Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Aqueous Phase Composition on Double Emulsion Stability and Colour Retention of Encapsulated Anthocyanins

Water-in-oil-in-water (W1/O/W2) emulsions (double emulsions) have often been used for the encapsulation of bioactive compounds such as anthocyanins. Instability of both anthocyanins and double emulsions creates a need for a tailored composition of the aqueous phase. In this work, double emulsions with a gelled internal water phase were produced and monitored over a 20-day storage period. The effect of the electrolyte phase composition (varying electrolyte components, including adipic acid, citric acid, and varying concentration of potassium chloride (KCl)) on anthocyanin and double emulsion stability was analysed using colour analysis, droplet sizing, and emulsion rheology. The effect of electrolytes on colour retention was shown to differ between the primary W1/O emulsion and the secondary W1/O/W2 emulsion. Furthermore, droplet size analysis and emulsion rheology highlighted significant differences in the stability and structural behaviour of the emulsions as a function of electrolyte composition. In terms of colour retention and emulsion stability, a citrate-buffered system performed best. The results of this study highlight the importance of strict control of aqueous phase constituents to prevent anthocyanin degradation and maximise double emulsion stability. Additional experiments analysed the effect of pectin chemistry on the anthocyanin colour retention and leakage, finding no conclusive difference between the unmodified and amidated pectin.
In situ distance measurements in a membrane transporter using maleimide functionalized orthogonal spin labels and 5-pulse electron double resonance spectroscopy

Spectroscopic investigation of membrane proteins in their native environment is a challenging task. Earlier we demonstrated the feasibility to measure precise distances within outer membrane proteins in E. coli and native membranes using methanethiosulfonate (MTS) functionalized labels combined with pulsed electron double resonance spectroscopy. Here we show the application of maleimide functionalized Gd(III), nitroxide, and trityl labels for in situ distance measurement using the cobalamin transporter BtuB. These labels enabled distance measurements for BtuB in E. coli and native outer membranes and in the membranes maleimide-Gd-DOTA also is effective. Further, we show that the observable dipolar evolution time can be significantly prolonged in the native environments using the Carr-Purcell 5-pulse electron double resonance sequence. For a nitroxide-nitroxide pair, application of sech/tanh inversion pulses substantially suppressed the 4-pulse artifact at the Q-band frequency. In the case of a nitroxide-trityl pair, Gaussian pump pulses of varying amplitude are sufficient to suppress the artifact to the typical noise level. The feasibility of a range of bioresistant spin labels and the 5-pulse electron double resonance offers promising tools for investigating heterooligomeric membrane protein complexes in their native environment.
Italian Adolescent Young Caregivers of Grandparents: Difficulties Experienced and Support Needed in Intergenerational Caregiving—Qualitative Findings from a European Union Funded Project

The article aims to describe the experiences of 87 Italian adolescent young caregivers (AYCs) of grandparents (GrPs), with reference to the caregiving stress appraisal model (CSA) that provides a theoretical lens to explore the difficulties encountered and support needed in their caring role. Qualitative data were drawn from an online survey conducted within an EU Horizon 2020 funded project. An inductive thematic analysis was carried out, and the findings were critically interpreted within the conceptual framework of the CSA model. The analysis highlighted three categories of difficulties: material, communication and emotional/psychological. The most common material difficulty was the physical strain associated with moving “uncooperative” disabled older adults. The types of support needed concerned both emotional and material support. The study provides a deeper understanding of the under-studied experiences of AYCs of GrPs. Based on these findings, policies and support measures targeted at AYCs of GrPs should include early needs detection, emotional support and training on intergenerational caring in order to mitigate the stress drivers. Moreover, the study advances the conceptualisation of the CSA model by considering the above-mentioned aspects related to intergenerational caregiving.
Post-error Slowing Reflects the Joint Impact of Adaptive and Maladaptive Processes During Decision Making

Errors and their consequences are typically studied by investigating changes in decision speed and accuracy in trials that follow an error, commonly referred to as “post-error adjustments”. Many studies have reported that subjects slow down following an error, a phenomenon called “post-error slowing” (PES). However, the functional significance of PES is still a matter of debate as it is not always adaptive. That is, it is not always associated with a gain in performance and can even occur with a decline in accuracy. Here, we hypothesized that the nature of PES is influenced by one’s speed-accuracy tradeoff policy, which determines the overall level of choice accuracy in the task at hand. To test this hypothesis, we investigated post-error adjustments in subjects performing the same task while they were required to either emphasize speed (low accuracy) or cautiousness (high accuracy) in two distinct contexts (hasty and cautious contexts, respectively) experienced on separate days. Accordingly, our data indicate that post-error adjustments varied according to the context in which subjects performed the task, with PES being solely significant in the hasty context. In addition, we only observed a gain in performance after errors in a specific trial type, suggesting that post-error adjustments depend on a complex combination of processes that affect the speed of ensuing actions as well as the degree to which such PES comes with a gain in performance.
Relationship of single stock futures with the spot price: Evidence from Karachi Stock Exchange

