uricase fraction was1.415 x 10-2 U/mg, and the dialysate was 1.753 x 10-2 U/mg. The molecular weight of the uricase was around 35 kDA according to the SDS PAGE result.
Learning English as A Foreign Language (EFL): A Narratology

This study aimed at narrating the lived experiences of a Taiwanese student in learning English as a foreign language, which includes identifying the other means of learning English as a foreign language, the difficulties encountered in learning English as a foreign language and means of overcoming such. This study made use of a qualitative research design, employing a narrative approach, wherein the data were gathered through face-to-face interviews with the participant – a student representative who had been learning English at school since 13. The interview was audiotaped and transcribed, re-transcribed, and re-storied. The study found that other than in formal school, English could be learned through English tutorial classes, reading materials such as books, journals, and magazines in English, making use of internet applications with English as a medium such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Instagram, and talk or chat to foreigners. The study also revealed that the learner encountered difficulties in grammar and pronunciations. As observed, the student was not able to communicate in English effectively – with many grammar lapses and mispronunciations. It was further revealed that motivation and constant practice in English communication is seen by the learner as means of overcoming such difficulties. In conclusion, the study drew that foreign language learning is more difficult because exposure to the language is so limited. However, giving more talks to students in the classroom will provide means for students to practice English as a foreign language, as well as exposure to different internet applications with English as a medium.
Covid-19: Employer Demand from Quantity Surveyor’s Graduates towards Employability Skills

Employability skills are a set of skills that have been identified as a fundamental element for graduate to secure and maintain jobs. Due to COVID-19, many people have lost their jobs including experienced employees. Thus, it is predicted that future graduates would face difficulties in securing employment. This is because long before the pandemic of COVID-19 occurred, the issue of unemployment among graduates already existed. Now with the pandemic, the situation could get worse. Therefore, objective of this study was to examine quantity surveyor graduate employability skills that are demanded by quantity surveyor consultant firm in the pandemic COVID-19 situation. This research employed a quantitative approach. A set of questionnaires has been distributed to registered quantity surveyor consultant firms in Selangor. The findings revealed that most employers would prefer to have a candidate with soft skills more than hard skills. Graduates are required to have soft skills such as Being capable to adapt with changes, having a positive attitude, and being flexible. However, that does not mean that hard skill or technical skill is not important in quantity surveyor securing a job. It is just that it is less demanded as all graduates are expected to already have the skills. The findings are useful for improving quantity surveyor graduates’ understanding of the employability skills perceived as being most important in seeking a job. For further research, it would be good to expand the study to include the contractor’s perspective since this study only focuses on consultant firms. This is due to the fact that the role of quantity surveyors in consultant firms and contractors are different.
β-Cyfluthrin-Mediated Cytotoxicity of Cultured Rat Primary Hepatocytes Ameliorated by Cotreatment with Luteolin

The current study was designed to evaluate the possible protective effects of luteolin against β-cyfluthrin-mediated toxicity on the primary culture of rat hepatocytes (RHs). In the first step, the exposure of RHs to β-cyfluthrin (10, 20, 40, and 80 μM) was assessed by MTT. Second, redox condition was evaluated in cotreatment of cells with luteolin (20, 40, and 60 μM) and β-cyfluthrin (40 μM) at both medium and intra levels. In comparison to control, viability was lower in 40 and 80 μM β-cyfluthrin-treated groups at 24 h and all β-cyfluthrin-treated groups at 48 h (P < 0.05). Cotreatment with 20 or 40 μM luteolin + 40 μM β-cyfluthrin resulted in a higher viability value compared to β-cyfluthrin alone at 24 and 48 h of incubation (P < 0.05). Administration of 20 or 40 μM luteolin with β-cyfluthrin led to the decrease of malondialdehyde and total nitrate/nitrite and the increase of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) values in both medium and intrahepatocyte levels compared to the β-cyfluthrin-treated group at 48 h (P < 0.05). It seems that low and medium doses of luteolin possess the potential to reduce β-cyfluthrin-mediated hepatotoxicity via attenuation of peroxidative/nitrosative reactions and augmentation of TAC levels.
HIV testing in a high prevalence urban area in the US: Identifying missed opportunities two ways

