Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Where the truth really lies: Listening to voices from African American communities in the Southern States about COVID-19 vaccine information and communication

Background: High uptake of COVID-19 vaccine is one of the most promising measures to control the pandemic. However, some African American (AA) communities exhibit vaccination hesitancy due to mis- or dis-information. It is important to understand the challenges in accessing reliable COVID-19 vaccine information and to develop feasible health communication interventions based on voices from AA communities. Methods: We conducted two focus group discussions (FGDs) among 18 community leaders recruited from three counties in South Carolina on October 8 and October 29, 2021. The FGDs were conducted online via Zoom meetings. The FGD data were managed and thematically analyzed using QSR NVivo 12 software. Results: Participants (73% female and 61% between the ages of 18 and 30) worked primarily in colleges (55.5%), churches (39%), and health agencies (5.5%). We found that challenges of accessing reliable COVID-19 vaccine information in AA communities primarily included structural barriers, information barriers, and lack of trust. Community leaders recommended recruiting trusted messengers, using homecoming events, football games, and other social events to reach target populations and conducting health communication campaigns through open dialogue among stakeholders. Conclusion: Health communication interventions on COVID-19 vaccine uptake should be grounded in ongoing community engagement, trust-building activities, and transparent communication about vaccine development. Tailoring health communication interventions to different groups may help reduce misinformation spread and thus promote vaccination in AA communities in the Southern States.
Effect of prior infection, vaccination, and hybrid immunity against symptomatic BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron infections and severe COVID-19 in Qatar

BACKGROUND: Protection offered by five different forms of immunity, combining natural and vaccine immunity, was investigated against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron symptomatic BA.1 infection, symptomatic BA.2 infection, BA.1 hospitalization and death, and BA.2 hospitalization and death, in Qatar, between December 23, 2021 and February 21, 2022. METHODS: Six national, matched, test-negative case-control studies were conducted to estimate effectiveness of BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine, mRNA-1273 (Moderna) vaccine, natural immunity due to prior infection with pre-Omicron variants, and hybrid immunity from prior infection and vaccination. RESULTS: Effectiveness of only prior infection against symptomatic BA.2 infection was 46.1% (95% CI: 39.5-51.9%). Effectiveness of only two-dose BNT162b2 vaccination was negligible at -1.1% (95% CI: -7.1-4.6), but nearly all individuals had received their second dose several months earlier. Effectiveness of only three-dose BNT162b2 vaccination was 52.2% (95% CI: 48.1-55.9%). Effectiveness of hybrid immunity of prior infection and two-dose BNT162b2 vaccination was 55.1% (95% CI: 50.9-58.9%). Effectiveness of hybrid immunity of prior infection and three-dose BNT162b2 vaccination was 77.3% (95% CI: 72.4-81.4%). Meanwhile, prior infection, BNT162b2 vaccination, and hybrid immunity all showed strong effectiveness >70% against any severe, critical, or fatal COVID-19 due to BA.2 infection. Similar levels and patterns of effectiveness were observed for BA.1 and for the mRNA-1273 vaccine. CONCLUSIONS: There are no discernable differences in the effects of prior infection, vaccination, and hybrid immunity against BA.1 versus BA.2. Hybrid immunity resulting from prior infection and recent booster vaccination confers the strongest protection against either subvariant. Vaccination enhances protection of those with a prior infection.
FA ] 1 7 M ar 2 02 2 Joint k-numerical ranges of operators

