Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Perceived Effectiveness of Full-Day Kindergarten for Children with ADHD

ADHD is one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders, and the numbers only continue to rise. Ontario has implemented play-based FDK in the last decade, thus it is imperative that the perceived effectiveness of the program for children with ADHD is studied. In conducting this study, the researchers present and interprets educators’ perceptions of the FDK program and the perceived effectiveness of FDK for children with ADHD. Using an Ecological Systems Theory lens, semi-structured interviews were conducted with kindergarten teachers and early childhood educators from multiple cities throughout Southwestern Ontario to obtain their perceptions of Play-Based FDK and ADHD. The data were analyzed using Thematic Analysis (TA) and three themes emerged: (1) Knowledge and Understanding, (2) Benefits and Challenges of Play-Based FDK for Children with ADHD, and (3) Strategies Used to Promote Success. These themes encompassed the general lived experiences and knowledge that educators have on the effectiveness of the FDK program for children with ADHD. Limitations of the study and future areas of research are discussed.
An Examination of Location-Based Real-Time Dating Application Infrastructure, Profile Features, and Cybervictimization

The use of location-based real-time dating applications (LBRTDAs) has become commonplace among college-aged persons. With an increase in their use, these applications may serve as vectors for experiencing cybervictimization. Limited research has examined the implications that application usage has on individual experiences with cybervictimization, particularly cyberstalking, cyberharassment, image-based abuse, and identity deception. Using a sample of college students (N = 324; 73% female), and concentrating primarily on Tinder users, this study examines the correlates of experiencing these forms of cybervictimization, concentrating on the influence that application infrastructure and profile features (e.g., Global Positioning System [GPS] functionality) have on the likelihood of cybervictimization. Results indicate inconsistent and largely insignificant effects, suggesting that opting into the use of safety features and protective measures cannot guarantee protection from application-based forms of cybervictimization. As such, policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Working Conditions and Satisfaction with Working Conditions among Slovenian Family Medicine Trainees: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract Introduction In order to achieve a high standard in training programmes for future family medicine specialists, it is essential to have good tutors with well-organised family medicine practices. Proper working conditions for young doctors are essential for their satisfaction and future professional development. The aim of our study was to check the current working conditions of family medicine trainees in the practical modular part of the training programme in Slovenia, and to determine their satisfaction with working conditions. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted. The data was collected through a questionnaire distributed to 105 family medicine trainees undergoing the practical modular part of their training programme. Results The study showed that the following 7 out of 25 organisational and labour law factors are significantly associated with a trainee’s general satisfaction with working conditions: the location where work with patients takes place, the privacy of the premises, the accessibility of the main tutor, a constant patient population, suitable places for rest, paid out-of-hours substitutions, and appropriate pay grade. Conclusion The results we obtained can be used to address certain aspects of trainees’ working conditions in Slovenia that need improvement. By determining which working conditions significantly affect a trainee’s satisfaction, we have the opportunity to modify these conditions and thereby improve the training programme. This could result in a less stressful and more efficient residency programme.
The stability and bioaccessibility of fucoxanthin in spray-dried microcapsules based on various biopolymers

Fucoxanthin is a major marine carotenoid with many biological activities. It is well known that fucoxanthin is unstable to heat and acid due to its polyunsaturated structure. Another defect of fucoxanthin is the low bioavailability and all these drawbacks make it limited in the food industry. In order to improve its stability and intestinal absorption, fucoxanthin was encapsulated with biopolymers by spray drying in this study. All the microspheres we prepared had a spherical shape with encapsulation efficiencies (EE) ranging from 86.48% to 97.06%. A heat stability test showed that maltodextrin (MD), gum arabic (GA) and whey protein isolate (WPI) improved the thermal stability of fucoxanthin. The degradation kinetics of the loaded fucoxanthin encapsulated with biopolymers also indicated that GA and MD had a better protective effect on fucoxanthin. The encapsulated fucoxanthin degradation rate within MD, GA, WPI and gelatin (GEL) followed second-order kinetics and their half-life (t1/2) was 92.6 d, 99.8 d, 50.9 d and 69.3 d, respectively. The simulated digestion test in vitro suggested that MD, GA and WPI effectively protected fucoxanthin in the gastric acid environment, meanwhile increasing the release rate of fucoxanthin in the intestinal tract.
DOSES E FORMAS DE APLICAÇÃO DE BIOESTIMULANTE NA PRODUÇÃO DE MUDAS DE MARACUJAZEIRO