The study is conducted to investigate the relationship of single stock futures with the spot price in Karachi Stock Exchange. Monthly data of twelve companies which are trading single stock futures have been examined for the period 1 January, 2005 to 31 December, 2010 with total of 72 observations for each company. Descriptive statistics, Unit Root test, Co-integration test, Granger Causality test, Vector Error Correction Model based on ARDL approach, Impulse Response and Variance Decomposition tests are used. The existence of long run relationship was found between the futures and spot prices of all the companies. The Granger Causality test reported that the spot prices of FFBL and LUCK assist in forecasting their respective futures prices. The futures prices of HUBC and POL forecast their respective spot prices and play its important role of price discovery. The impulse response analysis revealed that most of the shocks in the futures markets of all the selected companies are explained by their own innovations and their respective spot markets have less influence on them. Variance decomposition test reported that futures market is an exogenous market as majority of its stocks are explained by its own innovation. The results of VECM shows that in case of disequilibrium the adjustment process is quite fast for all the companies.
Incorporating emotions as antecedents and mediators in Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) model

Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) is widely used in different decision making situations. The TRA model measures behavioral intentions and predicts a certain behavior on the basis of these behavioral intentions. Literature has questioned the predictive ability of TRA model in terms of behavior prediction in a decision making situation as there are number of factors which may influence the decision making process. One of these factors is identified as “emotions” experienced during the decision making process. The paper makes an attempt to improve the TRA model by incorporating the emotions at two different points in the model i.e. emotions as antecedents and emotions as mediators between attitude and behavioral intention. It is proposed that this inclusion of emotions in the TRA model will improve the overall predictability power of the model.
Students’ Attitudes and Motivation towards Learning Literature in English in Zanzibar Secondary Schools

This paper investigated students’ attitudes and motivation towards learning literature in English in three government secondary schools in Zanzibar (one in urban and two in rural areas). The study had a sample of 96 people; 45 boys, 45 girls, and 6 teachers who were teaching literature in English at the selected schools. They were selected through purposive sampling technique. Mixed method was used. Data were collected through interview, observation, and questionnaires. Predictable variables were number of teachers teaching the subject and their qualifications, learning environment, teaching and learning materials, and students’ attitudes and motivation towards learning the subject. Findings revealed that there was shortage of teachers teaching the subject, and some of them were not trained. Students had positive attitudes and motivation towards learning the subject because it was a source of information not only from their own society but also from the world at large. Additionally, literature in English was found a means of entertainment as well as educating the students. However, students’ positive attitudes and motivation towards learning the subject were hindered by unfavourable conditions such as shortage of literature books, difficult English vocabularies, large class sizes, limited time to read suggested literature books, poor teaching methods, and teachers themselves. As a result the study suggests the provision of appropriate and adequate reading materials to all secondary schools, expose teachers to more training so as to be more knowledgeable about various suitable methods of teaching the subject, and improve classroom learning environment.
High-frequency FET noise parameters and approximation of the optimum source admittance

High-frequency noise parameters of junction FETs and MOSFETs have been determined experimentally. It is shown that the usual noise specifications given in present-day data sheets are not sufficient to describe the noise behavior. A very important noise parameter is the source admittance. However, the exact evaluation of the optimum source admittance, which yields the minimum noise figure, is very complicated. An approximative method is thus described which gives good results and is in good agreement with the experiment.
miR-205-5p Downregulation and ZEB1 Upregulation Characterize the Disseminated Tumor Cells in Patients with Invasive Ductal Breast Cancer

Background: Dissemination of breast cancer (BC) cells through the hematogenous or lymphogenous vessels leads to metastatic disease in one-third of BC patients. Therefore, we investigated the new prognostic features for invasion and metastasis. Methods: We evaluated the expression of miRNAs and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) genes in relation to CDH1/E-cadherin changes in samples from 31 patients with invasive ductal BC including tumor centrum (TU-C), tumor invasive front (TU-IF), lymph node metastasis (LNM), and CD45-depleted blood (CD45-DB). Expression of miRNA and mRNA was quantified by RT-PCR arrays and associations with clinico-pathological characteristics were statistically evaluated by univariate and multivariate analysis. Results: We did not verify CDH1 regulating associations previously described in cell lines. However, we did detect extremely high ZEB1 expression in LNMs from patients with distant metastasis, but without regulation by miR-205-5p. Considering the ZEB1 functions, this overexpression indicates enhancement of metastatic potential of lymphogenously disseminated BC cells. In CD45-DB samples, downregulated miR-205-5p was found in those expressing epithelial and/or mesenchymal markers (CTC+) that could contribute to insusceptibility and survival of hematogenously disseminated BC cells mediated by increased expression of several targets including ZEB1. Conclusions: miR-205-5p and potentially ZEB1 gene are promising candidates for markers of metastatic potential in ductal BC.
How is avalanche danger described in textual descriptions in avalanche forecasts in Switzerland? Consistency between forecasters and avalanche danger

