Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Novel Role of the TRPM4 Ion Channel in Exocytosis

Under physiological conditions, the widely expressed calcium-activated TRPM4 channel conducts sodium into cells. This sodium influx depolarizes the plasma membrane and reduces the driving force for calcium entry. The aberrant expression or function of TRPM4 has been reported in various diseases, including different types of cancer. TRPM4 is mainly localized in the plasma membrane, but it is also found in intracellular vesicles, which can undergo exocytosis. In this study, we show that calcium-induced exocytosis in the colorectal cancer cell line HCT116 is dependent on TRPM4. In addition, the findings from some studies of prostate cancer cell lines suggest a more general role of TRPM4 in calcium-induced exocytosis in cancer cells. Furthermore, calcium-induced exocytosis depends on TRPM4 ion conductivity. Additionally, an increase in intracellular calcium results in the delivery of TRPM4 to the plasma membrane. This process also depends on TRPM4 ion conductivity. TRPM4-dependent exocytosis and the delivery of TRPM4 to the plasma membrane are mediated by SNARE proteins. Finally, we provide evidence that calcium-induced exocytosis depends on TRPM4 ion conductivity, not within the plasma membrane, but rather in TRPM4-containing vesicles.
Children’s critical thinking skills: perceptions of Norwegian early childhood educators

ABSTRACT The significance of learning to think critically from a young age is well documented. Early childhood educators play an essential role in children’s critical skills development. Therefore, it is crucial to understand their perceptions of this concept. This qualitative study explored Norwegian early childhood educators’ perceptions of critical thinking (CT). Ten educators representing three different kindergartens were interviewed. Thematic analyses revealed that the educators had many different understandings of CT; all agreed on the importance of CT for children’s development and identified their role as essential in supporting and stimulating CT among children. They described CT more in relation to a child’s dispositions and attitudes than cognitive skills and connected it mainly with social and physical aspects. Overall, this study contributes to raising awareness of the importance of supporting educators’ knowledge about the CT concept and pedagogical approaches to enhancing CT in children.
Time-to-Disability Determinants Among Leprosy Patients Enrolled for Treatment at ALERT Center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A Survival Analysis

Background Mycobacterium leprae causes leprosy, which is a long-term or recurrent infection. The causative agent’s collusion with Schwann cells results in the irreversible loss of fringe nerve tissue; followed by incapacity, which includes not just actual impotence but also mental incapacity, creates a bad image of the transformed, resulting in segregation and societal humiliation of leprosy patients, as well as their families. Methods This study’s survival analysis includes a sample of 205 patients who were taking leprosy medication and had all essential data from January 2015 to December 2019 G.C. at the All African TB and Leprosy Rehabilitation and Training Centre. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to figure out what factors influence leprosy patients’ survival status during treatment. Results Among the 205 leprosy patients, 71 (34.63%) had at least one type of impairment grade during treatment. The Cox proportional model revealed that the most significant variables of impairment among leprosy patients were age, symptom duration, treatment category, living place, and sensory loss. Conclusion The study investigated and revealed characteristics associated with the survival status of leprosy patients in ALRT centers using survival analysis. Patients’ risk of worsening disability grade increased with age, was greater for patients with a long duration of symptom, was higher for defaulter patients, and was lower for patients who did not lose their sensibility throughout therapy. The existence of a difference in the survival curves between two or more groups of factors for the patient’s survival function was also discovered in this inquiry. Female patients, particularly those who were new to the medication, were shown to be more in their survival.
The impacts of digital initiatives on musicians during COVID-19: examining the Melbourne Digital Concert Hall

ABSTRACT With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, performance venues worldwide were shuttered, and many arts organisations “pivoted” to digital performance platforms. While existing literature has explored the impact of such strategies on organisations and audiences, there has been limited consideration of the role of digital initiatives in either alleviating or exacerbating the negative impacts of the pandemic on professional classical musicians. This article examines one such initiative, the Melbourne Digital Concert Hall in Australia, and maps the extent to which it may have functioned as a positive intervention for participating musicians during a period of extreme career insecurity. Using survey data from 63 musicians who performed on the platform, I find the initiative partially addressed three negative impacts caused by the pandemic—the losses of work, identity, and community. However, the initiative was unable to counteract a fourth negative impact—the loss of audience—due to its digital format.
Use of Glycoproteins—Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen and Galectin-3 as Primary Tumor Markers and Therapeutic Targets in the Management of Metastatic Prostate Cancer

