Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integrating the Technology in Teaching and Learning Process Through Digital Media Creation as A Way to Improve Indonesian EYL Teachers’ Competence

Abstract: Now that the spread of Covid 19 is still high and the teaching and learning process should be continued to be conducted at homes, but it seems that some teachers –in this case EYL teachers– are not ready to integrate various digital platforms. It is necessary for us to respond to the need of investigating technology readiness of English for young learners teachers in teaching during this Covid 19 pandemic. It is strongly important to reveal the teachers’ technology readiness as it plays vital role, especially during this pandemic —when the only thing that the teachers and the students can do is interacting online. Without having adequate literacy in technological thing, it is impossible to create teaching and learning process which can facilitate both the teachers and the students. Based on the result of initial survey, it could be stated that some teachers might not be ready in integrating the technology in their virtual classrooms; ending up in either providing lots of assignments or creating monotonous activities, which of course break the nature of teaching English for young learners. Hence, it is expected that by conducting this study, the researchers could assist some of the teachers to be more aware with their technology readiness, so that they could serve the students better, and the students could also learn the material more interesting and meaningful.
Atmospheric oxidation mechanism and kinetics of indole initiated by ●OH and ●Cl: a computational study

Abstract. The atmospheric chemistry of organic nitrogen compounds (ONCs) is of great importance for understanding the formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines, and ONC oxidation products might influence atmospheric aerosol particle formation and growth. Indole is a polyfunctional heterocyclic secondary amine with a global emission quantity almost equivalent to that of trimethylamine, the amine with the highest atmospheric emission. However, the atmospheric chemistry of indole remains unclear. Herein, the reactions of indole with ⚫OH and ⚫Cl, and subsequent reactions of resulting indole radicals with O2 under 200 ppt NO and 50 ppt HO2⚫ conditions, were investigated by a combination of quantum chemical calculations and kinetics modeling. The results indicate that ⚫OH addition is the dominant pathway for the reaction of ⚫OH with indole. However, both ⚫Cl addition and H abstraction are feasible for the corresponding reaction with ⚫Cl. All favorably formed indole radicals further react with O2 to produce peroxy radicals, which mainly react with NO and HO2⚫ to form organonitrates, alkoxy radicals and hydroperoxide products. Therefore, the oxidation mechanism of indole is distinct from that of previously reported amines, which primarily form highly oxidized multifunctional compounds, imines or carcinogenic nitrosamines. In addition, the peroxy radicals from the ⚫OH reaction can form N-(2-formylphenyl)formamide (C8H7NO2), for the first time providing evidence for the chemical identity of the C8H7NO2 mass peak observed in the ⚫OH + indole experiments. More importantly, this study is the first to demonstrate that despite forming radicals by abstracting an H atom at the N site, carcinogenic nitrosamines were not produced in the indole oxidation reaction.
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Thyroid Surgery in a University Hospital in South Korea

Simple Summary The COVID-19 pandemic has changed healthcare systems around the world. Medical staff focused on managing infectious diseases and other treatments were postponed. We analyzed any changes in the treatment of thyroid cancer during the corona pandemic. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the number of annual outpatients has significantly decreased, both for new patients and for follow-up patients, and the number of days from the first visit to surgery has increased significantly. After the onset of COVID-19, poor prognostic factors for thyroid cancer increased, and the size of follicular tumors increased. Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has changed healthcare systems around the world. Medical personnel concentrated on infectious disease management and treatments for non-emergency diseases and scheduled surgeries were delayed. We aimed to investigate the change in the severity of thyroid cancer before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 in Korea. We collected three years of data (2019, 2020, and 2021) on patients who received thyroid surgery in a university hospital in South Korea and grouped them as “Before COVID-19”, “After COVID-19 1-year” and “After COVID-19 2-years”. The total number of annual outpatients declined significantly after the outbreak of COVID-19 in both new (1303, 939, and 1098 patients) and follow-up patients (5584, 4609, and 4739 patients). Clinical characteristics, including age, sex, BMI, preoperative cytology results, surgical extent, and final pathologic diagnosis, were not significantly changed after the outbreak of COVID-19. However, the number of days from the first visit to surgery was significantly increased (38.3 ± 32.2, 58.3 ± 105.2, 47.8 ± 124.7 days, p = 0.027). Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) patients showed increased proportions of extrathyroidal extension, lymphatic invasion, vascular invasion, and cervical lymph node metastasis. Increased tumor size was observed in patients with follicular tumor (3.5 ± 2.2, 4.0 ± 1.9, 4.3 ± 2.3 cm, p = 0.019). After the COVID-19 outbreak, poor prognostic factors for thyroid cancer increased, and an increase in the size of follicular tumors was observed. Due to our study being confined to a single tertiary institution in Incheon city, Korea, nationwide studies that include primary clinics should be required to identify the actual impact of COVID-19 on thyroid disease treatment.
The Slender Rigid Block: Archetype for the Seismic Analysis of Masonry Structures