Abstract. Effective and efficient communication of expected avalanche conditions and danger to the public is of great importance, especially where the primary audience of forecasts are recreational, non-expert users. In Europe, avalanche danger is communicated using a pyramid, starting with ordinal levels of avalanche danger and progressing through avalanche-prone locations and avalanche problems to a danger description. In many forecast products, information relating to the trigger required to release an avalanche, the frequency or number of potential triggering spots, and the expected avalanche size is described exclusively in a textual danger description. These danger descriptions are, however, the least standardized part of avalanche forecasts. Taking the perspective of the avalanche forecaster and focusing particularly on terms describing these three characterizing elements of avalanche danger, we investigate first which meaning forecasters assign to the text characterizing these elements and second how these descriptions relate to the forecast danger level. We analyzed almost 6000 danger descriptions in avalanche forecasts published in Switzerland and written using a structured catalogue of phrases with a limited number of words. Words and phrases representing information describing these three elements were labeled and assigned to ordinal classes by Swiss avalanche forecasters. These classes were then related to avalanche danger. Forecasters were relatively consistent in assigning labels to words and phrases with Cohen's kappa values ranging from 0.64 to 0.87. Avalanche danger levels were also described consistently using words and phrases, with for example avalanche size classes increasing monotonically with avalanche danger. However, especially for danger level 2 (moderate), information about key elements of avalanche danger, for instance the frequency or number of potential triggering spots, was often missing in danger descriptions. In general, the analysis of the danger descriptions showed that extreme conditions are described in more detail than intermediate values, highlighting the difficulty of communicating conditions that are neither rare nor frequent or neither small nor large. Our results provide data-driven insights that could be used to refine the ways in which avalanche danger could be communicated. Furthermore, through the perspective of the semiotic triangle, relating a referent (the avalanche situation) through thought (the processing process) to symbols (the textual danger description), we provide an alternative starting point for future studies of avalanche forecast consistency and communication.
Analytical Synthesis of Parameter-Varying Filter of Constant Component with Application to Switching Systems

In this paper, we propose a concept of a continuous-time filter of constant component that exhibits a very short response in the time domain if compared to the traditio nal time-invariant filter. The improvement of the filter dynamics was achieved as a result of the time-varying p arameters which were introduced to the filter structure. Such a designed filter is then applied in a system whic h switches many distorted signals which should be filtered as fast as possible. The paper is of review nature and presents both a theoretical background of the proposed filter and the results of simulations.
Biofilm matrix proteome of clinical strain of P. aeruginosa

Extracellular matrix plays a pivotal role in biofilm biology and proposed as a potential target for therapeutics development. As matrix is responsible for some extracellular functions and influence bacterial cytotoxicity against eukaryotic cells, it must have unique protein composition. P. aeruginosa is one of the most important pathogens with emerging antibiotic resistance, but only a few studies were devoted to matrix proteomes and there are no studies describing matrix proteome for any clinical isolates. Here we report the first biofilm matrix proteome of P. aeruginosa isolated from bronchoalveolar lavage of patient in intensive care unit. We have identified the largest number of proteins in the matrix among all published studies devoted to P. aeruginosa biofilms. Comparison of matrix proteome with proteome from embedded cells let us to identify several enriched bioprocess groups. Bioprocess groups with the largest number of overrepresented in matrix proteins were oxidation-reduction processes, proteolysis, and transmembrane transport. The top three represented in matrix bioprocesses concerning the size of the GO annotated database were cell redox homeostasis, nucleoside metabolism, and fatty acid synthesis. Finally, we discuss the obtained data in a prism of antibiofilm therapeutics development.
Heat Conduction in a Thin Film which Reflects Size and Memory Effects Induced by an Ultra-Fast Laser

An improved heat conduction model which reflects size and memory effects based on the CV model is proposed to simulate a one-dimensional thermal transport problem in a thin film induced by the ultra-fast laser. The results show that a thermal wave effect is appeared in heat conduction. We find that for the improved CV model in this work a larger Knudsen number will lead to a higher temperature. Although the improved CV model and the CV model lead to the similar thermal wave behavior, the thermal wave speeds for the two models are different.
Volcanic Origin of a Long‐Lived Swarm in the Central Bransfield Basin, Antarctica

