Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-Term Strength Evolution in Ambient-Cured Solid-Activator Geopolymer Compositions

The major downsides of cement manufacturing are the high CO2 emissions and high energy usage. Geopolymers, which are fabricated by activation of blends of fly ash (FA) and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) using an alkaline activator, offer a promising solution to this issue. However, to enhance the replacement of cement in construction applications, geopolymer compositions have to be designed such that they can be activated on site by just adding water, similar to how cements are used. Therefore, the present work uses solid sodium metasilicate (MS, Na2SiO3) as the alkaline activator in order to design an add-water-style FA/GGBFS-based geopolymer composition. These compositions were designed by optimising the binder (FA/GGBFS) ratio, Na2SiO3/binder ratio, and water/binder ratio individually to assess the effects of these parameters on the setting times and mechanical (flexural and compressive) strengths over extended curing times (three months). The major factors affecting the strength development and setting times (initial and final) were the amounts of GGBFS and Na2SiO3, with the former demonstrating the more dominant effect. The consistent strength development with curing time was attributed to calcium aluminium silicate hydrate (CASH) gel formation in the early curing times which was affected by the slag addition levels, and sodium aluminium silicate hydrate (NASH) gel formation at later curing times which was influenced by the metasilicate addition levels. The metasilicate amounts were observed to impact on CASH gel formation in early stage curing. Geopolymer compositions with FA/GGBFS ratio of 35/65 and MS/water ratios of 0.2 showed high compressive strengths of ~70 MPa at 28 days, which are superior to values seen in conventional ordinary Portland cement (OPC) mixes for the same curing times.
Theoretical Investigation of Equilibrium Dynamics in Braided Gravel Beds for the Preservation of a Sustainable Fluvial Environment

Gravel bars have an important role in the exchange between surface and subsurface waters, in preventing and mitigating riverbank erosion, in allowing the recreational use of rivers, and in preserving fluvial or riparian habitats for species of fishes, invertebrates, plants, and birds. In many cases, gravel bars constitute an important substrate for the establishment and development of ground flora and woody vegetation and guarantee higher plant diversity. A sustainable management of braided rivers should, therefore, ensure their ecological potential and biodiversity by preserving a suitable braiding structure over time. In the present study, we propose an analytical–numerical model for predicting the evolution of gravel bars in conditions of dynamical equilibrium. The model is based on the combination of sediment balance equation and a regression formula relating dimensionless unit bedload rate and stream power. The results highlight the dependence of the evolving sediment particles’ pattern on the ratio of initial macro-bedforms longitudinal dimension to river width, which determines the gradual transition from advective and highly braiding to diffusive transport regime. Specifically, the tendency to maintain braiding and flow bifurcation is associated with equilibrium average bed profiles and, therefore, equilibrium average stream power characterized by the maximum period that does not exceed transverse channel dimension.
Mental Health during a COVID-19 Lockdown Over the Christmas Period in Austria

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic a decline in mental health has been reported across a range of countries and demographic groups. This study aimed to assess the mental health of a representative sample in Austria over the Christmas holiday period, during which a second lockdown was taking place. We surveyed 1505 participants through Qualtrics between 23rd December 2020 and 4th January 2021 and measured levels of depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), sleep quality (ISI), well-being (WHO-5), quality of life (WHO-QOL) and stress (PSS-10). 26% of participants scored above the cut-off for moderate depressive symptoms, 23% above the cut-off for moderate anxiety and 18% above the cut-off for insomnia. Additionally, we observed relatively poor well-being and quality of life as compared to both the first lockdown earlier in 2020 and pre-pandemic data. Further analyses indicate these findings were especially apparent for the under 24-year-olds, women, single/separated people, low incomes and those who do not partake in any physical activity (all p-values <0.05). We highlight the need for ongoing mental health support, particularly to the most burdened groups.
What does character education mean to character education experts? A prototype analysis of expert opinions