O uso de bioestimulantes e uma das maneiras de se buscar mudas de qualidade e em menor tempo. Com o objetivo de avaliar a acao de bioestimulante na formacao de mudas de maracujazeiro sob diferentes formas de aplicacao, o experimento foi conduzido na cidade de Patos de Minas-MG, no periodo de abril a junho, em estufa, trabalhando-se com sementes de maracujazeiro amarelo em saquinhos de polietileno de 10 cm de largura e 17 cm de altura. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi inteiramente casualizado com sete tratamentos, tres repeticoes e oito saquinhos de polietileno por parcela contendo uma muda cada. Os tratamentos foram a aplicacao de tres doses (10, 15, 20 mL Kg -1 ) via semente e tres doses (100, 125, 150 mL L -1 ) via foliar do bioestimulante Stimulate ® , alem da testemunha. Aos 60 dias apos a emergencia avaliou-se a altura das mudas (AM), massa da materia seca das raizes (MSR) e da parte aerea (MSPA) de quatro mudas de cada tratamento. As quatro mudas restantes foram conduzidas ate atingirem 25 cm de altura, variavel chamada de numero de dias para ir a campo (DC). Os dados foram submetidos a analise de variância e comparados pelo teste de Tukey, a 5% de probabilidade. Os tratamentos nao influenciaram significativamente as variaveis AM, MSR e MSPA. A aplicacao do bioestimulante Stimulate ® via foliar se mostrou eficiente na variavel numero de dias para ir a campo, independente da dose aplicada.
Grounded Theory of Accessible Game Development

Digital games represent a prominent element of popular culture, with the ability to play as well as participate in video game discourse being a matter of inclusion and equality. However, many digital games are inaccessible for players with disabilities. Only a small amount of literature has sought to understand the difficulties developers experience when making an accessible game. This literature indicates that developers experience numerous difficulties making accessible games, yet underlying causes of these difficulties are not well understood. The present research uses interviews and a grounded theory approach to illuminate the experiences that developers encounter when trying to make accessible games. We identify several difficulties that the game developers experience and describe how these difficulties are affected by knowledge and motivations of the individual developer, organisational attributes of the work environment, and the use of external resources such as drawing upon the experiences of players with disabilities.
Ruby’s Mission: Towards an Applied Gaming Intervention for reducing Loneliness of Children with Chronic Illness

Children with a chronic disease, such as cystic fibrosis or juvenile arthritis, often face obstacles that can have a negative impact on children’s physical, social-emotional and cognitive development, beyond the actual illness itself. Children with chronic conditions are, on average, lonelier than their peers without such conditions. Feelings of loneliness in children and adolescents have been associated with a wide range of negative outcomes, including school drop-out, depressive symptoms, social anxiety, suicide ideation, low self-esteem, eating disorders, and sleep problems. As such, the present investigation sets out to reduce these feelings of loneliness for children with chronic conditions, and aims to do so by the structured design of an applied gaming intervention. Specifically, the present paper contributes (1) a literature-based understanding on training socioemotional skills as a novel means to reduce feelings of loneliness in chronically ill children, (2) intervention objectives that are aligned to this goal, and (3) a structured proposal for design guidelines that implement the intervention objectives into ‘Ruby’s Mission’; an applied gaming intervention for reducing loneliness of children with chronic illness.
Greenhouse gas emissions in agricultural cultivated soils using animal waste-based digestates for crop fertilization

Abstract Agricultural waste contributes significantly to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions if not adequately recycled and sustainably managed. A recurring agricultural waste is livestock waste that has consistently served as feedstock for biogas systems. The objective of this study was to assess the use of animal waste digestate to mitigate GHG emissions in agricultural fields. Wheat (Triticum spp. L.) was fertilized with different types of animal waste digestate (organic fertilizers) and synthetic nitrogen fertilizer (inorganic fertilizer). The 170 kg N/ha presented in digestates were split fertilized at an application rate of 90 and 80 kg N/ha. Emissions of GHGs (carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O)) were monitored directly by a static chamber system. The soil and environmental variables were measured to determine their influence on GHG emissions. Emission peaks in N2O and CO2 after the first application of fertilizers with the emissions flattening out over the cultivating season while CH4 emission was negligible with no apparent patterns observed. Results showed individual and cumulative emissions of CO2, CH4 and N2O from the digestates were relatively low and digestate fertilization could be an efficient method for reducing GHGs from agricultural sources in temperate climate conditions.
Structural characterization and magnetic properties of undoped and copper-doped cobalt ferrite nanoparticles prepared by the octanoate coprecipitation route at very low dopant concentrations