Let H be a complex Hilbert space and let B(H) be the algebra of all bounded linear operators on H. For a positive integer k less than the dimension ofH and A = (A1, . . . , Am) ∈ B(H)m, the joint k-numerical range Wk(A) is the set of (α1, . . . , αm) ∈ C such that αi = ∑k j=1〈Aixj , xj〉 for an orthonormal set {x1, . , xk} in H. The geometrical properties of Wk(A) and their relations with the algebraic properties of {A1, . , Am} are investigated in this paper. First, conditions for Wk(A) to be convex are studied, and some results for finite dimensional operators are extended to the infinite dimensional case. An example of A is constructed such that Wk(A) is not convex, but Wr(A) is convex for all other positive integer r less than dimH. Second, descriptions are given for the closure of Wk(A) and the closure of convWk(A) in terms of the joint essential numerical range of A for infinite dimensional operators A1, . , Am. These lead to characterizations ofWk(A) or convWk(A) to be closed. Moreover, it is shown that convWk(A) is closed whenever Wk+1(A) or convWk+1(A) is. These results are used to study the connection between the geometric properties of Wk(A) and algebraic properties of A1, . , Am. For instance, Wk(A) is a polyhedral set, i.e., the convex hull of a finite set, if and only if A1, . , Ak have a common reducing subspaceV of finite dimension such that the compression of A1, . , Am on the subspace V are diagonal operators D1, . , Dm and Wk(A) = Wk(D1, . . . , Dm). Characterization is also given to A such that the closure of Wk(A) is polyhedral. For finite rank operators the following two condition are equivalent: (a) {A1, . , Am} is a commuting family of normal operators. (b) Wk(A1, . . . , Am) is polyhedral for every positive integer k less than dimH. However, the two conditions are not equivalent for compact operators. Characterizations are given for compact operators A1, . , Am satisfying (a) and (b), respectively. Results are also obtained for general non-compact operators. Open problems and future research topics are presented.
Field Evaluation of Insecticidal Activity of Aqueous Aza- dirachta indica L. Leaf Powder Against Aulacuspis tubercularis Newsteed (Homoptera: Diaspididae) on Mango (Mangifera indica L.) in East Wollega Zone, Ethiopia †

s: Among the many tropical fruits, mango (Mangifera indica L.) has been identified as the most important from socio-cultural, commercial and environmental aspects. It is grown in more than 100 countries. Aulacuspis tubercularis Newsteed (Homoptera: Diaspididae) commonly known as white mango scale, is a serious insect pest of mango in many mango growing countries including Ethiopia. Aulacuspis tubercularis introduced to Ethiopia a decade ago; there was none successful technologies towards its control, which enabled the pest to invade the whole country resulting in 50-100% crop losses. The current study was conducted to know the efficacy of aqueous Neem, Azadirachta indica L. (A. Juss) leaf powder in the management of A. tubercularis under field condition. Field experiments were conducted at Arjo Gudetu and Uke experimental sites of East Wollega zone. The treatments were different spray concentrations prepared from aqueous A. indica leaf powder. These were 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15mg/ml of water. Treatments started after complete infestation was observed and continued for 3 times at 10 days interval. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design in four replications. Mortality count was recorded 10 days after 1st, 2nd and 3rd treatment applications. The results obtained revealed that aqueous A. indica leaf powder at 0.15 concentration significantly (p<0.05) reduced the population of A. tubercularis at both experimental sites. Male adults and nymphs were more affected than the females. The use of aqueous A. indica leaf powder led to significant population reduction of A. tubercularis and its impact. Hence, the product can be recommended for the management of A. tubercularis.
Nest Ecology and Conservation of Western Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Gola Rainforest National Park, Sierra Leone

A nest survey of western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) was conducted in Gola Rainforest National Park (GRNP) and the surrounding community forest in eastern Sierra Leone. The aim was to investigate chimpanzee nest ecology with a focus on nesting tree species selection. Field data were gathered between September 2015 and June 2016 during a nest census along 89 transects covering 158 km—104 km within the protected area and 54 km outside. We documented a total of 96 nests in 54 nest groups. Chimpanzees preferred to nest in areas of primary forest with low or no undergrowth. Twenty-two tree species were used for nesting trees. Tree selection was not random, with chimpanzees showing preference for a subset of tree species. Heritiera utilis, a common timber tree, was the species most selected, with 23% of all nests. The top six tree species accounted for 70% of all nests encountered. Chimpanzees showed a preference for nesting within the boundaries of the protected area and, on average, nested at a higher elevation (20.4 m above ground) than has been found in other studies in West Africa. Our results indicate that P. t. verus in our study area tended to avoid the human-disturbed community forests. These findings will be useful to inform conservation practices both inside and outside the park, as well as community forestry and law enforcement initiatives.
A STUDY ON MULTI-BODY INTERACTIONS AND SYNCHRONIZATION IN DISCRETE DYNAMICAL NETWORKS USING SPECTRA OF HYPERGRAPHS

