Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Revealing the Fugitive Palette of the Early American South: A SERS Study of Eighteenth-century Oil Paintings

ABSTRACT The identification of organic colorants in traditional oil paintings is an important and challenging area of conservation research. Since many organic dyes and pigments are fugitive, the detection of these materials is crucial for the proper assessment of fading, conservation treatment, and the prevention of further photodamage. While numerous methods exist to characterize colorants, recent advances in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) methodologies have enabled the unambiguous identification of various organic dyestuffs in oil paintings in a minimally invasive manner. Here, we apply a collection of SERS-based protocols to identify the organic pigments used in a number of oil paintings that were made in the Southern British colonies of North America during the eighteenth century and are being prepared for exhibition at the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. Questions arose during the painting examinations that would appear to involve color shifts and possible fading. The SERS results reveal the identity of several organic pigments (i.e. carmine lake, madder lake, Reseda lake, indigo, gamboge) in these eighteenth-century portraits, within the broad-scale quantity-rich areas of the composition as well as the more challenging flesh tones and small, yet important, detail regions. We discover the continued use of carmine lake in seven of the ten paintings and identify the blue and yellow organic pigments used in this group, both of which contribute to our understanding of pigment availability and artists’ choices, as well as supporting the more accurate assessment of condition and the artists’ original intent.
The Use of Educational Software in Teaching Initial Reading and Writing

This research reveals teachers' views on the educational software used in primary reading and writing teaching process. The research was considered as qualitative research as case study. The data were obtained by interview and observation. The sample of the study consists of 26 primary school teachers who teach the first graders in the 2018-2019 academic year in primary schools in the central district of Nigde, Turkey. The selected teachers were chosen using simple random sampling method. In the research, semi-structured observation and interview forms were used as data collection tools. The data were analyzed by the content analysis method. It has been determined that educational software for students provides an advantage in terms of concretization of teaching, differentiation of activities, minimizing individual differences between students, giving attention to the lesson, giving them an opportunity to apply what is learned, addressing many different sensory organs in students, motivating and supporting students.
Seasonal Variations in the Biochemical Compositions of Phytoplankton and Transparent Exopolymer Particles (TEPs) at Jang Bogo Station (Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea), 2017–2018

The biochemical composition of particulate organic matter (POM) mainly originates from phytoplankton. Transparent exopolymer particles (TEPs) depend on environmental conditions and play a role in the food web and biogeochemical cycle in marine ecosystems. However, little information on their characteristics in the Southern Ocean is available, particularly in winter. To investigate the seasonal characteristics of POM and TEPSs, seawater samples were collected once every two weeks from November 2017 to October 2018 at Jang Bogo Station (JBS) located on the coast of Terra Nova Bay in the Ross Sea. The total chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations increased from spring (0.08 ± 0.06 μg L−1) to summer (0.97 ± 0.95 μg L−1) with a highest Chl-a value of 2.15 μg L−1. After sea ice formation, Chl-a rapidly decreased in autumn (0.12 ± 0.10 μg L−1) and winter (0.01 ± 0.01 μg L−1). The low phytoplankton Chl-a measured in this study was related to a short ice-free period in summer. Strong seasonal variations were detected in the concentrations of proteins and lipids (one-way ANOVA test, p < 0.05), whereas no significant difference in carbohydrate concentrations was observed among different seasons (one-way ANOVA test, p > 0.05). The phytoplankton community was mostly composed of diatoms (88.8% ± 11.6%) with a large accumulation of lipids. During the summer, the POM primarily consisted of proteins. The composition being high in lipids and proteins and the high caloric content in summer indicated that the phytoplankton would make a good food source. In winter, the concentrations of proteins decreased sharply. In contrast, relatively stable concentrations of carbohydrates and lipids have been utilized for respiration and long-term energy storage in the survival of phytoplankton. The TEPS values were significantly correlated with variations in the biomass and species of the phytoplankton. Our study site was characterized by dominant diatoms and low Chl-a concentrations, which could have resulted in relatively low TEP concentrations compared to other areas. The average contributions of TEP-C to the total POC were relatively high in autumn (26.9% ± 6.1%), followed by those in summer (21.9% ± 7.1%), winter (13.0% ± 4.2%), and spring (9.8% ± 3.1%).
Proactive Coping as the Moderator of Hope and Subjective Well-Being Among Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Actors During Pandemic