Understanding the extensional processes in tectonic context at the transition from continental to oceanic spreading is fundamental to obtain new insights about formations of new oceans. To that scope, we study a large and long‐lived earthquake swarm occurring in 2020–2021 in a back‐arc rift (the Bransfield Basin) south of the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. We make use of one local seismological station to detect more than 36,000 small earthquakes, occurring from August 2020 to June 2021. Together with the occurrence of earthquakes, we observe a significant, geodetic deformation at a nearby GPS station. By joint interpretation of b‐value, spatiotemporal evolution of seismicity and geodetic deformation, we infer a volcanic origin for this swarm that takes place close to the ridge axis. Our study suggests that beyond the 7 mm/yr deformation reported at the Bransfield Basin ridge, transient deformation episodes localized at the ridge axial volcanic structure also modulate the extension.
Benefits of limited wavelength conversion in WDM ring networks

A number of recent papers have studied the impact of wavelength conversion in wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) networks. Relatively few works have studied the effect of providing limited wavelength conversion capability in these networks. This paper surveys our recent results on this topic. Consider a ring network of N nodes. We assume bidirectional links and lightpaths, which are typically realized using pairs of counter-propagating connections. For each lightpath we are given a route in the network and must assign a wavelength on each link along its route. Our results apply to the situation where no blocking whatsoever is allowed; in other words, all lightpath requests must be supported.
Ultrasound biomicroscopy of the anterior segment in patients with primary congenital glaucoma: a review of the literature

Primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) is a form of childhood glaucoma caused by maldevelopment of the anterior chamber. Disease severity differs greatly amongst patients. Ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) is a non‐invasive technique that can visualize the anterior segment in infants in vivo. The purpose of this narrative review is to make an overview of the UBM data in PCG and study the applicability of UBM in characterizing the disease.
Inter-individual variation in the migratory behaviour of a generalist seabird, the herring gull (Larus smithsoniansus), from the Canadian Arctic

Abstract The Arctic is warming three times faster than the rest of the globe, causing rapid transformational changes in Arctic ecosystems. As these changes increase, understanding seabird movements will be important for predicting how they respond to climate change, and thus how we plan for conservation. Moreover, as most Arctic-breeding seabirds only spend the breeding season in the Arctic, climate change may also affect them through habitat changes in their non-breeding range. We used Global Location Sensors (GLS) to provide new insights on the movement of Arctic-breeding herring gulls (Larus smithsoniansus) in North America. We tracked gulls that wintered in the Gulf of Mexico (n = 7) or the Great Lakes (n = 1), and found that migratory routes and stopover sites varied between individuals, and between southbound and northbound migration. This inter-individual variation suggests that herring gulls, as a generalist species, can make use of an array of regions during migration, but may be more susceptible to climate change impacts in their overwintering locations than during migration. However, due to our limited sample size, future, multi-year studies are recommended to better understand the impacts of climate change on this Arctic-breeding seabird.
Analyses of Vehicular Delays and Queues at Intersections With Adaptive and Fixed Timing Control Strategies

In this paper, we develop a queuing model for a traffic-adaptive strategy to control a 2-phase intersection. The strategy is an approximation of the RHODES strategy (1), which essentially "switches to next phase when the served queue clears. " In fact, Newell was the first to compare such a strategy with rolling horizon using a continuous-time formulation (2). This model can be used to analyze vehicular delays and queue distributions at an intersection with a two- phase signal, where the vehicle arrival process is Poisson, for both fixed timing signal control and traffic-adaptive signal control. Numerical results for the two control strategies are provided and compared. I. INTRODUCTION here are lots of studies focusing on modeling traffic flow at signalized intersection. Stephanopoulos and Michalopoulos presented a method to model and analyze traffic queue dynamics at signalized intersections based on the linear flow-density model (3). Newell made a comparison between the rolling horizon strategy of traffic signal control and the strategy of switching the signal when a queue vanishes (2). In these papers the traffic volumes are assumed to be uniformly distributed. Olszewski developed a stochastic model of signalized intersection, using this model we can analyze the delay and queue distribution of an intersection with stochastic arrival (4). Simulation is another popular approach. Zhang, et al, described the process by which control delay could be determined in the CORSIM module of TSIS 5.0 (5). Tian, et al, have compared the results of various traffic simulation models to the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) (2000) (6). These studies usually focus on comparing the results produced by different models and make recommendations on which simulation model better replicates the results of either the HCM or field data. In this paper, we propose a method to analyze the signalized intersection with Poisson arrivals theoretically. Base on the known distribution of busy period of M/G/1 system, we analyze the distribution of busy period of the intersection with multiple vehicles waiting at the beginning of a green phase. Then we consider two types of traffic signals, adaptive signal and fixed timing signal. With