ABSTRACT Having an agreed-upon definition of character education would be useful for both researchers and practitioners in the field. However, even experts in character education disagree on how they would define it. We attempted to achieve greater conceptual clarity on this issue through a prototype analysis in which the features perceived as most central to character education were identified. In Study 1 (N = 77), we asked character education experts to enumerate features of character education. Based on these lists, we identified 30 features. In Study 2 (N = 101), experts assessed which features were central to character education through a categorization task. In Study 3 (N = 166), we assessed the extent of centrality using scalar items. We conclude by offering practical advice for the development of future character education studies and programs rooted in what is deemed central to such programs.
Mixed siliciclastic–carbonate sedimentation in an evolving epicontinental sea: Aptian record of marginal marine settings in the interior basins of north‐eastern Brazil

The Aptian evaporitic transitional sequence (sag phase) of the Brazilian marginal basins records the first connection between the Central and South Atlantic oceans in the equatorial area. During this phase, lacustrine carbonate reservoirs and giant salt deposits developed in the southern basins of Santos and Campos, forming world‐class petroleum reservoirs. The sag succession is also well‐preserved in the interior rift basins of north‐eastern Brazil, where upper Aptian strata are represented by a continuous section. This contribution presents an interpretation of the evolution of a third‐order depositional sequence comprising lacustrine limestones, marine siliciclastic facies and evaporite deposits of the intracontinental Araripe Basin. The Lowstand Systems Tract is characterized by fluvial deposits filling accommodation generated during the syn‐rift phase. The overlying deposits comprise marine facies with preservation of dinoflagellates and marine ichnotaxa, evidencing marine deposition in bayhead delta settings. The transgressive surface is represented by limestones, including the Konservat–Lagerstätte laminites, onlapping the basement rocks. Above, tide‐dominated bay deposits with distinct subtidal, intertidal and supratidal portions are recorded. The Maximum Flooding Surface is a dark shale below foreshore to shoreface facies, marking the beginning of the Highstand Systems Tract, culminating with deposition of evaporites (gypsum and anhydrite). The stratigraphic architecture and palaeocurrents measured in different facies associations suggest that marine waters reached the basin from the south. The data unequivocally records late Aptian marine ingressions of an incipient South Atlantic Ocean over the interior basins of north‐eastern Brazil, while lacustrine conditions were still prevailing in the Pre‐Salt sag units of the Santos and Campos basins.
Natural Resource Rents, Inequality, and Terrorism in Africa

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of natural resource rents on terrorism via inequality channel in 34 African economies, straddling the period 1980–2012. This study employs a negative binomial regression, in which the following findings are established: first, the unconditional impact of natural resource rents on terrorism is found to be positive across the model specifications, particularly when Gini and Theil indices are controlled for. Second, inequality has no discernable first-order impact on terrorism across the board. Third, the marginal impacts of interactions between inequality measures, specifically Gini and Theil coefficients and total natural resource rents on terrorism are significantly negative. Four, the corresponding net effects of interactions between natural resource rents and inequality (Gini and Theil coefficients) on terrorism are positive, thus lending support to earlier submission of involving all constitutive variables in the specifications for the parameters to make economic sense. The results are robust to accounting for fixed and country effects using the Poisson Pseudo maximum likelihood high-dimension fixed effects estimator. On the policy front, maintaining fairness and equity in the distribution of rents from the ‘free gifts of nature’ remains a veritable policy menu, especially for the resource-rich economies, to counteracting terrorist activities.
Laser synthesis: a solvent-free approach for the preparation of phenylthiazolo[5,4-b]pyridine derivatives

We describe here a rapid and straightforward solvent-free method to access phenylthiazolo[5,4-b]pyridines using a Nd-YAG laser NANO-NY81-10 (λ = 355 nm, 10 Hz pulse frequency; 8 ns pulse duration). This newly presented method successfully brings several improvements to the laser assisted synthesis of N,S-heterocycles. We are able to provide a solvent-, metal- and base-free method with good yield and a substantial reduction in reaction time.
Remote Assessment in Higher Education during COVID-19 Pandemic