Nanoparticles of undoped and copper-doped cobalt ferrite Co1−xCuxFe2O4 at very low dopant concentrations (x = 0; 0.02; 0.04; 0.06; 0.08) were successfully synthesized by pyrolysis of the corresponding hetero metal octanoate precursors obtained via coprecipitation using the octanoate ligand as precipitating agent. The precursors were then characterized by FTIR, ICP-AES and TG-DTA analyses and the results reveal the formation of a copper-cobalt-iron hydroxooctanoate represented by the formula [Co1−xCuxFe2(C8H15O2)6(OH)2·2H2O]. The decomposition products obtained upon pyrolysis in air at 400 °C for 3 h were characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS and VSM analyses. FTIR and XRD analyses showed the formation of a single phase mixed spinel ferrite while TEM analysis showed that the particles have a spherical shape with a mean size of 20 nm and form spherical agglomerates with sizes reaching 500 nm in some cases as the SEM images show. The chemical states of the metallic species in the samples were revealed by XPS to be Cu2+, Co2+ and Fe3+. These results combined with XRD confirmed the mixed spinel structure, Co1−xCuxFe2O4 in which Cu2+ ions substitute Co2+ ions in tetrahedral sites for x lower than 0.06 and in octahedral sites for x between 0.06 and 0.08. Magnetic parameters such as saturation magnetization (Ms), coercivity (Hc), remanent magnetization (Mr), magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant (K) and reduced magnetization (Mr/Ms), obtained from magnetic hysteresis loops measured at room temperature, are in agreement with this mixed spinel structure and also indicate that these materials are ferromagnetic and could be good candidates for applications in biomedicine and in microwave devices.
Crystal or jelly? Effect of color on the perception of translucent materials with photographs of real-world objects

Translucent materials are ubiquitous in nature (e.g. teeth, food, wax), but our understanding of translucency perception is limited. Previous work in translucency perception has mainly used monochromatic rendered images as stimuli, which are restricted by their diversity and realism. Here, we measure translucency perception with photographs of real-world objects. Specifically, we use three behavior tasks: binary classification of “translucent” versus “opaque”, semantic attribute rating of perceptual qualities (see-throughness, glossiness, softness, glow and density), and material categorization. Two different groups of observers finish the three tasks with color or grayscale images. We find that observers’ agreements depend on the physical material properties of the objects such that translucent materials generate more inter-observer disagreements. Further, there are more disagreements among observers in the grayscale condition in comparison to that in color condition. We also discover that converting images to grayscale substantially affects the distributions of attribute ratings for some images. Furthermore, ratings of see-throughness, glossiness, and glow could predict individual observers’ binary classification of images in both grayscale and color conditions. Lastly, converting images to grayscale alters the perceived material categories for some images such that observers tend to misjudge images of food as non-food and vice versa. Our result demonstrates color is informative about material property estimation and recognition. Meanwhile, our analysis shows mid-level semantic estimation of material attributes might be closely related to high-level material recognition. We also discuss individual differences in our results and highlight the importance of such consideration in material perception.
δ1 variant of SARS-COV-2 acquires spike V1176F and yields a highly mutated subvariant in Europe

Genomic surveillance of SARS-COV-2 has revealed that in addition to many variants of interests, this virus has yielded four variants of concern, α, β, γ and δ, as designated by the World Health Organization. δ variant has recently become the predominant pandemic driver around the world and yielded four different subvariants (δ1, δ2, δ3 and δ4). Among them, δ1 has emerged as the key subvariant that drives the pandemic in India, Europe and the USA. A relevant question is whether δ1 subvariant continues to evolve and acquires additional mutations. Related to this, this subvariant has acquired spike V1176F, a signature substitution of γ variant, and yielded a new sublineage, δ1F. The substitution alters heptad repeat 2 of spike protein and is expected to improve interaction with heptad repeat 1 and enhance virus entry. Moreover, there are δ1F sublineages encoding spike N501Y, A783, Q836E and V1264L. While N501Y is a signature substitution shared by α, β and γ variants, V1264L is a key substitution in a δ1 sublineage that is a major pandemic driver in Southeast Asia. The Q836E-encoding lineage carries an average of 50 mutations per genome, making it the most mutated variant identified so far. Similar to δ1 subvariant, δ2 subvariant has also acquired spike V1176F and yielded new sublineages. Together, these results suggest that V1176F is a recurrent spike substitution that is frequently acquired by SARS-COV-2 variants to improve viral fitness. It is thus important to track the evolutionary trajectory of related variants for considering and instituting the most effective public health measures.
Increase in nutrient availability promotes success of invasive plants through increasing growth and decreasing anti-herbivory defenses