Being cognizant of the abundance of multi-body interactions in various complex systems, here we investigate a possible way to incorporate multi-body interactions in dynamical networks. Adopting hypergraph as the underlying architecture aids our proposed dynamical network models to go beyond the traditional archetype of only pair-wise interactions. We introduce some matrix associated with hypergraphs to incorporate multi-body framework in dynamical network. Here we use weighted hypergraphs to deal with the multi-body interactions of variable weights. We study the pos-sibility of both the global and local synchronization in the discrete and continuous time dynamical networks. Some real-world numerical illustrations are included at the end to reinforce our theoretical results.
Stability and Optimization of Biosurfactant Production by Enterobacter Cloacae AYF1

Biosurfactants are diverse and heterogeneous group of microbial metabolites produced by certain bacteria and fungi that have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic components. This work was aimed at assessing the production, stability and optimization of rhamnolipid biosurfactant production conditions by Enterobacter cloacae AYF1 strain. Biosurfactant production, extraction, purification and optimization of the production conditions were assessed in mineral salt medium followed by stability tests under different ranges of pH, temperatures and salts concentrations using standard procedures. Gas chromatography mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) was used in characterizing the biosurfactant produced. One factor at a time (OFAT) optimization studies revealed that production of biosurfactant by Enterobacter cloacae AYF1 was optimal at 3% carbon source concentration (1.5mg/ml), pH 7.5 (1.7mg/ml), temperature 40C (1.8mg/ml) and incubation time of 96hrs (1.96mg/ml). The biosurfactant produced was characterized using gas chromatography mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). The results revealed the presence of different fatty acids at different peaks. This indicates that the production of rhamnolipid biosurfactant was optimal at the carbon concentration, pH, temperature and incubation time of 3%, 7.5, 40 C and 96hrs respectively. There is the need to use biotechnological approaches with a view to improving the performance of the bacterial strain.
Idiosyncratic Asset Return and Wage Risk of US Households

This paper documents the degree of idiosyncratic asset return risk, serial correlation, and correlation with wage risk for US households. Novel panel-data measures for returns on household assets are proposed. Sizeable idiosyncratic return risk is documented to exist concurrently with permanent heterogeneity in household-specific returns and exhibits negative serial correlation. On average, idiosyncratic permanent risk to wages and transitory risk to total asset returns are correlated. This arises primarily from correlated wage and return risk to primary housing assets, and is age-dependent. The estimates inform the covariance structure of idiosyncratic asset returns and wage risk.
The Strategic Role Intellectual Capital An Intervening Variety Between The Effect Of Financial Perfomance On Firm’s Value

Firm Value is a description of the level of triumph of the company that is related with stock prices. High stock prices will affect the high firm value as well. This study was conducted to examine the effect of financial performance on firm value with intellectual capital as an intervening variable in manufacturing companies listed on the BEI in the 2015-2017 period. The analysis was performed using financial statement data on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The technique used in sampling is purposive sampling. So the number of samples obtained was 62 manufacturing companies. The analysis technique used is path analysis. The results of this study indicate that profitability and firm value have a positive and significant effect on intellectual capital, profitability has no effect on firm value but firm size has a positive and significant effect on firm value and intellectual capital has no effect on firm value. This research indicates that the market or investor has not considered the importance of intangible assets in assessing a company. Investors are still focused on physical assets.
A Local Convergence Theory for the Stochastic Gradient Descent Method in Non-Convex Optimization with Non-Isolated Local Minima

