Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Awe and Prosocial Behavior: The Mediating Role of Presence of Meaning in Life and the Moderating Role of Perceived Social Support

Although awe has been shown to increase prosocial behavior, there is limited knowledge about the mechanisms underlying this relationship, and about this relationship during unique periods. To bridge these gaps, this study examined the influence of awe on prosocial behaviors, the mediating role of the presence of meaning in life, and the moderating role of perceived social support. Based on longitudinal surveys from 676 Chinese college students we showed that: (1) awe was positively associated with prosocial behavior; (2) the presence of meaning in life mediated this association, and; (3) these associations were moderated by perceived social support. Specifically, the positive relationship between awe and the presence of meaning in life was only significant for college students with low perceived social support; and the positive relationship between the presence of meaning in life and prosocial behavior was stronger for college students with high perceived social support.
Effects of curcumin and γ-oryzanol solid dispersion on the brain of middle-aged rats

Oxidative stress is one of the major factors that contributes to brain deterioration in the elderly. Oxidation causes molecular alterations, structural damage, and brain dysfunction, which includes cognitive impairment. Memory loss can begin in middle-aged individuals, so prevention of brain deterioration before aging is important. Several studies have reported that curcumin and γ-oryzanol exhibits anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. However, curcumin and γ-oryzanol exhibit low aqueous solubility. Thus, a solid dispersion technique was used to prepare curcumin and γ-oryzanol to enhance their solubility and stability. This study aims to evaluate the effects and mechanisms of γ-oryzanol solid dispersion (GOSD) and curcumin solid dispersion (CURSD) on learning and memory in six groups of male rats (n=5/group). Group one was the adult control consisting of 6-week old male rats, and the remaining five groups consisted of 42-week (middle-aged) male rats. The groups were labeled as the control group, the GO group (GOSD 10 mg/kg·BW), the Cur group (CURSD 50 mg/kg·BW), the GO-LCur group (GOSD 10 mg/kg·BW plus CURSD 25 mg/kg·BW), and the GO-HCur group (GOSD 10 mg/kg·BW plus CURSD 50 mg/kg·BW). Substances were administrated by oral gavage once daily for 42 consecutive days. The GO-HCur group exhibited significantly increased learning and memory performance in a Morris water maze and in reacting to a spontaneous tendency novel object test. The rats also exhibited decreased levels of lipid peroxidation, increased superoxide dismutase levels, glutathione peroxidase levels, catalase activity, and enhanced c-Fos expression both in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. The results indicated that GOSD 10 mg/kg plus CURSD 50 mg/kg was able to enhance learning and memory performance in the middle-aged rats.
Reconsidering the drivers of country-specific recommendations: The Commission's ideological preferences on wage policies

As part of the European Semester, the European Commission issues country-specific recommendations for all member states. I contribute to the literature on this political instrument, by considering the determinants of recommendations calling for greater wage moderation and enhanced cost competitiveness. For the most part, research on European economic governance has either understood the European Commission as a politicized and ‘ideological’ institution or as a de-politicized, technocratic actor. My analysis shows that the European Commission's ideological preferences on labour markets and wage bargaining institutions are more convincing predictors than explanations based on economic indicators. By testing a series of multilevel models, I find that irrespective of developments in competitiveness, countries with stronger social actors are more likely to be recipients of country-specific recommendations calling for wage restraint.
The new National Education Policy (NEP) of India: will it be a paradigm shift in Indian higher education?

ABSTRACT The Government of India introduced the National Educational Policy (NEP) in 2020. The policy aims to achieve the set goals phase-wise with spirit and intent by the prioritisation of action points in a comprehensive manner that entails careful planning, monitoring and collaborative implementation, timely infusion of requisite funds and careful analyses and reviewing at multiple implementation steps. Creation of a National Research Fund, incorporation of a new Higher Education Commission of India and investments of an amount equivalent to 6% of the country’s GDP are envisaged. The policy was perceived as beneficial and damaging, as per the opinions expressed in various forums. From the author’s perspective, while some aspects of NEP are novel, most are already being practised to a certain extent. Implementation of NEP to cause a significant change in the education system needs escalation of academic, logistic and financial commitments from all stakeholders.
Comparison of land cover spatial trend model and real land cover changes: case study of Slovak Republic

Abstract Land change models offer an essential resource for predicting future land use and land cover (LULC) change. Model accuracy and proper validation are essential for supporting the decision process related to landscape planning. The paper's main aim is to test and analyse the accuracy of the LULC trend model based on the land cover changes from 1990 to 2012. The Land Change Modeler (TerrSet) and Corine Land Cover data for the area of Slovakia was used. The obtained model was compared with the real changes captured in the next period (2012 to 2018). Different model reliability was observed in different types of land cover. From a relatively low level of reliability to a level of more than 80% concordance. Results pointed on significance and limits of tools for predictive modelling in a specific type of landscape (included very heterogeneous natural conditions) after period of strong institutional changes impact on LULC.
Does Passive Facebook Use Promote Feelings of Social Connectedness?