Universities have made a compulsory shift to distance education due to the Covid-19 pandemic. All of the higher education instutitions in Turkey have completed 2019-2020 Spring semester using online tools. However, most of these institutions were not fully-prepared to have all of their courses online. Technical inadequencies, lack of qualified online tools, inexperience of instructors and students in distance education have emerged as major issues that instutitions have to face. In addition to all, a new question arised; which approaches will be used for assessment. This study aimed to seek the common assessment approaches used through pandemic, how students perceived the quality of the assessment and the pros and cons of using these practices. Additionally, we examined whether participants’ perceptions about quality of the assessment differ according to interaction with faculty members and use of online tests. Researchers employed survey design to reply four research questions and used a three-part instrument to collect qualitative and quantitative data. 486 students from 61 universities voluntarily participated in the study. Results indicated assignments are the mostly used tools and students are generally satisfied about the quality of the assessment practices. Another result is that students who interact with faculty members are more satisfied with the quality of the assessment practices. This emphasizes the importance of formative assessment and feedback in remote assessment. Further, students who took online tests are more satisfied with the quality of assessment. Suggestions were made for future research.
gzK-colour-selected star-forming galaxies in the AKARI NEP-Deep Field

We study the clustering property and physical parameters of gzK-colour-selected star-forming galaxies (sgzKs) based on the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope surveys over 0.55 deg2 in the AKARI North Ecliptic Pole-Deep Field. Two-point correlation functions for two magnitude-limited cases, Ks < 21.1 (N = 234) and Ks < 21.5 (N = 428), are estimated using a single power-law function with the fixed slope of 0.8. The bias factors of sgzKs with Ks < 21.1 and 21.5 are 5.79 ± 1.07 and 4.00 ± 0.67, respectively, representing that sgzKs with z ∼ 1.7 reside in dark matter haloes more massive than $10^{13} ~\rm M_{\odot }$. We find that haloes hosting sgzKs with Ks < 21.5 evolve into haloes that host local massive galaxies with ∼6 L*. This suggests that sgzKs with Ks < 21.5 are likely to be predecessors of local massive galaxies. The evolutionary track of bias factor for host haloes of the bright sgzKs is similar to that of the bright passive extremely red objects, implying a possible connection between the two populations of galaxies. From the spectral energy distribution fitting, we estimate physical parameters and active galactic nucleus (AGN) contribution for 75 mid-infrared (MIR)-detected sgzKs with Ks < 21.5. The median values of stellar mass and star formation rate are 9.5 × 1010$\rm M_{\odot }$ and 162 $\rm M_{\odot }$ yr−1, respectively. MIR-detected sgzKs have a variety of AGN contributions ranging from 0 to 80 per cent. The number ratio of sgzKs with larger AGN contribution than 10 per cent is 30 per cent.
Assessment of quality of water and sediments in small reservoirs in Southern Poland - A case study

The paper presents an attempt to forecast heavy metal pollution of sediments of four designed reservoirs in southern Poland. For this purpose, concentration of dissolved heavy metals (lead, cadmium and nickel) was determined in water of watercourses on which the designed reservoirs will be constructed and also in sediments and water flowing into six reservoirs that are already in use. Based on the results of the heavy metal concentrations of six exploited reservoirs, a relationship was developed between heavy metal concentration in the sediment as a function of the concentration of these metals in the inflowing water. Using these relationships, the forecast concentrations of these metals in the sediments of the designed reservoirs were estimated. The mean concentrations of these metals in the planned reservoirs were 20.5 mg. kg-1 for lead, 3.4 mg. kg-1 for cadmium and 14.8 mg. kg-1 for nickel. No dangerous pollution of analyzed metal of water inflows to the planned reservoirs was found. The calculated geoaccumulation index indicates that in terms of the lead and nickel concentrations, sediments in the planned reservoirs will be unpolluted to moderately polluted, while for cadmium concentrations - they will be moderately to strongly polluted.
Myth or Measurement: What Does the New Minimum Wage Research Say About Minimum Wages and Job Loss in the United States?