Invasive plant species often exhibit greater growth and lower anti-herbivory defense than native plant species. However, it remains unclear how nutrient enrichment of invaded habitats may interact with competition from resident native plants to affect growth and defense of invasive plants. In a greenhouse experiment, we grew five congeneric pairs of invasive and native plant species under two levels of nutrient availability (low vs. high) that were fully crossed with simulated herbivory (clipping vs. no-clipping) and competition (alone vs. competition). Invasive plants produced more gibberellic acid, and grew larger than native species. Nutrient enrichment caused a greater increase in total biomass of invasive plants than of native plants, especially in the absence of competition or without simulated herbivory treatment. Nutrient enrichment decreased leaf flavonoid contents of invasive plants under both simulated herbivory conditions, but increased flavonoid of native plants under simulated herbivory condition. Nutrient enrichment only decreased tannins production of invasive species under competition. For native species, it enhanced their tannins production under competition, but decreased the chemicals when growing alone. The results indicate that the higher biomass production and lower flavonoids production in response to nutrient addition may lead to competitive advantage of invasive species than native species.
In an arms race between host and parasite, a lungworm’s ability to infect a toad is determined by host susceptibility, not parasite preference

Evolutionary arms races can alter both parasite infectivity and host resistance, and it is difficult to separate the effects of these twin determinants of infection outcomes. Using a co-introduced, invasive host-parasite system (the lungworm Rhabdias pseudosphaerocephala and the cane toad Rhinella marina), we quantified behavioural responses of parasite larvae to skin-chemical cues of toads from different invasive populations, and rates at which hosts became infected following standardised exposure to lungworms. Chemical cues from toad skin altered host-seeking behaviour by parasites, similarly among populations. The number of infection attempts (parasite larvae entering the host’s body) also did not differ between populations, but rates of successful infection (establishment of adult worm in host lungs) was higher for range-edge toads than for range-core conspecifics. Thus, lower resistance to parasite infection in range-edge toads appears to be due to less effective immune defences of the host rather than differential behavioural responses of the parasite. In this ongoing host-parasite arms-race, changing outcomes appear to be driven by shifts in host immunocompetence.
BugSplit: highly accurate taxonomic binning of metagenomic assemblies enables genome-resolved metagenomics

A large gap remains between sequencing a microbial community and characterizing all of the organisms inside of it. Here we develop a novel method to taxonomically bin metagenomic assemblies through alignment of contigs against a reference database. We show that this workflow, BugSplit, bins metagenome-assembled contigs to species with a 33% absolute improvement in F1-score when compared to alternative tools. We perform nanopore mNGS on patients with COVID-19, and using a reference database predating COVID-19, demonstrate that BugSplit’s taxonomic binning enables sensitive and specific detection of a novel coronavirus not possible with other approaches. When applied to nanopore mNGS data from cases of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection, BugSplit’s taxonomic binning accurately separates pathogen sequences from those of the host and microbiota, and unlocks the possibility of sequence typing, in silico serotyping, and antimicrobial resistance prediction of each organism within a sample. BugSplit is available at https://bugseq.com/academic.
Nanoscale organization of ryanodine receptor distribution and phosphorylation pattern determines the dynamics of calcium sparks

Super-resolution imaging techniques have provided a better understanding of the relationship between the nanoscale organization of function of ryanodine receptors (RyRs) in cardiomy-ocytes. Interestingly recent data have indicated that this relationship is disrupted in heart failure (HF), as RyRs are dispersed into smaller and more numerous clusters. However, RyRs are also hyperphosphorylated in this condition, and this is reported to occur preferentially within the cluster centre. Thus, the combined impact of RyR relocalization and sensitization on Ca2+ spark generation in failing cardiomyocytes is likely complex and these observations suggest that both the nanoscale organization of RyRs and the pattern of phosphorylated RyRs within clusters could be critical determinants of Ca2+ spark dynamics. To test this hypothesis, we used computational modeling to quantify the relationships between RyR cluster geometry, phosphorylation patterns, and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ release. We found that RyR cluster disruption results in a decrease in spark fidelity and longer sparks with a lower amplitude. Phosphorylation of some RyRs within the cluster can play a compensatory role, recovering healthy spark dynamics. Interestingly, our model predicts that such compensation is critically dependent on the phosphorylation pattern, as phosphorylation localized within the cluster center resulted in longer Ca2+ sparks and higher spark fidelity compared to a uniformly distributed phosphorylation pattern. Our results strongly suggest that both the phosphorylation pattern and nanoscale RyR reorganization are critical determinants of Ca2+ dynamics in HF. Significance Statement RyRs are ion channels located on the membrane of the sarcoplasmic reticulum that are responsible for an increase in cytosolic Ca2+ during cell excitation. Here, we investigate how the geometry of RyR clusters combined with spatial phosphorylation patterns impacts on Ca2+ spark generation and kinetics. The findings from our study show that both phosphorylation pattern and RyR cluster shape and dispersion have implications on Ca2+ spark activity and provide insights into altered Ca2+ dynamics during HF.