Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Seedball technology enhances pearl millet yield in a Sahelian subsistence production system

Abstract. Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br. ) is the major staple crop produced by subsistence farmers in the West African Sahel, but its panicle yield is low because of poor seedling establishment in low-nutrient soils. Seedball is a cheap seed-pelleting technique that combines sand, loam, seeds and optionally wood ash or mineral fertiliser as an additive to enhance early growth of pearl millet under infertile soil conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of seedball technology on pearl millet crop establishment and panicle yield on-farm under Sahelian subsistence conditions. Over 2000 on-farm (2015–18) trials were conducted in 65 villages of the Maradi region in Niger. Conventionally sown and seedball-derived pearl millet crops were grown by using ‘farmer-optimised' simple split-plot designs with three treatments: (i) farmers' practice as control; and seedballs (2.0 cm diameter, made from 80 g sand + 50 g loam + 25 mL water + 2.5 g seeds as standard recipe) that contained either (ii) 3 g wood ash or (iii) 1 g mineral fertiliser (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium; NPK) as effective nutrient compounds. In 2016–18, participating farmers could opt for one of the seedball treatments. Panicle as well as stover yield data were collected and compared with respect to seedball type (wood ash vs NPK), sowing depth (shallow vs deep), sowing time (wet vs dry), weed management (complete vs partial), local soil type (texture range sand to loamy sand), cropping system (sole vs mixed), and farmer. Results showed that seedballs do not suppress seedling emergence. Seedball treatments produced fewer but longer and denser panicles. Wood ash-amended seedballs showed a higher panicle yield increase relative to their site controls than NPK-amended seedballs. However, the average panicle yield of NPK-amended seedballs was higher than that of the wood ash-amended seedballs. The treatment factors wet sowing, partial weeding, sole cropping and farmers showed higher panicle yield. The seedball technology increases pearl millet panicle yield by ∼30% in the Sahel; it is simple and based on local materials.
Secondary PM decreases significantly less than NO2 emission reductions during COVID lockdown in Germany

Abstract. This study estimates the influence of anthropogenic emission reductions on the concentration of particulate matter with a diameter smaller than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) during the 2020 lockdown period in German metropolitan areas. After accounting for meteorological effects, PM2.5 concentrations during the spring 2020 lockdown period were 5 % lower compared to the same time period in 2019. However, during the 2020 pre-lockdown period (winter), meteorology accounted for PM2.5 concentrations were 19 % lower than in 2019. Meanwhile, meteorology accounted for NO2 concentrations dropped by 23 % during the 2020 lockdown period compared to an only 9 % drop for the 2020 pre-lockdown period, both compared to 2019. Meteorology accounted for SO2 and CO concentrations show no significant changes during the 2020 lockdown period compared to 2019. GEOS-Chem (GC) simulation with a COVID-19 emission reduction scenario based on the observations (23 % reduction in NOX emission with unchanged VOC and SO2) are consistent with the small reductions of PM2.5 during the lockdown and are used to identify the underlying drivers for this. Due to being in a NOX saturated ozone production regime, GC OH radical and O3 concentrations increased (15 and 9 %, respectively) during the lockdown compared to a Business As Usual (no lockdown) scenario. The increased O3 results in increased NO3 radical concentrations, primarily during the night, despite the large reductions in NO2. Thus, the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere is increased in all three important oxidants, OH, O3, and NO3. PM nitrate formation from gas-phase nitric acid (HNO3) is decreased during the lockdown as the increased OH concentration cannot compensate for the strong reductions in NO2 resulting in decreased day-time HNO3 formation from the OH + NO2 reaction. However, night-time formation of PM nitrate from N2O5 hydrolysis is relatively unchanged. This results from the fact that increased night-time O3 results in significantly increased NO3 which roughly balances the effect of the strong NO2 reductions on N2O5 formation. Ultimately, the only small observed decrease in lockdown PM2.5 concentrations can be explained by the large contribution of night-time PM nitrate formation, generally enhanced sulfate formation and slightly decreased ammonium. This study also suggests that high PM2.5 episodes in early spring are linked to high atmospheric ammonia concentrations combined with favorable meteorological conditions of low temperature and low boundary layer height. North-West Germany is a hot-spot of NH3 emissions, primarily emitted from livestock farming and intensive agricultural activities (fertilizer application), with high NH3 concentrations in the early spring and summer months. Based on our findings, we suggest that appropriate NOX and VOC emission controls are required to limit ozone, and that should also help reduce PM2.5. Regulation of NH3 emissions, primarily from agricultural sectors, could result in significant reductions in PM2.5 pollution.
Students’ Perceptions of Excellence in Chilean High-Performing Public Schools