Simple Summary Prostate specific membrane antigen and galectins are proteins expressed on cell surface and their expression is associated with cancer growth and spread. The goal of this research was to look at the pattern of these two glycoproteins in the human prostate cancer microenvironment. Prostate specific membrane antigen and galectins-1,3 and 8 were the most frequently detected glycoproteins in various phases of this disease. Furthermore, prostate specific membrane antigen and galectin-3 expression are good indicators of tumor aggressiveness, and their combined expression can be valuable tool for prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment in future. Together, our findings reveal a tightly regulated “Prostate specific membrane antigen-galectin-pattern” that accompanies disease in prostate cancer and point to a key role for combined prostate specific membrane antigen and galectin-3 inhibitors in prostate cancer treatment along with standard chemotherapy. Abstract Galectins and prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) are glycoproteins that are functionally implicated in prostate cancer (CaP). We undertook this study to analyze the “PSMA-galectin pattern” of the human CaP microenvironment with the overarching goal of selecting novel-molecular targets for prognostic and therapeutic purposes. We examined CaP cells and biopsy samples representing different stages of the disease and found that PSMA, Gal-1, Gal-3, and Gal-8 are the most abundantly expressed glycoproteins. In contrast, other galectins such as Gal-2, 4–7, 9–13, were uniformly expressed at lower levels across all cell lines. However, biopsy samples showed markedly higher expression of PSMA, Gal-1 and Gal-3. Independently PSA and Gleason score at diagnosis correlated with the expression of PSMA, Gal-3. Additionally, the combined index of PSMA and Gal-3 expression positively correlated with Gleason score and was a better predictor of tumor aggressiveness. Together, our results recognize a tightly regulated “PSMA-galectin- pattern” that accompanies disease in CaP and highlight a major role for the combined PSMA and Gal-3 inhibitors along with standard chemotherapy for prostate cancer treatment. Inhibitor combination studies show enzalutamide (ENZ), 2-phosphonomethyl pentanedioic acid (2-PMPA), and GB1107 as highly cytotoxic for LNCaP and LNCaP-KD cells, while Docetaxel (DOC) + GB1107 show greater efficacy in PC-3 cells. Overall, 2-PMPA and GB1107 demonstrate synergistic cytotoxic effects with ENZ and DOC in various CaP cell lines.
Comparison of Four Systems for SARS-CoV-2 Antibody at Three Time Points after SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination

Background: Immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) wanes over time after vaccination. Methods: We compared SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels in serial samples from 350 vaccinated individuals at 3 time points (3 weeks after the first or second dose and before the third dose) with 4 assays: GenScript cPASS SARS-CoV-2 neutralization antibody detection kits (cPASS), Siemens SARS-CoV-2 IgG (sCOVG), Abbott SARS-CoV-2 IgG II Quant (CoV-2 IgG II), and an Immuno-On™ COVID-19 IgG test (Immuno-On IgG). Antibody levels by time, concordance between assays, and values from other tests corresponding to the percent inhibition results in cPASS were assessed. Results: The median values at three time points were 49.31%, 90.87%, and 53.38% inhibition for cPASS, 5.39, 13.65, and 2.24 U/mL for sCOVG, 570.25, 1279.65, and 315.80 AU/mL for CoV-2 IgG II, and 223.22, 362.20, and 62.20 relative units (RU) for Immuno-On IgG. The concordance with cPASS at each time point ranged from 0.735 to 0.984, showing the highest concordance in the second sample and lowest concordance in the third in all comparative tests. The values corresponded to 30% inhibition, and the cutoffs of cPASS, were 2.02 U/mL, 258.6 AU/mL, and 74.2 RU for each test. Those for 50%, 70%, and 90% inhibition were 3.16, 5.66, and 8.26 U/mL for sCOVG, while they were 412.5, 596.9, and 1121.6 AU/mL for CoV-2 IgG II and 141.8, 248.92, and 327.14 RU for Immuno-On IgG. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the dynamic changes in antibody values at different time points using four test systems and is expected to provide useful baseline data for comparative studies and standardization efforts in the future.
Influence of nanoclay as a compatibilizer and a reinforcement for polymer blends used as insulators