ABSTRACT The elasto-plastic oscillator, representing the basic model for reinforced concrete and steel structures, shows its inadequacy when dealing with masonry structures. The column, resting on a rigid plane with friction, is shown to be particularly appropriate to model the dynamic behaviour of masonry structures. At this aim, this paper investigates the motion of a slender rigid block (SRB), initially resting in its vertical configuration and hit by a seismic input, represented through a single impulse constituted by a rectangular or sinusoidal half-wave or a simplified sequence of horizontal acceleration pulses, having rectangular or sinusoidal shapes. An accumulation of the rotation of the SRB exists under the action of sequences of opposite acceleration pulses. The dynamic collapse is shown to take place when the column is led to its critical configuration – where the restoring moment of the weight is lost – so that the last pulse can further increase the rotation of the column. Expressing the behaviour of the SRB by means of the force reduction factor, the ratio between the magnitude of the collapse horizontal acceleration and the static strength of the column, the difference between the responses of the column decreases with increasing the number of the pulses of the sequence. A simple definition of the asymptotic failure domain can be obtained with a good approximation with a limited number of pulses. It is possible to evaluate the minimum collapse acceleration intensity of seismic sequences of pulses of any assigned duration able to produce the collapse of the rigid block, representing the seismic strength of the SRB. Finally, the results obtained in the theoretical analysis are compared with the outcomes of more accurate and time-consuming non-linear dynamic or incremental analyses (IDA).
Influence of Pre-Treatment and Artificial Aging on the Retention of 3D-Printed Permanent Composite Crowns

The aim of this in vitro study is to investigate the bonding properties of a 3D-printable permanent composite material in comparison to milled composite materials. The tested materials are 3D-printed BEGO VarseoSmile Crown plus (VA1_ab, VA1_nt, VA2_ab, VA2_nt), Vita Enamic (EN1, EN2), and 3M Lava Ultimate (UL1, UL2) (N = 64; n = 8). For this purpose, all crowns are luted to polymer tooth stumps #46 (FDI) using dual-curing luting composite, strictly according to the manufacturer’s instructions. VA1_ab and VA2_ab are additionally airborne-particle abraded. 4 groups (VA2_ab, VA2_nt, EN2, UL2) are artificially aged (1,200,000 cycles, 50 N, 10,000 thermocycles), whereby no specimen has failed. All 64 specimens undergo pull-off testing until retention loss. The mean forces of retention-loss is 786.6 ± 137.6 N (VA1_nt, *), 988.6 ± 212.1 N (VA2_nt, *, Ɨ), 1223.8 ± 119.2 N (VA1_ab, Ɨ, ǂ), 1051.9 ± 107.2 N (VA2_ab, *, Ɨ), 1185.9 ± 211.8 N (EN1, Ɨ, ǂ), 1485.0 ± 198.2 N EN2, ǂ), 1533.8 ± 42.4 N (UL1, ǂ), and 1521.8 ± 343.4 N (UL2, ǂ) (one-way ANOVA (Scheffé method); p < 0.05; *, Ɨ, ǂ: group distribution). No characteristic failure modes can be detected. In conclusion, all of the pull-off forces reflect retention values that seem to be sufficiently high for clinical use. Additional airborne-particle abrasion of VA does not result in significantly better retention but can be recommended.
How Work-Family Conflict Influenced the Safety Performance of Subway Employees during the Initial COVID-19 Pandemic: Testing a Chained Mediation Model

This study examined the impact of work-family conflict on subway employees’ safety performance during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. We proposed a chain mediation model in which job burnout and affective commitment play mediating roles in this process. Using questionnaire data from 632 Chinese subway employees during February 2020, structural equation modeling analyses were performed. The analyses showed that work-family conflict had a significant negative impact on subway employee safety performance. Moreover, job burnout completely mediated the influence of work-family conflict on safety performance, while affective commitment only partially mediated the influence of job burnout on safety performance. These findings suggest the important role played by Work-Family balance during the pandemic and contribute to a deeper understanding of the inner mechanisms. We also discussed several practical implications for organizations to reduce the negative impact of work-family conflict on safety performance.
Adaptive Neural Network Finite-Time Control of Uncertain Fractional-Order Systems with Unknown Dead-Zone Fault via Command Filter