This paper aims to analyze how students attending six of the most prestigious, selective, and high-performing public schools in Chile perceive the concept of excellence and what factors influence their perceptions. A survey was administered to 1,828 students enrolled in 11th and 12th grade. The results show that students share a multidimensional idea of excellence. Five dimensions are identified but, according to students’ perceptions, there were two constructs that stood out the most: “effort and self-improvement’” and ‘”social commitment and thoughtfulness. ” We find that variables such as expectations about the future and perceptions about schools explain the dissimilar ideas of excellence shared by students. This research gives voice to students on a current topic of the educational agenda –the concept of excellence– and invites researchers to re-think this construct from perspectives other than academic achievements
Comparison of cyclic fatigue resistance of different and novel heat-treated nickel-titanium rotary file systems at the intracanal temperature

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the cyclic fatigue resistance of different heat-treated nickel-titanium rotary systems at intracanal temperature. Methodology: A total of 90 OneCurve (Micro-Mega, Besançon, France), VDW.ROTATE (VDW Dental, Munich, Germany), Typhoon (Clinician’s Choice, New Milford, CT, USA), HyFlex EDM (Coltene/Whaledent AG, Altstatten, Switzerland), and EndoArt Gold and Blue (Inci Dental, Istanbul, Turkey) (n = 15) rotary files (#25/0.06) were tested at intracanal temperature (35.5 ℃) using a dynamic model in a stainless-steel artificial canal with an inner diameter of 1.5 mm, 60° angle of curvature, and 2 mm radius of curvature. Testing was conducted until fracturing, at which time the device stopped automatically, and the number of rotations was calculated as seconds. Lengths of fractured parts were measured using a digital caliper. One-way ANOVA test followed by Tukey’s test was used to compare the groups. Scanning electron microscopic evaluation was performed to confirm the types of fracture. Results: EndoArt Blue group had a significantly higher mean time to fracture in all groups, followed by the HyFlex EDM, VDW.ROTATE, OneCurve, EndoArt Gold, and Typhoon. In addition, the HyFlex EDM and VDW.ROTATE groups had no significant differences between each other and were significantly better than the others. No significant differences were found between the OneCurve, EndoArt Gold, and Typhoon groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: This is the first study in the literature for EndoArt NiTi files and the second study for VDW.ROTATE that evaluated cyclic fatigue resistance. Novel EndoArt Blue files exhibited significantly greater cyclic fatigue resistance than the other NiTi files. How to cite this article: Güneç HG, Keskin NB, Haznedaroğlu F. Comparison of cyclic fatigue resistance of different and novel heat-treated nickel-titanium rotary file systems at intracanal temperature. Int Dent Res 2021;11(3):158-64. https://doi.org/10.5577/intdentres.2021. vol11.no3. 4 Linguistic Revision: The English in this manuscript has been checked by at least two professional editors, both native speakers of English.
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF FATAL OCCUPATIONAL ACCIDENTS AND ESTIMATION OF RELATED HUMAN COSTS IN TEHRAN

Background: The human being has an important role in the production cycle and it cannot be possible to use him like other manufacturing organizations. Death due to occupational accidents causes loosing years of life, years of working and other relegated costs in addition to hardware assets' loss. Therefore, controlling the rate of accidents has been one of the continuous efforts of human. The target of this research is estimation of fatal occupational accidents and related human costs. MaterialÂ and Methods: This research was performed as a cross sectional study in 2003. Population of study included all dead insured staff, about 231 people, in Tehran province. The required data for this survey was collected through particular checklists by referring to various branches of the social security organization. The data then were evaluated by means of Excel and software that had been designed for this purpose. Result: In these three years 19.8 percent of all accidents happening for insured staff occurred in Tehran. 3.1 percent of which led to death. This research showed those 7552 years of life and 3656 years of work were lost because of the occurrences of occupational accidents. Findings also showed that human cost for each fatal occupational accident was 3.36 billion Rials. Conclusion: Reading the significant costs caused by occupational accidents, it is really important to recognize the accidents' causes, control the rate of them and provide sufficient and appropriate occupational health and safety services. Language: fa
Quantifying Student Attention using Convolutional Neural Networks

: In this study we propose a method for quantifying student attention based on Gabor ﬁlters, a convolutional neural network and a support vector machine (SVM). The ﬁrst stage uses a Gabor ﬁlter, which extracts intrinsic facial features. The convolutional neural network processes this initial transformation and in the last layer a SVM performs the classiﬁcation. For this task we have constructed a custom dataset of images. The dataset consists of images from the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces dataset, from actual high school online classes and from volunteers. Our model showed higher accuracy when compared to other convolutional models such as AlexNet and GoogLeNet.
Biosensors to Monitor Cell Activity in 3D Hydrogel-Based Tissue Models