Background Routine opt-out HIV testing in healthcare settings is often not implemented to its fullest extent. We assessed factors contributing to missed HIV testing opportunities at an academic medical center in Chicago, Illinois, with a routine HIV screening program. Methods Retrospective analysis of HIV testing in clinical encounters was performed using multivariate regession models. Missed opportunities were defined as 1) an encounter during which an HIV test was not conducted on a patient later diagnosed with HIV, or 2) an encounter in which a bacterial STI test was performed without HIV testing. Results Of 122 people newly diagnosed with HIV from 2011-2018, 98 patients had 1215 prior encounters, of which 82.8% were missed opportunities. Female gender, persons not known to be men who have sex with men, and encounter location other than inpatient had higher odds of a missed opportunity. Nearly half (48.4%) of 104,678 bacterial STI testing encounters were missed opportunities. Female gender, older age, lack of syphilis testing, and location outside the emergency department had higher odds of a missed opportunity. Conclusions We found a high number of missed HIV testing opportunities, which could be reduced by strengthening routine screening and increasing targeted testing concurrent with STI screening.
IRE1α overexpression in malignant cells limits tumor progression by inducing an anti-cancer immune response

ABSTRACT IRE1α is one of the three ER transmembrane transducers of the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) activated under endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. IRE1α activation has a dual role in cancer as it may be either pro- or anti-tumoral depending on the studied models. Here, we describe the discovery that exogenous expression of IRE1α, resulting in IRE1α auto-activation, did not affect cancer cell proliferation in vitro but resulted in a tumor-suppressive phenotype in syngeneic immunocompetent mice. We found that exogenous expression of IRE1α in murine colorectal and Lewis lung carcinoma cells impaired tumor growth when syngeneic tumor cells were subcutaneously implanted in immunocompetent mice but not in immunodeficient mice. Mechanistically, the in vivo tumor-suppressive effect of overexpressing IRE1α in tumor cells was associated with IRE1α RNAse activity driving both XBP1 mRNA splicing and regulated IRE1-dependent decay of RNA (RIDD). We showed that the tumor-suppressive phenotype upon IRE1α overexpression was characterized by the induction of apoptosis in tumor cells along with an enhanced adaptive anti-cancer immunosurveillance. Hence, our work indicates that IRE1α overexpression and/or activation in tumor cells can limit tumor growth in immunocompetent mice. This finding might point toward the need of adjusting the use of IRE1α inhibitors in cancer treatments based on the predominant outcome of the RNAse activity of IRE1α.
International Experiences to Promote the Globalization of U.S Engineering Students: Challenges, beneﬁts and new perspectives

In the engineering and construction industries, many firms are working in a more global marketplace. Because of this, these firms are looking to hire college graduates that have more of a global view. In order to prepare college engineering and construction students to operate in this environment, it is imperative for universities to provide international experiences to their students. Traditionally universities have provided study abroad programs, many of which are generic in nature and often only provide coursework in general education. There are many roadblocks to providing such experiences, with cost and interruption to the expected time to graduation being the primary issues. This paper aims to explore multiple alternative opportunities for U.S. students to gain international exposure and experiences and the benefits and challenges of the different international programs, emphasizing alternatives to the traditional year or semester study abroad model. This initial case study found that opportunities such as International Virtual Design courses as well as participation on International Competition Teams such as the Associated Schools of Construction competitions as cost effective solutions that provide the international experiences employers are seeking while not extending the time a student needs to obtain their degree.
The effect of Ta on the magnetic thickness of permalloy (Ni81Fe19) films

The effect of Ta and Ta/Cu seed layers, and Ta and Cu cap layers on the effective magnetic thickness of ultrathin permalloy (Ni81Fe19) was investigated for MRAM applications. The films were deposited by Ion Beam Deposition. The magnetic moment of each as-deposited permalloy film was measured using a B-H looper and a SQUID magnetometer. The films were further annealed at either 525 K for 1/2 h or 600 K for 1 h to study the effect of thermally driven interdiffusion on the magnetic moment of the permalloy film. Our theoretical calculations showed that the presence of 12% intermixing at the interface reduces the Ni moments to zero. Experimentally, it was shown that the tantalum rather than the copper interfaces are primarily responsible for the magnetically dead layers. The Ta seed layer interface produces a loss of moment equivalent to a magnetically dead layer of thickness 0.6±0.2 nm. The Ta metal in the cap layer results in a loss of moment equivalent to a dead layer of thickness 1.0±0.2 nm. Upon annealing.
High five! – the big 5 personality traits, locus of control, and impulsivity and their relationship to substance use in a large cohort of university students in Berlin

