Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of a lateral flow immunoassay (LFA) strip for the rapid detection of 1-aminohydantoin in meat samples.

UNLABELLED Due to the potential toxic effects of the nitrofuran family of antibiotics, their use in animals in the food industry has raised health concerns. This study was aimed to develop a lateral flow assay (LFA) based on competitive format for the detection of 1-aminohydantoin (AHD) in meat samples. The assay could be completed in 1 min and detected AHDs derivates (CPAHD) at 3 ng/mL, equivalent to 1.40 ng/mL of AHD, which was much lower than that reported in the literature by similar method. The antibody showed no cross-reactivity with a panel of more than 10 nitrofuran analogs except for nitrofurantoin at a high concentration. The test strip was stable at room temperature for up to 8 wk or at 37 °C for 4 wk. Parallel analyses of meat samples with LFA and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) obtained data in good agreement. This developed gold nanoparticle based LFA had a good specificity, sensitivity, stability, and reliability. It was potentially suitable for on-the-spot large-scale screening of meat samples, and even more other applications. PRACTICAL APPLICATION Nitrofurantoin is one of antibiotics of the nitrofuran family, which has been used not only to prevent and treat diseases, but also to promote growth in animals. However, concerning the carcinogenicity of the metabolite of nitrofurantoin (AHD), a new fast and convenient method for monitoring AHD should be established. We describe the development of a new test assay for rapid screening of meat samples.
Social Media Instruments and the Promotion of Financial Inclusion in Peruvian Rural Areas

This study seeks to evaluate the use of short soap operas as a mechanism to promote the use of formal savings accounts among poor rural women that have been secularly excluded from healthy interactions with the formal financial sector. We developed a short soap opera (telenovela), named Josefa, which transmitted pro-savings messages using characters and stories that could generate a level of identification with the intended audience. We used an experimental design that randomly assigned eligible villages of Huancavelica, the poorest department in Peru, to treatment and control groups, and organized special viewing sessions inviting all beneficiaries of Juntos, the Peruvian CCT program, in the eligible villages. A year later, we found that women who were exposed to the treatment have an improved knowledge and attitude towards formal savings, especially for precautionary motives. We did not find a significant change at the end of bimester savings balances until the July-August bimester, which we interpret as evidence that the improved pro-savings attitude remained latent for several months, until right about the time cash surpluses are likely, due to post-harvest season. In searching for the underlying mechanisms, we find no income effect, but a strong empowerment effect within the household, mainly for economic and financial decisions, and especially among the women under 40, which is also the group that shows more robust temporary savings effects. Overall, we interpret these results as evidence that the edutainment approach can have an important contribution to the financial inclusion of poor rural women that have faced secular exclusion from formal financial institutions like the ones from the Peruvian Southern Sierra.
Recent Developments on Antimicrobial Quinoline Chemistry

1. General introduction part The discovery and development of antimicrobial agents that has met with enormous success over the past 50 years provided many classes of natural products and semisynthetic or synthetic compounds (marketing of over 100 antibacterial agents). Among them, quinoline and quinolone derivatives are still an important class of therapeutically useful antibacterial drugs. Quinolines and their derivatives occur in numerous natural products, many of which possess interesting physiological and biological properties. On the other hand, control of deadly infectious diseases (including tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis) is seriously threatened by multidrug emergence and dissemination of resistant pathogenic microbes. Additionally, patients with AIDS are immune suppressed, and very susceptible to the opportunistic microbial infections that necessitates requiring continuous search into novel classes of antibacterial agents. This search is an area characterized by active investigation with the goal of overcoming the phenomenon of multiple drug resistance (MDR). To resolve these problems some quinoline-based natural products serve as useful models for design and development of new semi-synthetic or synthetic quinoline antimicrobial agents. It is well-known that the quinoline nucleus and its derivatives, chiefly quinolones, play a vital role in the search on wide antibacterial activity spectrum. Structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies revealed that the antimicrobial activity in this heterocyclic class of quinoline molecules depends on the nature of the peripheral substituents and their spatial relationship within the quinoline skeleton. This mini-review aims to resume recent developments on antimicrobial quinoline chemistry focusing on important topics: a). Historical aspects of the quinoline-based antimicrobial drug development; b). Increasing resistance problems and reasons for developing new antimicrobial agents; c). Molecular quinoline-based hybrids in the design and development of novel antimicrobial agents; f). Structural evolution of the quinolones as effective agents in the treatment of microbial infections; e). Design and synthesis of new quinoline-based molecules as potential antimycobacterial agents.
2+2 Program for Teachers’ Performance Appraisal in China