Polymer composite materials were prepared using kaolinite nanoclay as reinforcement in different weight fractions (3, 5 and 7) %, and blends of epoxy and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) as matrices. The current work aims to prepare a composite material with good thermal and acoustic insulation, besides improved mechanical properties, and the investigation of the effect of this nano additive on the compatibility between the two constituents of the blend, and how this compatibility might be beneficial to the performance of the prepared composite. The blend with an optimum mixing ratio (OMR) was chosen via impact test results; thus, the (80:20) percentage of epoxy and PMMA was chosen. The reinforced specimens showed an improvement in mechanical (impact and flexural) properties besides sound insulation and thermal conductivity, with the specimen reinforced with 7% nanoclay having the highest impact strength (97*10−3) KJ/m2 and the highest thermal conductivity value of (0.34) W/m. °C, with a sound intensity value 95.6 decibels at frequency 10,000 Hz. The scanning electron microscope images showed two separate phases in the unreinforced blend. In comparison, the 7% reinforced specimen showed a rough interface between the two polymer phases, suggesting a positive effect of nanoclay addition on compatibility. The differential scanning calorimeter showed two distinct glass transition temperatures for both reinforced and neat specimens, which belong to the glass transitions of both constituents (epoxy and PMMA). The main difference is the lower temperature gradient accompanied with the (nanoclay/blend) composite than the neat one. Although the blend remained immiscible, nanoclay had contributed to the compatibility and improved mechanical properties.
The Effect of Sales Promotion and Store Atmosphere Mediated by Positive Emotion on Impulse Buying for Customers in Bookstores

This study aims to analyze the effect of sales promotion, and store atmosphere on impulse buying with positive emotion as a mediator on consumers of Gramedia Bookstore at Level 21 Mall in Denpasar with 100 respondents. Data was collected by distributing questionnaires, then the data was processed using path analysis. The results show that sales promotion and store atmosphere have a positive and significant effect on positive emotion. Simultaneously it is proven that sales promotion and store atmosphere have a positive and significant effect on positive emotion. Sales promotion, store atmosphere, and positive emotion partially have positive and significant effects on impulse buying. Simultaneously sales promotion, store atmosphere, and positive emotion also have a positive and significant effect on impulse buying. However, the positive emotion variable was not proven to have a positive and significant effect on mediating sales promotion and store atmosphere variables on impulse buying.
Effect of Prehabilitation in Form of Exercise and/or Education in Patients Undergoing Total Hip Arthroplasty on Postoperative Outcomes—A Systematic Review

Background and Objectives: The aim of this systematic review was to determine whether prehabilitation before total hip arthroplasty, in the form of exercise therapy, education alone, or both together, improves postoperative outcomes, such as physical functioning, compared with no intervention. Materials and Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in the online databases PubMed, PEDro and Cochrane Library using the following search keywords: “prehabilitation”, “preoperative care”, and “total hip replacement”. Results: A total of 400 potentially relevant studies were identified. After title, abstract and full-text screening, 14 studies fulfilled all inclusion criteria and were included in this systematic review. Patients who completed exercise-based prehabilitation before their operation showed significant postoperative improvements compared with no intervention in the following tests: six-minute walk test, Timed Up and Go test, chair-rise test, and stair climbing. For various other assessments, such as the widely used Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS), 36-item Short Form Survey (SF-36) and Barthel Index, no significant differences in outcomes regarding exercise therapy were reported in the included studies. Education alone had no effect on postoperative outcomes. Conclusions: Prehabilitation in the form of a prehabilitation exercise therapy is an effective prehabilitation measure with regard to postoperative physical functioning, while prehabilitation in the form of education has no significant effects. No negative effects of prehabilitation on the outcomes examined were reported.
Exploring Self-supervised Learning for Radio Signal Recognition

Data annotation is indispensable but difficult and expensive for supervised learning. While Radio signal is ubiq-uitous and available naturally, few approaches are designed to utilize large amounts of unlabeled data onto radio signal recognition. To handle this problem, we propose a self-supervised representation learning framework with two steps: pre-training for extracting features and fine-tuning for radio signal recognition. The radio signal from our dataset Rayl-0.5 contains 10 modulation methods for signal recognition task. Based on careful inspection of underlying regularities in the data, our model pre-trains radio signal without modulation methods labels, and provides competitive results by linear evaluation on recognizing radio signal with only 10% labels. A strict baseline method is considered using supervised learning for recognition task, which training radio signal dataset with 100% and 10% labels. Finally, our self-supervised model Self-RadioNet shows better performance compared to supervised learning methods trained for 10% labeled data.
Effects of exposure to moisture on biodeterioration of facade finishes in the hot-humid tropical environment of Enugu metropolis, Nigeria

This research investigated how exposure to moisture influences the biodeterioration of facade finishes in the hot-humid tropics of Enugu metropolis, Southeast Nigeria. Physical observations and experimental research strategy were used to collect data from 383 buildings in the study area. The data were analysed using descriptive and logistic regression analyses. The results showed that 53.5% were residential buildings and 88.5% had cementitious façade finishes with 66.8% of them having their façade finishes exposed to moisture. Further, 64% of the facade finishes, mainly of cementitious materials and paints were colonized by microorganisms with the most common microbes being fungi. Façade finishes exposed to moisture we found to be four times more likely to experience biodeterioration. The study concludes that in order to curb microbial colonization of façade finishes and the attendant adverse effects, architects should engage in design strategies that can minimize the level of exposure of façade finishes to moisture.
Landowners’ Perceptions and Involvement in the Management of Kyabobo National Park, Ghana