Previous research has shown that passive social media use does not have the same positive effects on well-being as active social media use. However, it is currently unclear whether these effects can be attributed to the benefits of active use, the costs of passive use, or both. The current article investigated the effect of active and passive Facebook use on feelings of social connectedness after being ostracized. In two preregistered experiments, participants were first ostracized on a faux social media platform, followed by a measurement of social connectedness. In Experiment 1 they were then instructed to either use Facebook passively, use Facebook actively, or use a non-social website (Wikipedia), after which social connectedness was measured again. Results indicated that active Facebook use can restore social connectedness after being ostracized as compared to using a non-social website. While passive Facebook use also restored social connectedness, it did not change social connectedness significantly more so than Wikipedia use. In Experiment 2, we replicated Experiment 1, now focusing only on passive Facebook use compared to a non-social website. Results showed again that passive Facebook use did not influence social connectedness more so than the use of Wikipedia. In exploratory analyses, we found that for participants who felt close to other Facebook users, passive Facebook use did increase social connectedness compared to using a non-social website. These experiments suggest that, even though passive social media use does not restore social connectedness in the same way that active social media use does, it also does not harm social connectedness, and it may actually promote social connectedness under certain circumstances.
Colonization and Infection of Indwelling Medical Devices by Staphylococcus aureus with an Emphasis on Orthopedic Implants

The use of indwelling medical devices has constantly increased in recent years and has revolutionized the quality of life of patients affected by different diseases. However, despite the improvement of hygiene conditions in hospitals, implant-associated infections remain a common and serious complication in prosthetic surgery, mainly in the orthopedic field, where infection often leads to implant failure. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common cause of biomaterial-centered infection. Upon binding to the medical devices, these bacteria proliferate and develop dense communities encased in a protective matrix called biofilm. Biofilm formation has been proposed as occurring in several stages—(1) attachment; (2) proliferation; (3) dispersal—and involves a variety of host and staphylococcal proteinaceous and non-proteinaceous factors. Moreover, biofilm formation is strictly regulated by several control systems. Biofilms enable staphylococci to avoid antimicrobial activity and host immune response and are a source of persistent bacteremia as well as of localized tissue destruction. While considerable information is available on staphylococcal biofilm formation on medical implants and important results have been achieved on the treatment of biofilms, preclinical and clinical applications need to be further investigated. Thus, the purpose of this review is to gather current studies about the mechanism of infection of indwelling medical devices by S. aureus with a special focus on the biochemical factors involved in biofilm formation and regulation. We also provide a summary of the current therapeutic strategies to combat biomaterial-associated infections and highlight the need to further explore biofilm physiology and conduct research for innovative anti-biofilm approaches.
A

The main purpose of this review paper is to study different biological control methods for controlling mosquito vectors. Mosquitoes act as vector for many harmful diseases including malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, filarial, encephalitis, chikungunya, dengue and poly arthritis. The use of chemical insecticides for controlling mosquitoes is limited because they develop resistance against these insecticides. So, efforts have been made to control the mosquito vectors by eco-friendly techniques. At present, biocontrol agents are used to control the mosquito species with the aim to reduce the impact and cost of insecticide based strategies. These biocontrol agents involve the use of natural enemies including bacteria, fungi, larvivorous fish, protozoans and nematodes. These agents target mosquitoes at different stages of their life cycle. In this paper, we focus on several bio-controlling methods used to reduce the population of mosquito vectors.
Mental Well-Being during the COVID-19 Confinement among Adolescents in Catalonia: The Role of Demographic and Other COVID-Related Variables

This study aimed to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the social situation, self-perceived health status, and mental well-being of adolescents in Catalonia during home confinement, and to evaluate factors that are associated with poor overall mental well-being. An online cross-sectional study among a cohort of students (14–18 years old) of central Catalonia (DESKcohort) was performed during June–July 2020. Poisson regression models with robust variance were used to identify variables associated with “poor overall well-being,” measured by the short version of the Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. Out of 303 participants, 42.1% reported a decrease in family income, and 32.8% a loss of parental employment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and these percentages were higher among people living in low socioeconomic neighborhoods (53.3% and 43.2%, respectively). Overall, 56.8% presented a poor overall well-being. Participants reporting a decrease in their family’s income (aPR = 1.33) and those knowing a close person or family who died of COVID-19 (aPR = 1.42) were more likely to report a poor overall well-being. This study highlights the patterns of inequality and social vulnerability for COVID-19 pandemic outcomes. Considering social inequalities, interventions are needed to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the physical and the psychological wellbeing of children and their families.
Allelic Diversification of the Wx and ALK Loci in Indica Restorer Lines and Their Utilisation in Hybrid Rice Breeding in China over the Last 50 Years