In this paper, the adaptive finite-time control problem for fractional-order systems with uncertainties and unknown dead-zone fault was studied by combining a fractional-order command filter, radial basis function neural network, and Nussbaum gain function technique. First, the fractional-order command filter-based backstepping control method is applied to avoid the computational complexity problem existing in the conventional recursive procedure, where the fractional-order command filter is introduced to obtain the filter signals and their fractional-order derivatives. Second, the radial basis function neural network is used to handle the uncertain nonlinear functions in the recursive design step. Third, the Nussbaum gain function technique is considered to handle the unknown control gain caused by the unknown dead-zone fault. Moreover, by introducing the compensating signal into the control law design, the virtual control law, adaptive laws, and the adaptive neural network finite-time control law are constructed to ensure that all signals associated with the closed-loop system are bounded in finite time and that the tracking error can converge to a small neighborhood of origin in finite time. Finally, the validity of the proposed control law is confirmed by providing simulation cases.
Single- and Multilayers of Alkali Metal Atoms inside Graphene/MoS2 Heterostructures: A Systematic First-Principles Study

: Stacking various 2D materials in van der Waals heterostructures is a novel approach to design new systems, which can host alkali metal (AM) atoms to tune their electronic properties or store energy. Using state-of-the-art first-principles calculations, we systematically study the intercalation of the most widespread AMs (Li, Na, and K) into a graphene/MoS 2 heterostructure. Contrary to the previous work on the intercalation of AMs into various heterostructures based on 2D materials, we consider not only single, but also multi-layer configurations of AM atoms. We assess the intercalation energetics for various concentrations of AM atoms, calculate charge transfer from AM atoms to the host system, and show that although intercalation of AMs as a single layer is energetically preferable, multi-layer configurations can exist at high concentrations of AM atoms. We further demonstrate that the transition of the MoS 2 layer from the H to T ′ phase is possible upon Li intercalation, but not for Na or K. Our findings should help to better understand the behavior of heterostructures upon AM atom intercalation and may stimulate further experiments aimed at the tailoring of heterostructure properties and increasing the capacity of anode materials in AM ion batteries.
Removal of a 10-kb Gret1 transposon from VvMybA1 of Vitis vinifera cv. Chardonnay

Abstract Many white grape cultivars have a nonfunctional VvMybA1 gene due to the presence of a 10-kb Gret1 transposon in its promoter. In this study, we successfully demonstrated removal of the 10-kb Gret1 transposon and functional restoration of a VvMybA1 allele in Vitis vinifera cv. Chardonnay through transgenic expression of Cas9 and two gRNAs simultaneously targeting two junction sequences between Gret1 LTRs and VvMybA1. We generated 67 and 24 Cas9-positive vines via Agrobacterium-mediated and biolistic bombardment transformation, respectively. While the editing efficiencies were as high as 17% for the 5′ target site and 65% for the 3′ target site, simultaneous editing of both 5′ and 3′ target sites resulting in the removal of Gret1 transposon from the VvMybA1 promoter was 0.5% or less in most transgenic calli, suggesting that these calli had very limited numbers of cells with the Gret1 removed. Nevertheless, two bombardment-transformed vines, which shared the same unique editing features and were likely derived from a singly edited event, were found to have the Gret1 successfully edited out from one of their two VvMybA1 alleles. The edited allele was functionally restored based on the detection of its expression and a positive coloring assay result in leaves. Precise removal of more than a 10-kb DNA fragment from a gene locus in grape broadens the possibilities of using gene editing technologies to modify various trait genes in grapes and other plants.
On Some Existence Theorems for Semi-Linear Elliptic Equations.

Abstract : Boundary value problems for semilinear elliptic equations are considered. If the nonlinear terms do not grow too fast as a function of the gradient of the dependent variable and ordered upper and lower solutions are known, then maximal and minimal solutions can be obtained by an iteration procedure. Other results concerning the existence of additional solutions follow from topological principles.
Using remote sensing to assess plant health and drought response in game reserves and adjacent farmland overtime in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

The aim of the study described in this article was to investigate the vegetation health and drought response of naturally occurring Albany thicket and neighbouring farmland vegetation, that appears in an area of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Google Earth Engine was used to manipulate Landsat 5, 7 and 8 datasets to produce a 30-year temporal dataset, after which the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the normalized difference water index (NDWI) were then applied to create a time series analysis. The Mann-Kendall and Spearman correlation statistical tests were used on the time series to observe trends and correlations between the NDVI and the NDWI datasets. The Spearman correlation test results showed that there were high correlations between the NDVI and the NDWI datasets (all above 0.805). Furthermore, the Man-Kendall test showed that all the datasets had positively increasing trends, while the NDVI datasets all had monotonic positive trends. Large differences in the NDVI and the NDWI were seen for the different vegetation types during times of drought, and farmland was the most severely affected with an average of 19% decrease in the NDVI and an average of 71% decrease in the NDWI.
High Boost 3-D Attention Network for Cross-Spectral Periocular Recognition