The disagreement among studies of the employment effects of minimum wages in the United States is well known. What is less well known, and more puzzling, is the absence of agreement on what the research literature says – that is, how economists even summarize the body of evidence on the employment effects of minimum wages. Summaries range from “it is now well-established that higher minimum wages do not reduce employment,” to “the evidence is very mixed with effects centered on zero so there is no basis for a strong conclusion one way or the other,” to “most evidence points to adverse employment effects. ” We explore the question of what conclusions can be drawn from the literature, focusing on the evidence using subnational minimum wage variation within the United States that has dominated the research landscape since the early 1990s. To accomplish this, we assembled the entire set of published studies in this literature and identified the core estimates that support the conclusions from each study, in most cases relying on responses from the researchers who wrote these papers. Our key conclusions are: (i) there is a clear preponderance of negative estimates in the literature; (ii) this evidence is stronger for teens and young adults as well as the less-educated; (iii) the evidence from studies of directly-affected workers points even more strongly to negative employment effects; and (iv) the evidence from studies of low-wage industries is less one-sided.
Couple Similarity and Life Satisfaction: A Study of Young Couples in Shanghai of Mainland China

Values: This chapter highlights the importance of hukou hypergamy in life satisfaction for married couples, in particular, lower-educated couples in Shanghai. These findings reveal an implicit but persistent preference for male-dominated family model, where husbands retain a higher decision-making power that, in turn, promotes life satisfaction for both partners.
ELECTRONIC COUNTING OF SOMATIC CELLS IN FARM BULK TANK MILK

Electronic counting of somatic cells in farm bulk tank milk, using chemical fat dispersion has been studied. The method used was the Pearson et al. modification of the original Tolle et al. procedure. It was found that fixation of the original sample with formalin was critical, and that with bulk tank milk this was best accomplished by the use of buffered formalin at 30–32 C for 24 h. No significant differences could be found, in samples kept up to 48 h at 4 C, between adding milk to buffered formalin and buffered formalin to milk. Good agreement was found between the DMSCC made on the day samples were taken, and electronic counts obtained following 24 and 48 h refrigeration storage before fixation, and 24 and 48 h following fixation after 24 h refrigeration. Correlation coefficients were + 0.876, + 0.924, and + 0.853, + 0.870, respectively. Replicate counts on both fresh bucket and bulk tank, and single counts on replicate samples from bulk tanks yielded coefficients of variation between 2.98% and 9.69%.
Tumor-Infiltrating Leukocyte Phenotypes Distinguish Outcomes in Related Patients With Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) carries one of the highest mortality risks of all cancers.Most patients present with either metastatic PDAC (50%-60%) or locally advanced tumors (30%-40%), for which the median survival is 5-9 months after diagnosis. Outcomes are still suboptimal for the small subset (10%20%) of patients who present with resectable tumors confined to the pancreas; , 50% of these patients survive 5 years after surgery despite modern adjuvant chemotherapy. Moreover, at autopsy, the disease is metastatic for 88% of recurrences, and . 80% have more than 10 distinct metastatic lesions that are genetically related to the primary tumor and other metastases. These observations indicate that the majority of patients with PDAC harbor nonradiographically evident, micrometastatic disease after resection and that remnant tumor cells evade—or acquire resistance to—adjuvant chemotherapy. Although tropism to specific organs during metastatic spread is still poorly understood, patients with recurrence in the liver or peritoneum survive significantly shorter than patients with recurrent lung metastases.
High-Oleic Palm Oil (HOPO) Production from Parthenocarpic Fruits in Oil Palm Interspecific Hybrids Using Naphthalene Acetic Acid