The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) around the world had impacted negatively on global economic. Many countries had entered recession due to the imposition of lockdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including Indonesia which had imposed Large-Scale Social Restrictions (LSSR). As a result, many Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) actors were affected by this issue and impacted with many losses in their business, even many MSME actors were threatened with bankruptcy. This problem could certainly impact the Subjective Well-Being (SWB) of MSME actors. In fact, SWB has many useful benefits for MSME actors to maintain and develop their business in current situation. Several ways that could be applied to develop SWB were to have hope and implement proactive coping. When the goals of MSME actors could be achieved, this could increase the SWB of MSME actors. This study aimed to examine the role of proactive coping as a moderator between hope and SWB. Participants in this study included 221 MSME actors in Jakarta who have been running their business for at least one year. The results showed that both hope and proactive coping can have a significant role on SWB with an effect of 29.7%. However, proactive coping did not have moderating effect on the relationship between hope and SWB.
EVALUASI KEMAMPUAN BERPIKIR KRITIS PADA PROBLEM BASED LEARNING DENGAN SETTING ONLINE

Abstrak Dinamika baru dalam dunia pendidikan di Indonesia, pembelajaran yang semula dilakukan secara tatap muka menjadi pembelajaran online . Salah satu ciri pembelajaran online adalah open source informasi di dunia maya, sehingga diperlukan kemampuan berpikir kritis untuk mengkonfirmasi informasi. Penelitian ini menganalisis peningkatan kemampuan berpikir kritis siswa dalam pembelajaran online yang terintegrasi dengan model Problem Based Learning (PBL) . Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian tindakan kelas. Subjek penelitian adalah siswa kelas V SD Negeri 2 Wonoharjo yang berjumlah 36 siswa. Penelitian ini menggunakan materi perubahan bentuk benda pada pelajaran IPA. Data dalam penelitian ini diperoleh dari hasil observasi dan tes kemampuan berpikir kritis siswa. Uji N-gain digunakan sebagai teknik analisis data. Hasil yang diperoleh adalah kemampuan berpikir kritis siswa meningkat yang tergolong kategori sedang. Peningkatan ini terjadi karena pembelajaran online yang terintegrasi dengan model Problem Based Learning (PBL) membuat siswa saling berinteraksi dalam kelompok kecil. Abstract New dynamics in the world of education in Indonesia, the learning which was initially done face-to-face became online learning. One characteristic of online learning was an open-source of information in a virtual world so that critical thinking skills were needed to confirm information. This study analyzed the improvement of students' ability to think critically in online learning integrated with the Problem Based Learning (PBL) model. This study was classroom action research. The subjects were the 5th-grade students of SD Negeri 2 Wonoharjo consisting of 36 students. This study used material changes in the shape of objects of the science lesson. The data in this study were obtained from observations and tests of students' ability to think critically. The N-gain test was used as a data analysis technique. The results obtained were students' ability in critical thinking increased which was classified as medium category. This improvement occurred because online learning integrated with the Problem Based Learning (PBL) model made students interact with each other in small groups.
The power of code: women and the making of the digital world