Non-convex loss functions arise frequently in modern machine learning, and for the theoretical analysis of stochastic optimization methods, the presence of non-isolated minima presents a unique challenge that has remained under-explored. In this paper, we study the local convergence of the stochastic gradient descent method to non-isolated global minima. Under mild assumptions, we estimate the probability for the iterations to stay near the minima by adopting the notion of stochastic stability. After establishing such stability, we present the lower bound complexity in terms of various error criteria for a given error tolerance ǫ and a failure probability γ .
Molecular detection of synthetic pyrethroid resistance in house flies (Musca domestica L.) from poultry farms

In this study adult house flies were collected in five poultry farms from different blocks of Namakkal, Tamil Nadu. The collected flies were reared in laboratory. Pyrethroid resistance was assessed in Three to five days old F1 generation flies by topical and residual contact methods. In this study, different concentrations of cypermethrin was used for such as 0.0002, 0.0005, 0.001, 0.002, 0.004, 0.008, 0.01 μg (a.i)/μl and 0.03, 0.06, 0.12, 0.24, 0.48 and 0.96 μg(a.i)/cm were used for topical and residual contact assays respectively. House fly strains collected from three poultry farms, exhibited mild to moderate level of resistance in topical (RR 9.0 to 13.5 fold) as well as in residual contact (RR 10.0 to 17.85 fold) bioassay methods. The house fly strains from the remaining two farms showed susceptibility to cypermethrin in both bioassays (RR < 1.0). The observations of house flies resistance in bioassay methods were confirmed by PCR-RFLP method. The phylogenetic analysis and multiple sequence alignment carried out for VSSC1 allele confirmed that, there was no kdr mutation in the para-type sodium channel gene in all the five farms studied. Similarly, the phylogenetic analysis and multiple sequence alignment of CYP6D1 revealed the absence of 15 bp insert in the 5’flanking region indicating susceptibility to synthetic pyrethroids in the three farms in which houseflies survived at higher doses.
The medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum attenuates UV-induced skin carcinogenesis and immunosuppression

The medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum is traditionally used for treating multiple diseases, including cancer. This study examined skin cancer preventive activity of a commercial product containing spore and fruiting body in 30:8 ratio (GLSF). Extracts of GLSF and spore component (GLS) were prepared using artificial gastrointestinal juice and examined on JB6 cells. GLSF and GLS dose-dependently inhibited epidermal growth factor-induced JB6 transformation at non-toxic concentrations. SKH-1 mice which were fed with diets containing GLSF (1.25%), GLS (0.99%) or the fruiting body (GLF) (0.26%) were exposed to chronic low-dose ultraviolet (UV) radiation to assess their effects on skin carcinogenesis. GLSF, but not GLS or GLF, reduced skin tumor incidence and multiplicity. In non-tumor skin tissues of mice, GLSF attenuated UV-induced epidermal thickening, expression of Ki-67, COX-2 and NF-κB, while in tumor tissues, GLSF increased expression of CD8 and Granzyme B. To examine the effects of GLSF on UV-induced immunosuppression, mice which were fed with GLSF were evaluated for the contact hypersensitivity (CHS) response to dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB). GLSF significantly reversed UV-mediated suppression of DNFB-induced CHS by increasing CD8+ and decreasing CD4+ and FoxP3+ T-cells in mouse ears. Therefore, GLSF prevents skin cancer probably via attenuating UV-induced immunosuppression.
Developing random forest hybridization models for estimating the axial bearing capacity of pile