This study examined the impact of the 2+2 Alternative Teacher Performance Appraisal System that has been implemented in Shanxi province in China. A mixed research design was used to evaluate the program. Six high schools and a total of 78 teachers (13 teachers in each school) in Shanxi province were selected. Three of the schools participated in the 2+2 program while another three served as the comparison. The results showed that 2+2 program significantly improved teachers’ professional performance, enhanced teachers’ collaboration, and increased the feedback between the peers.
Managing diabetes in preschool children

The Queen Silvia Children's Hospital, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden Institute of Clinical Sciences, Department of Pediatrics, Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK Neurology Division, Nemours Children's Health System, Jacksonville, Florida Clinique Pediatrique, Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL), Luxembourg, Luxembourg Department of Pediatrics, UZ Brussels, Jette, Belgium Department of Pediatrics, Section of Pediatric Endocrinology/Diabetology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana inspiredbyisabella.com Psychiatry Department, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri Radiology Department, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri childrenwithdiabetes.com Pediatric Endocrinology Division, Department of Pediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria Department of Endocrinology, John Hunter Children's Hospital and University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia Department of Pediatrics, NU Hospital Group, Uddevalla, Sweden
Crystal structure of bis(η5-cyclopentadienyl)(2,3-diethylbutane-1,4-diyl)hafnium(IV)

The title compound, [Hf(C5H5)2(C8H16)], proves a structural motif of hafnacyclopentane besides the coordination of two cyclopentadienyl ligands in an η5-fashion. The hafnacyclopentane ring has a twist conformation and is substituted by two ethyl groups in the β,β′-positions, which are trans orientated to each other. One cyclopentadienyl ring and one ethyl group are each disordered over two positions with site-occupancy ratios of 0.679 (15):0.321 (15) and 0.702 (18):0.298 (18), respectively.
Ridership and Resource Impacts of Conventional and Advanced Electric Bus Technologies

World transit is undergoing an Electric Bus (EB) revolution yet EB service planning impacts are not understood. This paper estimates fleet size and ridership impacts of converting a diesel bus network to battery EB operations including different recharging range, recharge delay and ride/noise quality impacts of alternative EB designs. Current Conventional EB (CEB) technology and new Advanced Electric Bus (AEB) designs with bus chassis tailored to battery operation and improved battery range and recharge time performance are explored. Results imply current CEB designs are impractical in cost-effectiveness terms compared to diesel buses; fleet size increases of 38-82% are found; these are not economically sustainable. AEB options represent a significantly better fleet resource impact but still incur increases of around 10% compared to diesel. EBs improve ride/noise quality with benefits valued at 26c/passenger trip. Most EB options tested increase ridership; by 1.9% for CEB from ride/noise quality improvements over diesel buses. Most AEB options also have a net ridership increase but this is a net effect balancing decline through in-route recharge delay balanced by ridership growth from ride/noise quality benefits. Air conditioning operation significantly increases energy requirements, reducing operating range and requiring greater en-route recharging. Overall the research finds significant problems with current investment in EB technologies; fleet impacts of current designs are not economically sustainable and practice needs to focus on new designs with integrated purpose made chassis and fast-charging, lightweight battery packs. Areas for future research are described.
CEO Compensation Incentives and Non-GAAP Earnings Disclosures

We examine the relation between compensation incentives and non-GAAP earnings disclosures. Specifically, we focus on the extent to which bonus plan incentives and long-term performance plan incentives are associated with the aggressiveness of non-GAAP reporting, controlling for CEO sensitivity to stock price. Using a large hand-collected sample of non-GAAP earnings disclosures, we find that long-term plan incentives are negatively associated with the likelihood and magnitude of aggressive non-GAAP reporting, suggesting that they act as a deterrent to potentially opportunistic behavior. For a sub-sample of firms for which compensation contracts in proxy filings explicitly state that managers will be evaluated based on non-GAAP metrics, we find less opportunistic non-GAAP reporting, consistent with boards defining adjusted performance metrics in compensation contracts in order to limit CEOs’ ability to define their own non-GAAP numbers. However, when boards of directors have discretion to use non-GAAP metrics when evaluating managers, we find more opportunistic non-GAAP earnings reporting, consistent with managers using the flexibility in contracts to influence their performance evaluations.
Caractérisation moléculaire et cellulaire de l'activité adjuvante de la flagelline dans la vaccination muqueuse