ABSTRACT Most research on gender and digital communication centers on how women use digital media, how they participate online, or how they are treated in online forums and social media. This article, in contrast, approaches gender from a behind the screen perspective. How algorithms and platforms are created, designed, and maintained, the affordances they provide for users and how they govern the ways users communicate with each other, has a major impact on digital communication. However, it is mostly men who create these technologies. Our study approaches technologies as socio-cultural, departing from the concept of network media logic. Empirically, it is based on (1) the review of a diverse body of literature from the history of programming, professional sociology, and computer science and documents such as the diversity reports from tech giants, as well as on (2) 64 semi-structured expert interviews conducted with male and female programmers in seven countries over a time-period of four years. Results show that the gender gap continues to run deep. We report results in four dimensions: professional culture, pervasive stereotypes, lack of role models and typical career paths.
Parental strategies that support adults with intellectual disabilities to explore decision preferences, constraints and consequences

ABSTRACT Background Supporting participation in decision making is complex, dynamic and multifactorial. The aim of this study was to understand more about the difficulties parents of adults with intellectual disabilities experienced in providing decision support and their strategies for resolving them. Method Participants were 23 parents who regularly provided decision support for their adult with intellectual disabilities. Most of the adults (19) lived at home. Parents participated in semi-structured interviews at least three times during the study. We applied a social-constructionist theoretical perspective and a template approach for analysis. Results Findings fell into three core categories, making the right decision, factors that made decision support difficult, and strategies to manage uncertainty, which included controlling, influencing, expanding the adult’s horizons and enabling risk. Conclusions The knowledge gained will help in building the capacity of parents to provide decision support that better understands and respects the will and preferences of the person they support.
Willingness and Influencing Factors of Pig Farmers to Adopt Internet of Things Technology in Food Traceability

: The Internet of Things technology (IoT) in food traceability provides new ideas to solve the problem of smart production and offers new ideas for the formation of safe and high-quality markets for meat products. However, scholars have studied the combination of blockchain and IoT technology. There is a lack of research on the combination of IoT and food traceability technology. Moreover, previous studies focused on the application of IoT traceability technology, taking farmers’ adoption willingness as an exogenous variable while ignoring its endogeneity. Therefore, it is essential to study farmers’ willingness to adopt IoT traceability technology and find the factors that influence farmers’ adoption intention. Based on survey data from 264 pig farmers in Shaanxi Province, this paper discussed the factors which influence pig farmers’ adoption of the technology by using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). The results showed that farmers’ adoption intention was influenced by a combination of farmers’ performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, personal innovation, and perceived risk. Personal innovation played a mediating role in effort expectancy and adoption willingness and perceived risk played a moderating role in personal innovation and adoption willingness.
Changes in Male Rat Thyroid Gland Exposed to Roundup® and Gramoxone®

Objectives: To study the effects of glyphosate based herbicide formulation Roundup® and paraquat based herbicide formulation Gramoxone® on the structure and function of the thyroid gland. Methods: Two groups of male rats were orally treated with a dosage of Roundup® (250 mg/kg) and Gramoxone® (5 mg/kg) respectively, from the 29th day of their age to 89th day. Control animals were administered with distilled water. At the end of the experimental period, blood samples and thyroid lobes were collected for estimation of thyroid hormones and histopathological changes, respectively. The function of the thyroid gland was evaluated by estimating thyroid hormones (thyroid stimulating hormone, thyroxine, and triiodothyronine) level, and the structure of the thyroid gland was assessed by observing histopathological changes. The treated group’s results were compared with the control group. Findings: Non-significant increase in thyroid stimulating hormone and a significant decrease in thyroxine and triiodothyronine levels, as well as moderate desquamation of cells into the follicular lumen and cellular infiltration in thyroid structure were observed. Results of this study provide evidence on histopathological changes in the thyroid gland along with the decrease in thyroxine and triiodothyronine levels on exposure to Roundup® and Gramoxone®. Roundup® is less thyrotoxic compared to Gramoxone®. Applications: Ignoring the guidelines of the Insecticide Boards and manufacturer’s instructions, Roundup® and Gramoxone® formulations are indiscriminately used for immediate weed killing. The human population is exposed to constituents of herbicide formulations through the air, water, and food. In this context, the result of the present study suggests that exposure to Roundup® and Gramoxone® formulations can be a risk to thyroid damage. Keywords: Herbicide; Roundup®; Gramoxone®; Thyroid Hormones; Histopathology; thyrotoxic
Mesenchymal stem cells protect against sepsis-associated acute kidney injury by inducing Gal-9/Tim-3 to remodel immune homeostasis