Recognition of individuals in a heterogeneous surveillance environment is a challenging problem as it involves matching images associated with different visual characteristics. These differences mainly arise due to the involvement of various wavelength ranges and sensing equipments. This letter presents a novel high boost 3-D attention mechanism embedded within a deep Siamese framework to address periocular recognition in heterogeneous wavelength domains. The proposed high boost attention module (HBAM) generates 3-D attended features by calculating the importance of each feature location. The HBAM works by enhancing significant components of the input feature map through a boost coefficient without any additional parameter overhead. We have created a new cross-spectral periocular dataset comprising 12 584 visible and near-infrared images from 200 classes by considering random pose (eye and head movement) and accessory (mask and eyeglass) variations. Experiments and ablation studies on five cross-spectral periocular datasets demonstrate efficacy of the proposed 3-D attention network and significance of its design choice.
CO2 Adsorption over 3d Transition-Metal Nanoclusters Supported on Pyridinic N3-Doped Graphene: A DFT Investigation

CO2 adsorption on bare 3d transition-metal nanoclusters and 3d transition-metal nanoclusters supported on pyridinic N3-doped graphene (PNG) was investigated by employing the density functional theory. First, the interaction of Co13 and Cu13 with PNG was analyzed by spin densities, interaction energies, charge transfers, and HUMO-LUMO gaps. According to the interaction energies, the Co13 nanocluster was adsorbed more efficiently than Cu13 on the PNG. The charge transfer indicated that the Co13 nanocluster donated more charges to the PNG nanoflake than the Cu13 nanocluster. The HUMO-LUMO gap calculations showed that the PNG improved the chemical reactivity of both Co13 and Cu13 nanoclusters. When the CO2 was adsorbed on the bare 3d transition-metal nanoclusters and 3d transition-metal nanoclusters supported on the PNG, it experienced a bond elongation and angle bending in both systems. In addition, the charge transfer from the nanoclusters to the CO2 molecule was observed. This study proved that Co13/PNG and Cu13/PNG composites are adequate candidates for CO2 adsorption and activation.
Governance Mining Licensing in Central Sulawesi Post Mining Law Reform and Law Job Creation

This article aims to explain the governance of mining permits after the reform of the mining law and the issuance of the law on job creation. The research design used descriptive qualitative. The results of the study found: First, the Ministry of energy and mineral resources is the leading sector in the management of the mining sector at the national level. Meanwhile, at the local government level, the provincial and district/city offices of energy and mineral resources are played. Second, in Central Sulawesi Province mining business permits are issued by the One Stop Service Investment Office. Before the omnibus law, there are at least five stages that are passed in the licensing process, namely the application for a mining business area permit, an application for an exploration mining business permit, an application for a principle permit for the use of national strategic area space, and an application for an Environmental Feasibility Decree and Environmental Permit, as well as an application for a production mining business permit. Third, the issuance of law number 11 of 2020 concerning job creation (omnibus law) reduces the authority of local governments in managing mining permits in Central Sulawesi. In addition, the omnibus law provides convenience in environmental management, where environmental permits are replaced with environmental approvals that are integrated with business permits.
P450 gene family mediates allelochemical detoxification and tolerance to alkaloids in cactophilic Drosophila

Cacti are characterized by the extensive production of a broad variety of toxic metabolites as an anti‐herbivore strategy but nevertheless cactophilic Drosophila spp. (Diptera: Drosophilidae) feed and breed on decaying cacti. The family of cytochrome P450 is a group of enzymes involved in the detoxification metabolism, which are critical for the adaptation of phytophagous insects, especially populations of Drosophila exploiting cacti. In this context, Drosophila buzzatii Patterson & Wheeler and Drosophila koepferae Fontdevila & Wasserman (Drosophilini), constitute an excellent model for the study of the genetic basis of tolerance to cacti allelochemicals. These closely related species allow testing to what extent a relatively small set of genes can explain host use patterns and their role in the divergent evolution of specialization. We evaluated the role of the P450 genes in the adaptation of these species to the use of one of their hosts, the columnar cactus Trichocereus terscheckii (Parm.) Friedrich & GD Rowley (Cactaceae). Experimentally evolved strains exhibiting different degrees of cactus specialization were exposed to artificial rearing media enriched with cactus allelochemicals and piperonyl butoxide (PBO), an inhibitor of P450 family activity. Our analyses showed a significant viability reduction in the presence of PBO, in the non‐tolerant strains of both species as well as in the strain historically subjected to mild concentrations of allelochemicals (the soft strain) of D. koepferae. We confirmed the key role of P450 genes for the evolution of cactus specialization but also found evidence for the evolution of other detoxification pathways.
On the existence of positive solutions of nonlinear second order differential equations

Under suitable conditions on f (t, u), the boundary value problem (E) u"(t) + f (t, u(t)) = 0 in (0, 1), (BVP) (BC) au (0) fu'(0) = 0, (BC) Yu(1) + 6u'(1)0= has at least one positive solution. Moreover, we also apply this main result to establish several existence theorems of multiple positive solutions for some nonlinear (elliptic) differential equations.