Abstract Background Research suggests that university students are at high risk of using licit and illicit substances and that there has been an increase over the last decade in substance use among university students in Berlin, Germany. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between personality and substance use among university students in the city of Berlin. Method A sample of 8778 students from 17 Berlin universities completed an online questionnaire. Short versions of the Big Five Inventory and the Barratt Impulsivity Scale as well as the SOEP-scale (German socioeconomic panel) for the concept of locus of control were used to assess personality traits. Four different user groups and six specific substances were studied using multinomial logistic and logistic regression models. Results Participants regularly using substances scored higher on impulsivity and openness and lower on conscientiousness compared to the other user groups. Further, they scored higher on extraversion and external locus of control compared to participants not using substances or exclusively drinking alcohol. Out of the personality dimensions examined, the relationship between substance use and impulsivity was strongest and had the highest effect size (medium) in our sample. Conclusions Despite increasing prevalence among the high-risk group of university students in Berlin, universities have not yet sufficiently adopted prevention programs. These programs should be adapted to meet the needs of the target group which may be complemented with the findings of the study (e.g. emotional regulation training and goal management training).
Major depressive disorder diagnosis based on PSD imaging of electroencephalogram EEG and AI

One of the most common causes of functional frailty is major depressive disorder (MDD). MDD is a chronic condition that requires long-term therapy and professional assistance. Additionally, MDD effective treatment requires early detection. Unfortunately, it has intricated clinical characteristics that make early diagnosis and treatment difficult for clinicians. Furthermore, there are currently no clinically effective diagnostic biomarkers that can confirm an MDD diagnosis. However, electroencephalogram (EEG) data from the brain have recently been used to make a quantitative diagnosis of MDD. In addition, As being among the most cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, deep learning (DL) has exhibited superior performance in a wide range of real-world applications, from computer vision to healthcare. However, an additional challenge could be the extraction of information from the ECG raw data. This paper presents a method for converting EEG data to power spectral density (PSD) images, and then they were classified as healthy or MDD using a deep neural network for feature extraction and a machine learning (ML) classifier. When employing the proposed approach, the images formed from the PSD show a considerably improved performance in classification results.
Special Section: Reevaluating Markets for Information

Interpretation of the history of technology and a different way of thinking about the future of work—as a race between automation and new, labor-intensive tasks. Labor demand has not increased steadily over the last two centuries because of technologies that have made labor more productive in everything. Rather, many new technologies have sought to eliminate labor from tasks in which it previously specialized. All the same, labour has benefited from advances in technology because other technologies have simultaneously enabled the introduction of new labor-intensive tasks. These new tasks have done more than just reinstate labor as a central input into the production process; they have also played a vital role in productivity growth . Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center and NERA Economic Consulting has found that global piracy of movies and TV shows is threatening the industry’s growth and costing the U.S. economy at least $29.2 bn in lost revenue every year. That is a conservative estimate and the research states that actual losses could be as high as $71 bn annually
The Effects of Minor Element Addition on the Structural Heterogeneity and Mechanical Properties of ZrCuAl Bulk Metallic Glasses

The present study reveals the role of Nb and Ni minor addition on the nanomechanical properties and nanostructure of ZrCuAl bulk metallic glass (BMG). For this purpose, atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to evaluate the viscoelastic response of the BMG surface at the nanoscale, while the nanoindentation technique was applied to show the mechanism of plastic deformation. The results indicated that minor Nb addition decreased the relaxation of enthalpy accompanied by the weakening of structural heterogeneity. On the other hand, Ni addition improved the stored energy of the material and intensified the distribution of loosely packed regions in the microstructure. Moreover, the mechanical test unveiled that Ni addition enhanced the viscoelastic response; however, it came at the expense of creep resistance. The evaluation of the magnitude of the derivative in the nanoindentation test also demonstrated that the Ni-added sample exhibited a multiple shear-band mode for plastic deformation.
GREX-PLUS: galaxy reionization explorer and planetary universe spectrometer

GREX-PLUS (Galaxy Reionization EXplorer and PLanetary Universe Spectrometer) is a new mission concept for ISAS/JAXA’s strategic L-class mission program in the 2030s. With a 1.2 m aperture, a 50 K cryogenic space telescope will have a < 1, 400 arcmin2 wide-field camera with 6 bands in the 2–10 μm wavelength range and a high-dispersion spectrometer with a wavelength resolution of < 30, 000 in the 10–18 μm band. The cryogenic infrared mission concept of GREX-PLUS is based on SPICA, exploiting the technical resources so far studied and developed, such as an active cooling system. The high-dispersion spectrometer of GREX-PLUS is based on the high-dispersion channel of the SPICA Mid-Infrared Instrument (SMI). The wide-field camera of GREX-PLUS is also based on previous concept studies for the ISAS/JAXA’s WISH mission concept. GREX-PLUS is a concept proposal for a Japan-led mission but international collaborations are also welcome.
Temperature-Related Electronic Low-Lying States in Different Shapes In.1Ga.9N/GaN Double Quantum Wells under Size Effects