La vaccination est un moyen de prevention tres efficace contre les infections. La majorite des vaccins sont administres par voie sous-cutanee ou intra-musculaire avec des adjuvants et stimulent ainsi des reponses immunitaires adaptatives systemiques. Les muqueuses representent une porte d’entree majeure pour de nombreux pathogenes ayant un impact en Sante Publique. Cependant, peu de vaccins sont delivres par les muqueuses en raison du manque d’adjuvants adaptes a ces voies. Ainsi le developpement d'adjuvants muqueux permettrait la stimulation de reponses immunitaires locales et une protection efficace avant la dissemination des pathogenes. Les agonistes des Toll-Like-Receptors (TLR) sont developpes comme adjuvants vaccinaux car ils stimulent l’immunite innee et adaptative. Au laboratoire, la flagelline de Salmonella enterica qui est un puissant agoniste de TLR5 est utilisee comme modele afin de dissequer les mecanismes d’action des adjuvants muqueux. En effet, l'administration intranasale de vaccins adjuvantes par la flagelline se caracterise par une reponse T CD4+ de type Th1/Th2, une reponse en anticorps secretoires dans le compartiment respiratoire et une reponse systemique contre les antigenes vaccinaux. Seule l’activation de TLR5 dans le compartiment epithelial est necessaire a l’activite adjuvante.Dans un premier temps, l'analyse transcriptionnelle du tissu pulmonaire a permis d'identifier une signature epitheliale specifique du recrutement de cellules immunitaires, en particulier de monocytes et de neutrophiles ainsi que de l'activation fonctionnelle des cellules dendritiques. L'analyse de la dynamique cellulaire au niveau du tractus respiratoire et des ganglions drainants a ensuite ete realisee en reponse a l’administration intranasale de vaccin adjuvante. Bien que les monocytes inflammatoires et les neutrophiles infiltrent massivement les poumons et capturent les antigenes, ils ne jouent pas de role majeur dans l’activation de la reponse immunitaire. Au contraire les cellules dendritiques conventionnelles CD11b+ capturent, migrent et presentent efficacement l’antigene aux lymphocytes T CD4+. A l'instar de l’effet adjuvant, l’activation de ces cellules dendritiques par la flagelline n'est pas directe mais requiert une expression de TLR5 dans les cellules structurales incluant les cellules epitheliales de la muqueuse. De plus, nos travaux suggerent que les interleukines de la famille IL-1 ne sont pas a l'origine de la transactivation des cellules dendritiques.En conclusion, ce travail de these ouvre des perspectives interessantes quant au developpement d’adjuvants muqueux.
Heat-shock protein 40 is the key farnesylation target in meristem size control, abscisic acid signaling, and drought resistance

In this study, Barghetti et al. investigate the functions of protein farnesylation in plants. They show that defective farnesylation of a single factor—heat-shock protein 40 (HSP40), encoded by the J2 and J3 genes—is sufficient to confer ABA hypersensitivity, drought resistance, late flowering, and enlarged meristems, indicating that altered function of chaperone client proteins underlies most farnesyl transferase mutant phenotypes.
Smart cities to improve resilience of communities

This paper presents a new approach to predict the potential damage and physical impacts of an earthquake on the built environment. A new methodology to the urbanized systems and large-scale simulations within a seismic scenario is explored, by evaluating multipurpose codes for numerical simulation. A 3-D building shape of a standard virtual city is developed for evaluating the seismic effects at increasing intensities. Four different building sectors that provide essential functions to a community, including housing, education, business, and public services are considered. Once the buildings are integrated into the city, parallel simulations are applied to compute the system functionality following a disruptive scenario. Tri-linear elasto-plastic backbone curve representative of global shear behavior of each building is estimated considering the dominant modal shapes and building irregularities. Monte Carlo Simulations (MCS) are applied to take into account the epistemic uncertainties associated with geometry and mechanical properties within the range of observations. For each set of buildings’ data, the nonlinear dynamic analysis is performed through SAP2000 Application Programming Interface (API) in order to assess the dynamic response of the buildings in an organized and automatic fashion. Accordingly, the city is mapped into different zones representative to the possibility of having different levels of damage (complete, extensive, moderate, and slight). This methodology supports decision-makers to explore how their community will respond to a disruptive event, to develop different strategies for monitoring and control the emergency in urbanized areas, and to plan better resilience-building and evacuation strategies. Keyword: community disaster resilience, virtual city, smart city, evacuation, monitoring
A new VDTA based frequency agile filter

In this study, a new voltage mode frequency agile filter designed by voltage differencing trans-conductance amplifier (VDTA) is presented. A single VDTA and two capacitors are used to implement the designed frequency agile filter. The MOS capacitor technique is used instead of conventional capacitors to achieve high operating frequencies. The agility of the designed filter is implemented by selecting different size MOS capacitor. The performance parameters of the VDTA and agile filter structure are summarized. The suitability of the filter for different applications are given. AMS 0. 18μm parameters are used for the designed frequency agile filter.
Whole body vibration and cerebral palsy: a systematic review.