Abstract Objective The present study investigated the specific mechanism by which mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) protect against sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (SA-AKI). Methods Male C57BL/6 mice underwent cecal ligation and puncture surgery to induce sepsis and then received either normal IgG or MSCs (1 × 106 cells, intravenously) plus Gal-9 or soluble Tim-3 3 h after surgery. Results After cecal ligation and puncture surgery, the mice injected with Gal-9 or MSCs plus Gal-9 had a higher survival rate than the mice in the IgG treatment group. Treatment with MSCs plus Gal-9 decreased serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels, improved tubular function recovery, reduced IL-17 and RORγt levels and induced IL-10 and FOXP3 expression. Additionally, the Th17/Treg cell balance was altered. However, when soluble Tim-3 was used to block the Gal-9/Tim-3 pathway, the septic mice developed kidney injury and exhibited increased mortality. Treatment with MSCs plus soluble Tim-3 blunted the therapeutic effect of MSCs, inhibited the induction of Tregs, and suppressed the inhibition of differentiation into Th17 cells. Conclusion Treatment with MSCs significantly reversed the Th1/Th2 balance. Thus, the Gal-9/Tim-3 pathway may be an important mechanism of MSC-mediated protection against SA-AKI.
EFFECT OF CANAGLIFLOZIN ALONE AND IN COMBINATION WITH METFORMIN ON HORMONAL DERANGEMENTS AND ESTROUS CYCLE IN A POLYCYSTIC OVARY SYNDROME RAT MODEL

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of canagliflozin and metformin on the estrous cycle and hormonal derangement of letrozole induced polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) in Sprague Dawly rats. METHODS: Thirty six female adult non-pregnant Sprague Dawly rats were divided into six groups and all, except normal control (A), were treated with letrozole 1mg/kg daily for 21 days. Treatment was started to all rats except normal control (group-A) and disease control (group-B). Canagliflozin 10 mg/kg, metformin 100 mg/kg and their combinations in high and low doses were given daily to rats of groups-C (canagliflozin-alone), group-D (metformin-alone), group-E (high dose combination) and group-F (low dose combination) respectively. Vaginal smears were taken daily, to observe the estrous cycle, till the 48th day of study. Blood samples were collected on the 22nd and 48th day for hormonal assay. RESULTS: Significant increase in serum estradiol levels (ηg/dl) [group-A=46.53±9.40, group-B=18.75±2.48, group-C=23.00±10.15, group-D=37.41±8.54, group-E=57.58±12.88, group-F=41.93±10.32] and Follicle Stimulating Hormone levels (IU) [group-A=22.90±5.98, group-B=9.30±2.88, group-C=25.73±6.70, group-D=17.60±4.89, group-E=27.36±4.12, group-F=16.11±3.56] and decrease in testosterone levels (ηg/dl) [group-A=4.48±1.21, group-B=10.12±2.90, group-C=2.85±1.00, group-D=4.41±2.30, group-E=2.50±1.28, group-F=4.15±0.79] and Luteinizing Hormone levels(ηg/dl) [group-A=24.55±7.07, group-B=31.25±12.88, group-C=7.71±2.89, group-D=11.43±7.17, group-E=6.98±2.28, group-F=15.86±16.35]. Number of estrous cycles were significantly less in group-B (3-4 cycles/rat). Group-E (10-11 cycles/rat) resulted in significantly high estrous cycles number as compared to group-C (8-9 cycles/rat), group-D and group-F (7-8 cycles/rat). CONCLUSION: Canagliflozin is effective alone and augment the effect of metformin for the regularization of estrous cycles and reversal of hormonal derangements in a rat model of PCOS.
Mapping Antebellum Rice Fields as a Basis for Understanding Human and Ecological Consequences of the Era of Slavery