This study examines the perceptions of landowners of fringe communities of the Kyabobo National Park (KNP) about their involvement in the creation and management of the KNP. Four KNP-fringe communities namely: Shiare, Odomi, Gekorong, and Keri which are less than a kilometre from the boundary of the park were selected for the study. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to establish the relationship between landowners’ perceptions and their involvement in the management of the park. A systematic sampling method was used to select 212 landowners for interviews using a structured interview schedule. The study found that some landowners in the KNP-fringe communities were employed at various levels in the management of the park but were not managing partners of the park. Landowners also benefited from selling handicrafts to park visitors. The physical infrastructures in the communities have remained poor. It is recommended that landowners in park-fringe communities are given the opportunity to become managing partners of the park to guarantee the successful operation of the park. Government should also provide modern physical infrastructure in the KNP-fringe communities as was promised prior to the establishment of the park.
Relation between the compressive strength and modulus of elasticity of concrete with crushed brick and roof tile aggregates

This paper presents the results of experimental research into the effect of brick and roof tile aggregates on the values of the modulus of elasticity of concrete made with crushed brick and roof tile aggregates. The main purpose of this paper is to compare the formulae given in the code provisions for estimating the concrete elastic moduli for lightweight and normal‐weight concretes with values obtained experimentally. Sixty two different concrete mixes including crushed brick and roof tiles were made and tested experimentally. The differences between the empirical and experimental static moduli of elasticity are shown. In addition, formulae for calculating the static modulus of elasticity over compressive strength are shown and compared with an experimentally estimated formula. As a result of this investigation, a universal equation for estimating the static modulus of elasticity over compressive strength for concretes with crushed brick and roof tile aggregates is proposed.
FGSR: A Fine-Grained Ship Retrieval Dataset and Method in Smart Cities

Ship reidentification is an important part of water transportation systems in smart cities. Existing ship reidentification methods lack a large-scale fine-grained ship retrieval dataset in the wild and existing ship recognition solutions mainly focus on the ship target identification rather than the fine-grained ship reidentification. Furthermore, previous ship target identification systems are usually based on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image, automatic identification system (AIS) data, or video streaming, which is confronted with expensive deployment costs, such as the installation cost of SAR and AIS, and the communication and storage overhead. Indeed, ship reidentification benefits for traffic monitoring, navigation safety, vessel tracking, etc. To address these problems, we propose a new large-scale fine-grained ship retrieval dataset (named FGSR) that consists of 30,000 images of 1000 ships captured in the wild. Besides, to tackle the difficulty of spatial-temporal inconsistency in ship identification in the wild, we design a multioriented ship reidentification network named FGSR-Net that consists of three modules to address different crucial problems. The pyramid fusion module was aimed at addressing the problem of variant size and shape of ship targets, the occlusion modules attempt to detect the unchangeable area of ship images, while the multibranch identity module generates discriminative feature representation for ship targets from different orientations. Experimental evaluations on FGSR dataset show the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed FGSR-Net. The mean average precision of ship reidentification is around 92.4%, and our FGSR-Net proposed method only takes 3 seconds to give the retrieval results from 30,000 images.
UKIS-CSMASK: A PYTHON PACKAGE FOR MULTI-SENSOR CLOUD AND CLOUD SHADOW SEGMENTATION

Abstract. Cloud and cloud shadow segmentation is a crucial pre-processing step for any application that uses multi-spectral satellite images. In particular, time-critical disaster applications, require accurate and immediate cloud and cloud shadow masks while being able to adapt to possibly large variations caused by different sensor characteristics, scene properties or atmospheric conditions. This study introduces the newly developed open-source Python package ukis-csmask for cloud and cloud shadow segmentation in multi-spectral satellite images. Segmentation with ukis-csmask is performed with a pre-trained Convolutional Neural Network based on a U-Net architecture. It works directly on Level-1C data, eliminating the need for prior atmospheric correction. Images need to be in top of atmosphere reflectance and include at least the Blue, Green, Red, NIR, SWIR1 and SWIR2 spectral bands. We provide a performance evaluation on a recent benchmark dataset for cloud and cloud shadow segmentation and proof the generalization ability of our method across multiple satellites (Landsat-5, Landsat-7, Landsat-8, Landsat-9 and Sentinel-2). We also show the influence of augmentation and image bands on the segmentation performance and compare it to the widely used Fmask algorithm and a Random Forest classifier. Compared to previous work in this direction, our study focuses on multi-sensor generalization ability, simplicity and efficiency and provides a ready-to-use software package that has been thoroughly tested.