Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antibiotic Resistance and Virulence Genes in Enterococcus faecalis Isolated From Human Dental Plaque

Background Enterococcus faecalis causing serious infections have many virulence factors to be involved in the pathogenesis. Its pathogenicity ranges from life-threatening diseases in compromised patients to less severe features, such as infection of acquired root canals with chronic periodontitis. The aim of the present study was to determine the antibiotic resistance patterns and virulence genes in E. faecalis isolated from human dental plaque. Methods The duration of this study was from October 2017 to March 2018. The samples were collected from dental plaques of 207 Iranian patients according to a standard protocol. Enterococcus faecalis strains were identified and confirmed by microbiological and biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility was ascertained by disk agar diffusion, using the recommended protocol of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. Finally, polymerase chain reaction for the detection of E. faecalis virulence genes (efaA, ahrC, and eep) was performed with specific primers. Results A total of 43 (76.7%) E. faecalis were identified of which 5 (11.6%), 4 (9.3%), and 1 (2.3%) isolates were resistant against linezolid, chloramphenicol, and teicoplanin, respectively, whereas all isolates were susceptible to penicillin G and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid. Most of the E. faecalis isolates were contained efaA (65.1%), and the frequencies of eep and ahrC were 44.1% and 34.8%, respectively. Conclusions It was concluded that E. faecalis isolated from dental plaques might represent a reservoir of biofilm encoding genes. Further epidemiological studies are necessary to investigate the status of virulence factors in enterococci isolated from dental plaques.
Variations in RTI Literacy Implementation in Grades 6-12: A National Study

ABSTRACT Despite the need for Response to Intervention (RTI) in secondary grades, research is scant with most studies exploring state-level policy guidance and RTI implementation surveys in classrooms. Additionally, state and federal policy has generally been vague regarding specific information for RTI implementation in literacy. Our national survey reports data on RTI implementation from 209 secondary grade teachers. Response profiles and statistical significance tests were conducted, determining that many secondary level classrooms are using research-based recommendations for RTI implementation and practice across the country. However, significant regional differences exist in how RTI is being resourced and implemented.
Working in old age in Mexico: implications for cognitive functioning

Abstract Previous studies indicate that occupation might affect cognitive functioning in late life. As people in low- and middle-income countries often have to work until late life, we sought to investigate if there are cognitive benefits to working later into life and whether cognitive function deteriorates after exiting the labour force. We analysed longitudinal data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS), a nationally representative sample of Mexican adults age 50+ (N = 7,375), that assessed cognitive functioning by verbal learning, delayed recall and visual scanning. Analyses were carried out using mixed-effects modelling corrected for the influence of gender, instrumental activities of daily living, diabetes, stroke, hypertension, depression, income and marital status. Results suggest that working actively, compared to exiting the workforce, was associated with cognitive performance only in context with occupation. Domestic workers had a faster decline in verbal learning (b = −0.02, p = 0.020) and delayed recall (b = −0.02, p = 0.036) if they continued working actively and people working in administration (b = 0.03, p = 0.007), sales (b = 0.02, p = 0.044) and educators (b = 0.03, p = 0.049) had a slower decline in visual scanning if they continued working in old age. Our findings indicate that continued participation in the labour force in old age does not necessarily come with cognitive benefits. Whether or not working actively in later life protects or even harms cognitive functioning is likely to depend on the type of job.
Rural-Urban Comparison of Manufacturing SMMEs Performance in KwaZulu Natal Province, South Africa

The paper investigated the role of location on the performance attributes of manufacturing Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa’s second-largest province of KwaZulu Natal (KZN). Panel data from 191 SMMEs covering three years between 2015 and 2017 were analysed using R software. The results utilising the Random Effects Within-Between (REWB) technique show that SMMEs in KZN have related characteristics but the extent to which they influence performance is moderated by location. The findings also indicate that the use of digital media and liability registration negatively affects the performance of urban-based, with no effect on rural-based enterprises. Based on the findings, it was recommended that SMMEs in KZN should focus on productivity, permanent employees, temporary employees and total assets to drive performance despite their locations. Based on this study, the government has an informed basis for the development of effective interventions for SMMEs in the province.
Changes and continuities in police responses to domestic abuse in England and Wales during the Covid-19 ‘lockdown’