Model systems enlightened by history that provide understanding and inform contemporary and future landscapes are needed. Through transdisciplinary collaboration, historic rice fields of the southeastern United States can be such models, providing insight into how human–ecological systems work. Rice culture in the United States began in the 1670s; was primarily successfully developed, managed, and driven by the labor of enslaved persons; and ended with the U.S. Civil War. During this time, wetlands were transformed into highly managed farming systems that left behind a system of land use legacies when abandoned after slavery. Historically accepted estimates range from 29,950 to 60,703 ha; however, using remotely sensed data (e.g., LiDAR) and expert opinion, we mapped 95,551 ha of historic rice fields in South Carolina, USA. After mapping, the rice fields’ current wetland and land cover characteristics were assessed. Understanding the geographic distribution and characteristics allows insight into the overall human and ecological costs of forced land use change that can inform future landscapes.
First record of Machairodus aphanistus KAUP, 1833 (Carnivora, Felidae, Machairodontinae) in East Asia from a late Miocene deposit of the Linxia Basin, Gansu Province, China

ABSTRACT A hemi-mandible specimen from a primitive machairodont from the early late Miocene deposit of the Shanzhuang locality (Linxia Basin, northwestern China) is described in this work. It is attributed to the species Machairodus aphanistus after detailed comparisons, as it fits well with the morphological and metrical features characteristic of that species, showing clear differences from other species of the genus. The record of M. aphanistus also confirms the age of the Shanzhuang locality, which is likely to correspond to the early late Vallesian. M. aphanistus was previously considered to be restricted to Europe, however, this study of the new specimen confirms the existence of M. aphanistus in China, and even possibly across East Asia. The discovery of East Asian evidence for this species has filled the gap between European and North American forms in terms of the immigration path of the primitive machairodontine. Abbreviations HMV: Hezheng Palaeozoological Museum, Gansu, China; IVPP: Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology, Beijing, China; IPS: Specimen number of the Institut Catalàde Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònomade Barcelona; HLMD: Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, Germany; NMU: Neogene land Mammal Zones of China; MN: Neogene land Mammal Zones of Europe; c: lower canine; p: lower premolar; m: lower molar.
Evaluation of phytochemical constituents, proximate contents and glycemic index of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea L. Verdc) varieties grown in Northeastern Nigeria

Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea L. Verdc) is widely used as a source of food and also has rich fibre and nutritional values. Hence, this research aimed at determining the phytochemical, proximate content as well as glycemic index and glycemic load of four varieties of Bambara groundnut found in Alkalere area of Bauchi State northeastern Nigeria for possible nutritional and medicinal utilization. Seeds of Bambara groundnut varieties were processed by heating at 60°C and cooled then grinded into powder using a mechanical grinder. The flour was used for phytochemical and proximate analysis as well as glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) determinations. The results revealed the presence of saponins, tannins, steroids, cardiac glycosides, alkaloids and flavonoids in all the varieties while anthraquinones was not detected in all the four varieties. Proximate analysis showed high contents of carbohydrates and protein with low ash content in all the four varieties. The study also found that black seeds of Bambara groundnut had the lowest GI of 66.1 and GL at 1.33 while Brown-black seeds Bambara groundnut was the highest values in GI 75.6 and GL 1.51, respectively. The study for the first time reported the GI and GL differed among varieties with different seed color of different varieties of Bambara groundnut where a black seed variety of Bambara groundnuts possessed some good qualities for use in the nutritional management of blood glucose likely for diabetic patients. Key words: Bambara groundnut, phytochemical properties, proximate, glycemic index, glycemic load.