Three-dimensional (3D) culture models have gained relevant interest in tissue engineering and drug discovery owing to their suitability to reproduce in vitro some key aspects of human tissues and to provide predictive information for in vivo tests. In this context, the use of hydrogels as artificial extracellular matrices is of paramount relevance, since they allow closer recapitulation of (patho)physiological features of human tissues. However, most of the analyses aimed at characterizing these models are based on time-consuming and endpoint assays, which can provide only static and limited data on cellular behavior. On the other hand, biosensing systems could be adopted to measure on-line cellular activity, as currently performed in bi-dimensional, i.e., monolayer, cell culture systems; however, their translation and integration within 3D hydrogel-based systems is not straight forward, due to the geometry and materials properties of these advanced cell culturing approaches. Therefore, researchers have adopted different strategies, through the development of biochemical, electrochemical and optical sensors, but challenges still remain in employing these devices. In this review, after examining recent advances in adapting existing biosensors from traditional cell monolayers to polymeric 3D cells cultures, we will focus on novel designs and outcomes of a range of biosensors specifically developed to provide real-time analysis of hydrogel-based cultures.
EMBER—Embedding Multiple Molecular Fingerprints for Virtual Screening

In recent years, the debate in the field of applications of Deep Learning to Virtual Screening has focused on the use of neural embeddings with respect to classical descriptors in order to encode both structural and physical properties of ligands and/or targets. The attention on embeddings with the increasing use of Graph Neural Networks aimed at overcoming molecular fingerprints that are short range embeddings for atomic neighborhoods. Here, we present EMBER, a novel molecular embedding made by seven molecular fingerprints arranged as different “spectra” to describe the same molecule, and we prove its effectiveness by using deep convolutional architecture that assesses ligands’ bioactivity on a data set containing twenty protein kinases with similar binding sites to CDK1. The data set itself is presented, and the architecture is explained in detail along with its training procedure. We report experimental results and an explainability analysis to assess the contribution of each fingerprint to different targets.
COVID-19 and Physical Distancing Measures: Experience of Psychiatric Professionals in Europe

A The COVID-19 pandemic has had a considerable impact on the organization of psychiatric care. The present study examines how care professionals experienced this period and faced these new constraints weighing on their professional practices. Based on a qualitative research methodology, 13 group interviews with healthcare professionals working in psychiatric wards were conducted in five countries in western Europe. To complement this, 31 individual interviews were carried out in Belgium and France. Public health measures hindered certain therapeutic activities, jeopardized communication, and obliged healthcare professionals to modify and adapt their practices. Confronted with a transformation of their usual roles, healthcare professionals feared a deterioration in the quality of care. Impossible to continue in-person care practices, they resorted to online videoconferencing which went against their idea of care in which the encounter holds an essential place. The lockdown contradicted efforts to co-build care pathways toward readaptation, social reintegration, and recovery, thus reviving the perception of psychiatric hospitalization based on isolation.
Detection, Molecular Identification and Transmission of the Intestinal Protozoa Blastocystis sp. in Guinea from a Large-Scale Epidemiological Study Conducted in the Conakry Area

Blastocystis sp. is a single-celled parasite estimated to colonize the digestive tract of 1 to 2 billion people worldwide. Although it represents the most frequent intestinal protozoa in human stools, it remains still under-investigated in countries with a high risk of infection due to poor sanitary and hygiene conditions, such as in Africa. Therefore, the present study was carried out to determine the prevalence and subtype (ST) distribution of Blastocystis sp. in the Guinean population. For this purpose, fecal samples were collected from 500 individuals presenting or not digestive disorders in two hospitals of Conakry. Search for the parasite in stools was performed by real-time PCR targeting the small subunit rDNA gene followed by sequencing of the PCR products for subtyping of the isolates. A total of 390 participants (78.0%) was positive for Blastocystis sp. Five STs were identified in the Guinean cohort (ST1, ST2, ST3, ST4 and ST14) with varying frequency, ST3 being predominant. Among them, ST4 was found in only two patients confirming its global rarity in Africa whereas infections by ST14 were likely the result of zoonotic transmission from bovid. No significant association was detected between Blastocystis sp. colonization or ST distribution and the symptomatic status of Guinean subjects or the presence of digestive symptoms. In contrast, drilling water consumption represented a significant risk factor for infection by Blastocystis sp. Predominance of ST3 coupled with its low intra-ST diversity strongly suggested large-scale human-to-human transmission of this ST within this cohort. In parallel, the highest intra-ST diversity of ST1 and ST2 was likely correlated with various potential sources of infection in addition to anthroponotic transmission. These findings highlighted the active circulation of the parasite in Guinea as reported in some low-income African countries and the necessity to implement prevention and control measures in order to limit the circulation of this parasite in this endemic geographical area.
Numerical investigation of oil-water drainage and imbibition in digitized sandstones