Accurate determination of the axial load capacity of the pile is of utmost importance when designing the pile foundation. However, the methods of determining the axial load capacity of the pile in the field are often costly and time-consuming. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a hybrid machine-learning to predict the axial load capacity of the pile. In particular, two powerful optimization algorithms named Herd Optimization (PSO) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) were used to evolve the Random Forest (RF) model architecture. For the research, the data set including 472 results of pile load tests in Ha Nam province—Vietnam was used to build and test the machine-learning models. The data set was divided into training and testing parts with ratio of 80% and 20%, respectively. Various performance indicators, namely absolute mean error (MAE), mean square root error (RMSE), and coefficient of determination (R2) are used to evaluate the performance of RF models. The results showed that, between the two optimization algorithms, GA gave superior performance compared to PSO in finding the best RF model architecture. In addition, the RF-GA model is also compared with the default RF model, the results show that the RF-GA model gives the best performance, with the balance on training and testing set, meaning avoiding the phenomenon of overfitting. The results of the study suggest a potential direction in the development of machine learning models in engineering in general and geotechnical engineering in particular.
Synthesis and evaluation of 99mTc-DOTA-ARA-290 as potential SPECT tracer for targeting cardiac ischemic region

Objective(s): Myocardial infarction caused by ischemia of heart tissue is the main reason for death worldwide; therefore, early detection can reduce mortality and treatment costs. Erythropoietin (EPO) has protection effects on ischemic tissue due to nonhematopoietic peptide (pHBSP; ARA-290) which is derived from the B-subunit of EPO. Materials and Methods: We designed and synthesized a modified DOTA-(Lys-Dabcyl6, Phe7)-ARA-290 using Fmoc solid-phase peptide synthesis strategies. To improve serum stability, Fmoc-Lys-(Dabcyl)-OH as lipophilic amino acid was synthesized along with Fmoc-Phe-OH which then were substituted with Arg6 and Ala7, respectively; they were then investigated for the ability to detect ischemic cardiac imaging. DOTA-(Lys-Dabcyl6,Phe7)-ARA-290 was labeled with technetium 99m, and its radiochemical purity (RCP), stability in the presence of human serum and, specific bind to hypoxic H9c2 cells were evaluated. In vivo studies for biodistribution and SPECT scintigraphy were checked in a normal and cardiac ischemia rat model. Results: Radiolabeling purity was obtained more than 96% by ITLC, and in vitro stability of the radiopeptide up to 6 hr was 85%. The binding of 99mTc-ARA-290 to hypoxic cells was remarkably higher than normoxic cells (3 times higher than normoxic cells at 1 hr). Biodistribution and SPECT imaging on the cardiac ischemic model showed that radiopeptide considerably accumulated in the ischemic region (cardiac ischemic-to-lung rate = 3.65 ID/g % at 0.5 hr). Conclusion: The results of studies, in vitro and in vivo, indicated that 99mTc-DOTA-(Lys-Dabcyl6,Phe7)-ARA-290 could be an appropriate candidate for early diagnosis of cardiac ischemia.
FtsZ filament structures in different nucleotide states reveal the mechanism of assembly dynamics

Treadmilling protein filaments perform essential cellular functions by growing from one end while shrinking from the other, driven by nucleotide hydrolysis. Bacterial cell division relies on the primitive tubulin homolog FtsZ, a target for antibiotic discovery that assembles into single treadmilling filaments that hydrolyse GTP at an active site formed upon subunit association. We determined high-resolution filament structures of FtsZ from the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus in complex with different nucleotide analogs and cations, including mimetics of the ground and transition states of catalysis. Together with mutational and biochemical analyses, our structures reveal interactions made by the GTP γ-phosphate and Mg2+ at the subunit interface, a K+ ion stabilizing loop T7 for co-catalysis, new roles of key residues at the active site and a nearby crosstalk area, and rearrangements of a dynamic water shell bridging adjacent subunits upon GTP hydrolysis. We propose a mechanistic model that integrates nucleotide hydrolysis signaling with assembly-associated conformational changes and filament treadmilling. Equivalent assembly mechanisms may apply to more complex tubulin and actin cytomotive filaments that share analogous features with FtsZ.