In this paper, we report the electronic states of hydrogenic impurity in InGaN/GaN double quantum wells (DQWs) with different shapes using a numerical procedure within the effective mass approximation. The effects of temperature, impurity position and size on the 1S-, 2S- and 2P-low-lying states are investigated for rectangular, parabolic and triangular finite potential confinements. Our results reveal that the binding energy versus the well width displays a maximum value around the effective Bohr radius and a larger value is obtained for rectangular compared to parabolic and triangular profiles. Moreover, regardless the size and impurity’s position, it is found that the main impact of the temperature is to shrink the binding energy. It is obtained that the binding energy drop is about 3.48 meV for rectangular and 4.26 meV for both parabolic and triangular profiles. Moreover, as the impurity is moved from the right barrier center to the structure center, the 1S-binding energy improvement is about 77.6 % in rectangular whereas it exceeds 91.4 % for other profiles. It is established that the binding energy can be easily modulated by adjusting the temperature, structure size and impurity's position. The results we obtained agree quite well with the findings. HIGHLIGHTS The maximum binding energy is obtained around the effective Bohr radius The binding energy is higher for rectangular shape compared to parabolic and triangular ones The main impact of the temperature is to shrink the binding energy The binding energy is improved with displacing the impurity toward the structure center
Let’s do this together: Do the quantity and the quality of collaborative learning predict achievement among college students?

Collaborative learning (CL) is a common teaching strategy in colleges that involves actively working in groups to achieve a goal. Several studies and theories endorse it as contributing to students’ achievement, motivation, and higher-order thinking skills. However, these studies are inconsistent in the way they define and operationalize CL. For example, they do not separate the quantity and the quality of CL, nor do they distinguish between course-specific and general attitudes toward CL. The study suggests that researchers should define CL more precisely, and demonstrates this approach using a case study ( N = 38). This study examines whether the quality and quantity of group work predicted course achievement after controlling for prior achievement, individual-level motivation, and social ties among students. Quality of CL was operationalized as positive attitudes toward CL in the current course and in general, and quantity of CL was operationalized as the frequency of interactions among group members. Social ties were measured using Social Network Analysis (SNA) which allows researchers to identify the number and strength of connections among students. Findings suggest that positive attitudes toward CL in the current course predicted higher achievement levels, but the frequency of interactions and positive attitudes toward CL in general were associated with lower achievement levels. That is, in the current context, course-specific quality of CL was positively associated with achievement, but other ways of operationalizing CL were not, and in fact had negative relationships with achievement. The study also demonstrates the use of SNA when exploring students’ relationships; it shows that they were associated with course performance but that this association diminished after controlling for students’ attitudes. Overall, it is recommended that researchers clarify what they intend to measure when exploring CL, as this can have an important impact on findings.
Blood group O is associated with post-COVID-19 syndrome in outpatients with a low comorbidity index

Abstract Background ABO blood group system modulates the inflammatory response and has been implicated in COVID-19. Group O protects against SARS-CoV-2 infection, but there are no data regarding post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS). Our aim was to assess this possible association. Methods Case–control study in a community setting, with subjects who had experienced mild COVID-19. Cases were PCS+, controls were PCS-, and the exposure variable, group O. We collected age, sex, BMI, smoking, comorbidities, inflammatory markers, anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies, blood type and clinical data. Five composite inflammatory indices were developed. Multivariate analyses were performed. Results We analysed 121 subjects (56.2% women), mean age 45.7 ± 16 years. Blood group frequencies were 41.5%, 7.9%, 5.9%, and 44.5% for A, B, AB and O, respectively. Thirty-six patients were PCS+, without significant differences between cases and controls. Compared to non-O, a higher prevalence of PCS (p = .036), and number of symptoms of PCS (p = .017) were noted in group O. Concerning biomarkers, PCS + and PCS- showed no differences in A, B, and AB groups. In contrast, group O PCS + patients had significantly lower albumin-to-globulin ratio and higher lymphocyte count, fibrinogen, CRP levels, and higher percentages of 3 composite indices, than PCS- subjects. Group O showed a 6-fold increased risk of PCS, compared to non-O (adjusted OR = 6.25 [95%CI, 1.6-23]; p = .007). Conclusions Group O has shown a consistent relationship with PCS, characterised by a more intense inflammatory burden than the other blood groups. Blood group O could be part of the immunological link between acute COVID-19 and PCS.