ABSTRACT Covid-19 and the associated public health response directing people to stay at home and/or shelter in place generated acute awareness of, and concerns about, the likely impact on violence(s) against women across the globe. Initial reports from support services suggested that such violence increased, and that its impact was more complex. Early evidence of increased demands in relation to domestic abuse on policing was however less clear. This paper, based on findings from a larger project, offers an analysis of the initial responses to domestic abuse by the police and the courts in England and Wales during the initial pandemic lockdown of 2020. These findings are situated within wider debates concerned with the nature and impact of the current organisational structure of policing and suggests that whilst police forces responded both quickly and innovatively in order to maintain a focus on domestic abuse, their capacity to continue in this vein will be limited in the absence of wider structural and organisational change.
Performance and Tracking Control of Three-Phase Induction-Motor Drive Fed from a DC-Modified Nano-grid

Nowadays, induction motor (IM) can be used in tracking systems to follow a predefined path like in robotics and servos. The modified nanogrid is a small scalable-renewable energy intermittent source that powers loads via a single-stage inverter (SSI). Higher utilization of the inverter dc-link voltage improves its output voltage and dependently, the performance of the motor tracking speed. So, this paper proposed a switched boost inverter (SBI) to feed IM from PV-source to boost its dc-link output voltage. The usage SBI utilizes minimum passive components, more active elements, introduces shot-through mode as z-source inverter and produces both ac and dc voltages simultaneously. The performance of the motor-tracking speed depends directly on the motorstator voltage. So, the proposed method depends mainly on two parameters to verify the pre-defined trajectory speed. The first proposed intention is a simple algorithm for a closed-loop dc-link boosting control based-on the reference model to compute the optimum duty ratio (D). The second one depends mainly on the modulation index (M) to produce the reference signals needed to adjust the speed of the motor through a (voltage/frequency) control of a predefined value. The modelling and validation of the proposed system was implicit with the help of Matlab/ Simulink package. The robustness of the system has been tested by selecting several speed trajectories and was able to track them. Furthermore, SBI-based system was compared with other VSI-inverter techniques such as the space-vector PWM singleand two-stage VSI inverters. Test results explored that the SBI-based system is a strong competitor to other inverter techniques especially at low-voltage intermittent supply. Key-Words: Induction motor Drive (IM), Photo-voltaic (PV), Switched Boost Inverter (SBI), Modified Nanogrid, Tracking Control Received: December 8, 2020. Revised: February 26, 2021. Accepted: March 1, 2021. Published: March 3, 2021.
Characterization of light‐activated Cu defects in silicon: Comparison with the recombination activity of metallic precipitates

The presence of copper contamination is known to severely degrade the minority carrier lifetime of p-type silicon upon exposure to illumination. In this contribution, we have analyzed the recombination activity of light-activated copper defects in deliberately Cu-contaminated p-type silicon by means of a recombination model that quantitatively defines the effect of metallic precipitates on minority carrier lifetime. The excellent agreement between the model and the experimental data indicates that (i) the formation of Cu precipitates is the probable root-cause behind Cu-LID and (ii) in the samples examined in this work, the precipitate radius varies between few to several tens of nm with corresponding densities estimated to be in the range of 108–1010 cm−3. Further evidence of these results was obtained from the analysis of temperature-dependent lifetime data. While applied here to light-activated copper defects, the procedure described in this article can be applied for characterizing lifetime-limiting precipitates originated by other transition metals (e.g., Fe or Ni).
Development of a Novel Deployable Solar Panel and Mechanism for 6U CubeSat of STEP Cube Lab-II

The structural safety of solar cells mounted on deployable solar panels in the launch vibration environment is a significant aspect of a successful CubeSat mission. This paper presents a novel highly damped deployable solar panel module that is effective in ensuring structural protection of solar cells under the launch environment by rapidly suppressing the vibrations transmitting through the solar panel by constrained layer damping achieved using printed circuit board (PCB)-based multilayered thin stiffeners with double-sided viscoelastic tapes. A high-damping solar panel demonstration model with a three-pogo pin-based burn wire release mechanism was fabricated and tested for application in the 6U CubeSat “STEP Cube Lab-II” developed by Chosun University, South Korea. The reliable release function and radiation hardness assurance of the mechanism in an in-orbit environment were confirmed by performing solar panel deployment tests and radiation tests, respectively. The design effectiveness and structural safety of the proposed solar panel module were validated by launch vibration and in-orbit environment tests at the qualification level.
Distinct Features of Atmospheric Rivers in the Early Versus Late East Asian Summer Monsoon and Their Impacts on Monsoon Rainfall