We simulated the primary drainage and first imbibition processes in a numerical porous-plate experiment using a lattice-Boltzmann based pore scale simulator. The pore space representations of the Berea, Fontainebleau and Bentheimer sandstones were obtained by high resolution micro-CT and subsequent segmentation. The pore body and throat distributions were identified using an open-map based method. The rock surface was assumed completely water wet. The capillary pressure as function of water saturation and the oil and water distributions were investigated for different geometries represented by the different sandstone samples. The calculated residual oil saturation after imbibition compares well with recently published high quality laboratory data. The dependence of the residual oil saturation on the initial oil saturation was calculated and the results are consistent with published experimental data and correlations. Finally the drainage and imbibition processes were calculated for several Fontainebleau samples with different porosity. It was found that the residual oil saturation decreases with porosity and the variation agrees well with published experimental data.
Thermoelectric properties of organic thin films enhanced by π–π stacking

Thin films comprising synthetically robust, scalable molecules have been shown to have major potential for thermoelectric energy harvesting. Previous studies of molecular thin-films have tended to focus on massively parallel arrays of discrete but identical conjugated molecular wires assembled as a monolayer perpendicular to the electrode surface and anchored via a covalent bond, know as self-assembled monolayers. In these studies, to optimise the thermoelectric properties of the thin-film there has been a trade-off between synthetic complexity of the molecular components and the film performance, limiting the opportunities for materials integration into practical thermoelectric devices. In this work, we demonstrate an alternative strategy for enhancing the thermoelectric performance of molecular thin-films. We have built up a series of films, of controlled thickness, where the basic units—here zinc tetraphenylporphyrin—lie parallel to the electrodes and are linked via π–π stacking. We have compared three commonly used fabrications routes and characterised the resulting films with scanning probe and computational techniques. Using a Langmuir-Blodgett fabrication technique, we successfully enhanced the thermopower perpendicular to the plane of the ZnTPP multilayer film by a factor of 10, relative to the monolayer, achieving a Seebeck coefficient of −65 μV K−1. Furthermore, the electronic transport of the system, perpendicular to the plane of the films, was observed to follow the tunnelling regime for multi-layered films, and the transport efficiency was comparable with most conjugated systems. Furthermore, scanning thermal microscopy characterisation shows a factor of 7 decrease in thermal conductance with increasing film thickness from monolayer to multilayer, indicating enhanced thermoelectric performance in a π–π stacked junction.
Examination of the Quality of Particulate and Filtered Mandibular Bone Chips for Oral Implants: An In Vitro Study

(1) Background: Autologous bone is supposed to contain vital cells that might improve the osseointegration of dental implants. The aim of this study was to investigate particulate and filtered bone chips collected during oral surgery intervention with respect to their osteogenic potential and the extent of microbial contamination to evaluate its usefulness for jawbone reconstruction prior to implant placement. (2) Methods: Cortical and cortical-cancellous bone chip samples of 84 patients were collected. The stem cell character of outgrowing cells was characterized by expression of CD73, CD90 and CD105, followed by osteogenic differentiation. The degree of bacterial contamination was determined by Gram staining, catalase and oxidase tests and tests to evaluate the genera of the found bacteria (3) Results: Pre-surgical antibiotic treatment of the patients significantly increased viability of the collected bone chip cells. No significant difference in plasticity was observed between cells isolated from the cortical and cortical-cancellous bone chip samples. Thus, both types of bone tissue can be used for jawbone reconstruction. The osteogenic differentiation was independent of the quantity and quality of the detected microorganisms, which comprise the most common bacteria in the oral cavity. (4) Discussion: This study shows that the quality of bone chip-derived stem cells is independent of the donor site and the extent of present common microorganisms, highlighting autologous bone tissue, assessable without additional surgical intervention for the patient, as a useful material for dental implantology.
‘We’re just business. we’re not people’: revisiting surrogacy through Amulya Malladi’s, A House for Happy Mothers

ABSTRACT India is rapidly establishing itself as the world’s baby factory, with couples from both wealthy and impoverished countries flocking there to make specific reproductive decisions through accessible surrogates. These changes in medical technology have reinforced and normalized the concept of ‘wombs for rent’, converting the body of the Third world woman into an active site of reproductive exploitation and providing for the creation of a new kind of eugenics. This article is a critical intervention into surrogacy as an explicit manifestation of stratified reproduction through Amulya Malladi’s A House for Happy Mothers (2016). It also examines the bioeconomic and bioethical assumptions behind exploitative surrogacy practises based on systemic and structural disparities in India and proposes a Reproductive Justice framework to evaluate commercial surrogacy The essay claims that, while surrogacy is often considered to be free of compulsion and violence and classified as ‘subjective free choice’, it is financially driven, posing major questions regarding autonomy. The essay closes by analysing surrogates’ commercialization and dehumanization, as their wombs are viewed as ‘passive incubators’ and ‘prosthetics’, violently distanced from the baby.