Interspecific OxG hybrids of African palm Elaeis guineensis Jacq. and the American palm Elaeis oleifera Cortes produce high-oleic palm oil (HOPO) with low saturated fatty acid content. OxG hybrids are highly productive, grow slowly, and are resistant to bud rot disease. However, OxG hybrid pollen presents low viability and germinability, so assisted pollination is a must. Hybrids can produce parthenocarpic or seedless fruits, with the exogenous application of plant growth regulators. Thus, naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) effects on parthenocarpic fruits induction, bunch formation, and oil quality were evaluated. The OxG hybrid Coari x La Mé was used. NAA doses, frequency, number of applications, and the phenological stages for the treatments were defined. A total dose of 1200 mg L−1 NAA applied three or four times produced bunches with better fruit set, similar average bunch weight, and oil to dry mesocarp than those obtained with assisted pollination. At a semi-commercial scale, 1200 mg L−1 NAA induced bunches that consisted of 93% or more of seedless fruits. Bunch number (2208 ± 84 versus 1690 ± 129) and oil to bunch (32.2 ± 0.7 versus 25.3 ± 0.8) were higher in the NAA induced bunches than in the assisted pollination. However, the average bunch weight was lower (12.2 ± 0.4 versus 14.9 ± 0.6). NAA increased oil to bunch in 36% (8.7 ± 0.1 versus 6.4 ± 0.3). Thus, with this technology, it is plausible to reach more than 10 tons per hectare per year of HOPO. Potentially, without increasing the planted oil palm area, OxG hybrids and NAA applications could alone meet the world’s fats and oil demands.
The duration of antiretrovirals administration and hearing impairment in HIV-infected patients

Background: Antiretrovirals (ARV) treatment in HIV has a role in preventing HIV transmission, because ARV drugs have a mechanism of action to prevent viral replication which gradually reduces the amount of virus in the blood. Nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) are a type of ARV that has side effects of hearing impairment. This research was purposed to determine the relationship between the duration of ARV administration with hearing impairment HIV-infected patients. Methods: We used a cross-sectional design in HIV patients aged 19-59 years who were undergoing ARV treatment at Dr. Kariadi Semarang. We identified 91 patients whose complaints of hearing impairment (tinnitus and/or hearing loss) obtained from the history. We analyzed the data with the chi-square test, fisher's exact and yate correlation. Results: There were 91 respondents who received ARVs. Male 62 people (68.1%) female 29 people (31.9%), the youngest was 19 years old, the oldest was 52 years old, mean age was 34.8 years+ 8,04. The duration of ARV administration was not associated with tinnitus (p=0.385), hearing loss (p=0.344), and hearing impairment (p=0.454). Conclusions: The duration of ARV administration was not associated with tinitus, hearing loss, hearing impairment.
Study of the kinetics of self-assembly of viral nanocapsules at high spatiotemporal resolution

Viral assembly is an intriguing topic of biophysics that can be studied using concepts of soft matter physics. Although huge efforts have been made to synthesize hybrid or non-hybrid supramolecular assemblies with viral proteins, the fundamental mechanisms of self-assembly are yet poorly understood. In particular, the kinetic pathway in which the proteins interact with the genome to form highly symmetrical monodisperse architectures are not completely solved.In the first part of this thesis, the Time-Resolved Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering (TR-SAXS) technique is used to probe the kinetics of both self-assembly and disassembly of empty capsids built up from the proteins of the Cowpea Chlorotic Mottle Virus (CCMV). Chemical kinetics models coupled with concepts of SAXS theory are devised in order to extract information about the nature of the reaction intermediates, their structure and their typical lifetime. The encapsulation of ssRNA with CCMV capsid proteins is also examined in this thesis. At neutral pH where the capsid proteins do not spontaneously assemble in vitro into empty spherical capsids, electron microscopy images show that there is a non-negligible population of disordered nucleoprotein complexes that coexist with well-formed spherical viruses. Additionally, TR-SAXS kinetic data suggest that the protein-nucleic acid assembly undergoes a structural reorganization in which the capsid proteins make the nucleoprotein complexes more compact as they simultaneously bind the RNA. Upon acidification, the particles are well-formed viruses as suggested by electron microscopy images. These findings suggest that the encapsulation of RNA into well-formed viruses is likely a two-step assembly with a binding step and an acidification step.