Hybrid rice technology has been used for more than 50 years, and eating and cooking quality (ECQ) has been a major focus throughout this period. Waxy (Wx) and alkaline denaturation (ALK) genes have received attention owing to their pivotal roles in determining rice characteristics. However, despite significant effort, the ECQ of restorer lines (RLs) has changed very little. By contrast, obvious changes have been seen in inbred rice varieties (IRVs), and the ECQ of IRVs is influenced by Wx, which reduces the proportion of Wxa and increases the proportion of Wxb, leading to a decrease in amylose content (AC) and an increase in ECQ. Meanwhile, ALK is not selected in the same way. We investigated Wx alleles and AC values of sterile lines of female parents with the main mating combinations in widely used areas. The results show that almost all sterile lines were Wxa-type with a high AC, which may explain the low ECQ of hybrid rice. Analysis of hybrid rice varieties and RLs in the last 5 years revealed serious homogenisation among hybrid rice varieties.
The Remedial Math Process: Age and Other Factors Affecting Attrition among Students in Community Colleges

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Esterification of Acetin Production from By-Products of Biodiesel Industry Using Heterogeneous Catalysts Based on Wetland Commodities

The peculiarities of wetland commodities are unique and can produce new materials which function as catalysts. The objective was to determine the best catalyst components, crystalline properties, pore size, catalyst morphology, and selectivity in producing acetin. The research started with sampling, sorting, purification, extraction, catalyst synthesis, characterization, and determining the molar ratio between glycerol sourced from biodiesel industry by-products and CH3COOH. Determination of catalyst components by XRF spectrometry, crystallinity by XRD, pore size by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller, and morphology of the resulting catalyst used SEM/EDS. Selectivity of the target compound in the form of acetin, either monoacetin, diacetin, or triacetin, used GC-MS. The catalyst of orange peels obtained silica 29.201% and alumina 4.115%, pineapple leaves obtained silica 34.072% and alumina 0.074%, and sugar palm peels obtained silica 40.017% and alumina 0.953%. The diffractogram results showed that all heterogeneous catalysts had sharp-narrow peaks, meaning the crystallinity of the sample was high according to the typical peak of SiO2. The pore size of the orange peel catalyst was 4.328 nm with a surface area of 263.475 m2 g-1, the pineapple leaf catalyst was 4.850 nm and 35.983 m2 g-1, and the sugar palm peel catalyst was 5.658 nm and 10.884 m2 g-1. The results of the morphological test of orange peels were composed of a very heterogeneous dense porous structure; pineapple leaves were amorphous, while sugar palm peels were composed of small, irregular pores. All the resulting heterogeneous catalysts met the characteristics of standard SiO2 silica catalysts. The best acetin selectivity result is a 1:9 molar ratio.
Cold hardiness in windmill palms (Trachycarpus sp.)

Palms are beneficial for urban ornamental horticulture, since they symbolize the tropics, but only few are adapted to temperate climates. Our objective was to monitor responses of the leaves to cold reflected by the changes in chlorophyll fluorescence of leaves of Trachycarpus geminisectus, T. nanus, T. takil, T. ukhrulensis, T. wagnerianus species with the use of a chlorophyll fluorometer during the fall of 2018. Our results indicate that there was a gradual decline of maximum quantum efficiency of photosystem II (PSII) represented by Fv/Fm values from the end of September till the end of November 2018. This change corresponds well with the change in air temperature. Some species like T. ukhrulensis seemed to be more sensitive to cold since the rate of decline was the greatest in this species, also in most cases the difference was significant compared to the other species. The smallest decline in Fv/Fm values could be observed in T. wagnerianus. However, the difference compared to the other species was only significant until the middle of October after which it was not significantly better than the other well performing species such as T. takil and T. geminisectus. T. nanus was intermediate in its values, since it had significantly lower values until the beginning of October compared to T. takil and T. geminisectus, but during the remaining measurement period was not significantly different from these species. T. geminisectus seemed to perform on average with the other species. We found that there was a correlation in some cases between the changes in minimum air temperature and that of the maximum quantum efficiency of photosystem II (PSII). The correlation was strongest in T. nanus, T. wagnerianus and T. ukhrulensis. It was weaker in T. geminisectus and none in T. takil.
Decentralized robust preview control for uncertain continuous-time interconnected systems