Atmospheric river (AR) and its impact on monsoon rainfall in East Asia are investigated by considering their month‐to‐month variations during the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM). The AR in the EASM, defined as an anomalously enhanced plume‐like water vapor transport, frequently forms over eastern China, Korea and western Japan. However, its characteristics vary from the early (June‐July) to the late (August‐September) period of the EASM. In the early EASM, AR is typically characterized by a quasi‐stationary monsoon southwesterly along the northern boundary of the western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH), which is further intensified by a migrating extratropical cyclone in the north. In contrast, the late‐EASM AR, which is less frequent than the early EASM AR, is primarily organized by a migrating extratropical cyclone. The quasi‐stationary monsoon southwesterly is less influential as the northern boundary of the WNPSH shifts northward, being decoupled from the subtropical ocean. Both the early‐ and late‐EASM ARs contribute substantially to monsoon rainfall, especially to heavy rainfall events. In the early EASM, 35%–70% of total rainfall amount and 60%–80% of heavy rainfall events in eastern China, Korea and western Japan are associated with AR. Although weakened, AR‐related rainfall is still significant in the late EASM in Korea and western Japan. These results indicate that AR is a key ingredient of EASM precipitation and its subseasonal variations should be taken into account to better understand and predict AR‐related extreme precipitation in East Asia.
Physical activity counselling among junior doctors in the UK: A qualitative study

Background: Evidence supporting physical activity (PA) as an effective modality in the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases is robust. Medical doctors are ideally placed to translate this into practice; however, realising this has proved challenging. To ensure doctors are well prepared, the training of medical students to be proficient in PA counselling seems essential. This study aimed to explore the PA counselling practice of junior doctors, to gain insight into how undergraduate training might influence their future practice. Methods: Interviews were conducted with 11 junior doctors recruited by purposive sampling from across seven different medical schools. All junior doctors were currently undertaking their post-graduate training in North-West England. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Themes developed from the data were PA attitudes and practices, and barriers and facilitators to PA counselling in clinical practice. Conclusion: The PA counselling practice of junior doctors was found to be inadequate, and attitudes towards PA promotion were particularly discouraging while in the hospital setting. Lack of training in PA counselling at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level and lack of support from consultants were major hindrances. However, unexplored opportunities exist for junior doctors to incorporate PA counselling into primary and secondary care and thus transform the practice of the next generation of doctors.
Hydrothermal Treatment of Empty Fruit Bunches to Enhance Fuel Characteristics

Hydrothermal pretreatment of biomass can improve fuel characteristics based on the decomposition properties of subcritical water. Thus, this study used a hydrothermal treatment to improve the fuel characteristics of empty fruit bunches (EFBs), which are generated as waste after palm oil extraction. The experimental reaction temperature was increased from 180 °C to 250 °C at an interval of 10 °C and the mass ratios between the dry sample and water content were set to 1:8 and 1:16 so that the sample was sufficiently immersed. Additionally, the material properties of EFB under hydrothermal treatment conditions were investigated using mass and energy yields, elemental analysis, proximate analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, derivative thermogravimetry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis of the reaction products. As the reaction temperature increased, the fixed carbon content and heating value increased because volatile matter, including oxygen, was removed first, which is similar characteristics to coal. All analyses revealed that the water content exhibited little influence on EFB material properties since the samples were sufficiently immersed in water. Thus, it is not necessary to add more water that required for sample immersion for the hydrothermal treatment of EFB.
Studies on the active constituents of Anemarrhena asphodeloides bunge

: From the ethanol extract of the Anemarrhena asphodeloides Buge (Liliaceae), a new steroidal suponin anemarsaponin B and two known saponins anemarsaponin A1 and A2 were isolated. On the basis of chemical evidences and spectral analysis (UV, IR, EI-MS, FAB-MS, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR), the structure of anemarsaponin B was elucidated as 26-O-beta-D-glucopyranosylfurost-20(22)-ene-3 beta,26-diol-3-O-beta-D- glucopyranosyl(1----2)-beta-D-galactopyranoside. Preliminary pharmacological tests showed that anemarsaponin B could inhibit PAF-induced rabbit platelet aggregation in vitro.
Spatial aggregation of soil property predictions in support of local land management