This paper investigates the problem of robust preview tracking control for uncertain continuous-time interconnected systems. We adopt the technology of decentralized control. The tracking controller for each uncertain isolated subsystem is first designed. With the help of an uncertain error system, the considered tracking problem is converted into a regulation problem. The preview tracking controller for the nominal system is obtained by utilizing existing results. A novel method is proposed to tackle the uncertainty in the systems. In this method, the uncertainty bound is incorporated into the cost function. As a result, the preview tracking controller of the nominal system can be treated as a robust preview controller of the uncertain isolated subsystem. Then, the controllers of the uncertain isolated subsystems are assembled as a robust preview controller of uncertain interconnected systems. Finally, an academic numerical example is presented to show the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed controller.
The Prognostic Impact of Tumor Border Configuration, Tumor Budding and Tumor Stroma Ratio in Colorectal Carcinoma

Objective: Tumor border configuration, tumor budding and tumor stroma ratio are reliable histopathological parameters that play a central role in the invasion-metastasis cascade. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic impact of these parameters and a new combined score in colorectal cancer. Material and Method: A cohort of 103 colorectal cancer surgical specimens was retrospectively evaluated for tumor border configuration, tumor budding and tumor stroma ratio using H&E sections. A combined risk score was then constructed to divide cases into low risk-tumors and high risk-tumors. Results: Infiltrating tumor border, high tumor budding, low tumor stroma ratio and high combined risk score were associated with positive lymph node involvement, presence of metastasis, high tumor grade, lymphovascular invasion, poor overall survival and short recurrence-free survival. Infiltrating tumor border, high tumor budding and high combined risk score were associated with advanced T stage. High tumor budding, and low tumor stroma ratio were associated with perineural invasion. Infiltrating tumor border was associated with increased tumor size and conventional adenocarcinoma, high tumor budding and low tumor stroma ratio. Low tumor stroma ratio was associated with high tumor budding. On multivariate survival analysis, tumor stroma ratio was found to be an independent predictor for overall survival and recurrence-free survival. Conclusion: Tumor border configuration, tumor budding, tumor stroma ratio and the newly constructed combined risk score are potential predictors of outcome in colorectal cancer patients, suggesting that their incorporation in the routine histopathological evaluation could be useful in determining the prognosis of colorectal cancer cases.
Evaluation of Power Quality by Fuzzy Artificial Neural Network

The synthetic quantified evaluation for power quality is one of the gist to weigh excellent or inferior of the power quality,and this is propitious to realize the electricity-purchase principle of discussing the price according to quality and high quality high price,thereby serve as to build the equitable electric power market.The problem of power quality evaluation is a desiderate problem.Also world countries have establish a series of the power quality standards,but this standards can only used to confirm the power quality is eligibility or not,can not confirm the power quality is excellent or not,therefore this standard witch only have two grades can not reflect the power quality entirely,reality and naturally.How to evaluate the power quality properly and based on this to deal with the problem of power quality reasonable and economically have been put on us imminently.Neural Network(NN)and Fuzzy Recognition(FR)applying in practice widely witch are used in the processing system to simulate the information of the organism.Each of both has its strong point,combining with each other,they can construct the Fuzzy Neural Recognition Network,and then the processing ability of the system could be enhanced.This paper first proposes to use the fuzzy neural network recognition which combining NN and FR for power quality evaluation,then build the Fuzzy Neural Network Recognition model(FNNR). This model not only calculates the power quality grade of the observation station,but also compares the differences between observation stations in the same grade.Fuzzy Neural Network Recognition simulates the thinking of the brain,has very strong self-organizing,self-learning,self-adapting ability.The model proposed in this paper has essential differences with the actual power quality integrate-evaluating methods;the output result of the model has the character of alone,objectivity,etc.Case results show that use the proposed model is objective and reasonable,with a special advantage when used in power quality evaluation.To evaluate the power quality properly to deal with the problem of power quality reasonably and economically,the fuzzy neural network recognition which combining NN and FR was put forward for power quality evaluation,then the Fuzzy Neural Network Recognition model(FNNR)was established.This model not only calculates the power quality grade of the observation station,but also compares the differences between observation stations in the same grade.Fuzzy Neural Network Recognition simulates the thinking of the brain,and has very strong self-organizing,self-learning,self-adapting ability.The model proposed in this paper has essential differences with the actual power quality integrate-evaluating methods;the output result of the model has the characteristic of sole result and objectivity,etc.Case results show that the proposed model is objective and reasonable with a special advantage used in power quality evaluation.