Over the past decades, numerous practical applications of Digital Soil Mapping have emerged to respond to the need of land managers. One important contribution to this effort is the release of regional‐scale soil maps from the GlobalSoilMap (GSM) project. While the GSM project aims at producing soil property predictions on a fine 90 × 90 m grid at the global scale, land managers often require aggregated information over larger areas of interest (e.g. farms, watersheds, municipalities). This study evaluated a geostatistical procedure aiming at aggregating GSM grids to a land management scale, thereby providing land suitability maps with associated uncertainty for the French region ‘Languedoc‐Roussillon’ (27 236 km2). Specifically, maps were derived from three GSM prediction grids (pH, organic carbon and clay content) by calculating the proportion of ‘suitable’ agricultural land within a municipality, where suitability was defined as having soil property values below or above a predefined threshold (pH < 5.5, OC < 10 g/kg, clay > 375 g/kg). Calculation of these nonlinear spatial aggregates and the associated uncertainty involved a three‐step approach: (i) sampling from the conditional probability distributions of the soil properties at all grid cells by means of sequential Gaussian simulation applied to a regression kriging model, (ii) transformation of soil properties to suitability indicators for all grid cell samples generated in the first step and (iii) spatial aggregation of the suitability indicators from grid cells to municipalities. The maps produced show large differences between municipality areas for all three land suitability indicators. The uncertainties associated with the aggregated suitability indicators were moderate. This approach demonstrated that fine‐scale GSM products may also fulfil user demands at coarser land management scales, without jeopardizing uncertainty quantification requirements.
Theory of nuclear spin dephasing and relaxation by optically illuminated nitrogen-vacancy center

Dephasing and relaxation of the nuclear spins coupled to the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center during optical initialization and readout is an important issue for various applications of this hybrid quantum register. Here we present both an analytical description and a numerical simulation for this process, which agree reasonably with the experimental measurements. For an NV center under cyclic optical transition, our analytical formulas not only provide a clear physical picture, but also allow control of the nuclear spin dissipation by tuning an external magnetic field. For more general optical pumping, our analytical formulas reveal a significant contribution to the nuclear spin dissipation due to electron random hopping into/out of the m = 0 (or m = ± 1 ? > ) subspace. This contribution is not suppressed, even under saturated optical pumping and/or vanishing magnetic field, thus providing a possible solution to the puzzling observation of nuclear spin dephasing in zero perpendicular magnetic field Dutt et al (2007 Science 316 1312). It also implies that enhancing the degree of optical spin polarization of the nitrogen-vacancy center can reduce the effect of optically induced nuclear spin dissipation.
Malnutrition Is an Independent Risk Factor for Low Health-Related Quality of Life Among Centenarians

Background: To explore the association and understand gender disparities between nutritional status and quality of life among centenarians. Methods: It was a full-sample survey of centenarians conducted in Hainan that included a total of 1,002 eligible centenarians whose age had been verified. The Mini Nutritional Assessment – Short Form (MNA-SF) questionnaire and the EuroQol five dimensions visual analog scale (EQ-5D-VAS) were used to measure participants' nutritional status and quality of life, respectively. Findings: In the 1002 centenarians (822 women and 180 men), 797 (79.5%) (79.5%) reported multimorbidity. The adjusted standardized β estimate association between the MNA-SF and EQ-5D scores was 0.508 in the complete sample. With reference to the normal nutrition group, the standardized β estimate of the association between EQ-5D score and nutritional status were −0.179 and −0.583 for the at risk of malnutrition and malnutrition groups, respectively (both P <0.001). Nutritional status significantly affected the five dimensions of quality of life, particularly mobility and self-care. Compared with the normal nutrition group, the malnutrition group had greater odds of low mobility [Odds ratio (OR)=23.15; 95% CI: 9.81–54.64] and low self-care (OR=24.58; 95% CI: 12.62–47.89). Among males, nutritional status was significantly associated with the usual activities and anxiety/depression dimensions after adjustment. Female participants had results similar to the general population. Interpretation: Malnutrition and being at risk of malnutrition is prevalent among centenarians. Maintaining normal nutritional status is an important protective factor and should receive more attention to improve centenarians' quality of life.
Self-Service Technologies (SSTs)—The Next Frontier in Service Excellence: Implications for Tourism Industry

This research aims to understand how self-service technologies (SSTs) can bring about service excellence for tourists by the moderated mediating effect of satisfaction and tourist types, from the customer’s perspective. The study draws on survey data from 627 tourists from North Cyprus, Turkey, Italy, United States, and Germany who had experience using SSTs during their travel period for either leisure or business. The utility theory, Lancaster’s consumer theory, and random utility theory form the basis of this research’s theoretical framework. This study is the first attempt that examines the SSTs’ characteristics as antecedents of service excellence from the customer point of view in tourism literature. Moreover, this research enhances knowledge by integrating the concept of service excellence and SSTs’ characteristics into the abovementioned theories. The results revealed that service excellence could be provided for customers through SSTs, which this service excellence drives through the characteristics of SSTs. The result of moderated mediation tests on the relationship between SSTs’ characteristics and service excellence revealed that tourist types moderate the mediating effect of SSTs satisfaction for functionality, enjoyment, security/privacy, convenience, and customization. Meaning the mentioned constructs are more influential for business travelers than leisure travelers. Limitations, practical and theoretical implications are also discussed.