PURPOSE The goal of this review is to evaluate the effects of whole body vibration on outcomes in patients with cerebral palsy. The findings in this review may help clinicians make evidence informed decisions on the use of whole body vibration for cerebral palsy. METHODS A systematic search was conducted on April 29, 2014.The following search terms were used to search of several databases: (whole body vibration OR whole-body vibration OR whole body-vibration OR WBV) AND (cerebral palsy). Articles that met the inclusion criteria were assessed using the Scottish intercollegiate guidelines network (SIGN) rating system to assess the methodology and bias of the articles for randomized control trials. RESULTS The search produced 25 articles, of which 12 duplicates were identified and removed. Another seven articles were not considered since they did not fit the inclusion criteria, leaving a total of five studies for review. Four of the articles analyzed the effects of WBV in children while the other study focused on adults with cerebral palsy. There was one low quality article, four acceptable quality articles and one high quality article when assessed using the SIGN criteria. CONCLUSIONS It appears that whole body vibration has the potential to provide symptomatic relief for patients with cerebral palsy. Whole body vibration may improve spasticity, muscle strength and coordination. There is a lack of research to conclusively determine whether it does alter bone mineral density.
Island Tourism and Sustainable Development in Thailand, Case Study of Koh Pha-Ngan

As a result of the rapid growth of tourism without planning and proper management, many island attractions in Thailand have experienced challenges and vulnerability leading to negative impacts. To handle with such effects, sustainability is considered an important notion in relation to tourism planning and development. Importantly, prior to moving tourism towards sustainability, it is essential to resolve existing problems affected by tourism through different stakeholders’ views and their involvements. This thesis is an examination of current tourism situation on the island of Koh Pha-ngan, Thailand. It categorises opportunities for, and constraints to, sustainable tourism development on the island, along with identifying the main variables of tourism sustainability relevant to island situations. Data from key stakeholders including tourists, members of the local community, tourism businesses and representatives of the public sector was collected via the form of between-method triangulation using qualitative and quantitative methods, then analysed through the uses of SPSS and NVIVO. The research indicates benefits and costs in three areas. Firstly, regarding economic characteristics, tourism benefits communities and improves the economy of the island. Simultaneously, the high cost of living on the island is caused by inflation. Secondly, in terms of the environment, although natural resources are partly damaged by members of the local migrant population, it remains largely unspoiled due to environmental conservation measures collaborated in by the stakeholders. Thirdly, for the socio-cultural structure, an improvement of infrastructure creates better living conditions for the residents. However, tourists influence socio-cultural features, particularly in the younger residents. Concerning opportunities for sustainable tourism development, these relate to the conservation of natural resources projects collaborated by all stakeholders on the island, an increase in employment opportunities, and out of season business opportunities on the island. However, a lack of tourism planning and management is considered a major constraint to sustainable development on the island. In addition, tourists, family businesses, migrant workers, and the full-moon parties contribute to sustainable tourism development as the main variables. These outcomes generates recognition on how responsibility in tourism for a destination to fulfil an integrated balance of guidelines for sustainable tourism development with the intention of making satisfaction and distribution of benefit and opportunities for all stakeholders on the island, whilst maintaining the environment and conserving the identity of the indigenous population.
EBSD Image Quality Mapping

Image quality (IQ) maps constructed from electron backscatter diffraction data provide useful visualizations of microstructure. The contrast in these maps arises from a variety of sources, including phase, strain, topography, and grain boundaries. IQ maps constructed using various IQ metrics are compared to identify the most prominent contrast mechanism for each metric. The conventional IQ metric was found to provide the superior grain boundary and strain contrast, whereas an IQ metric based on the average overall intensity of the diffraction patterns was found to provide better topological and phase contrast.
N‐Nitrosomelatonin outcompetes S‐Nitrosocysteine in inhibiting Glyceraldehyde 3‐Phosphate Dehydrogenase: first evidence that N‐Nitrosomelatonin can modify protein function

Abstract: Low‐molecular‐weight S‐nitrosothiols (RSNOs) are well known for their capability to transnitrosate cysteine residues of enzymes thereby altering their catalytic activity. It is unknown, however, whether N‐nitrosomelatonin (NOMela) which is highly effective in transnitrosating low‐molecular‐weight thiols (RSHs) can also alter protein function. In the present study, we report on such a capability with glyceraldehyde 3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) as a target enzyme. Reaction of NOMela with GAPDH resulted in an increase of RSNOs at the expense of RSHs. Somewhat surprisingly, NOMela was about 10‐fold more effective than S‐nitrosocysteine in inhibiting GAPDH. Vitamin C and glutathione increased the NOMela‐dependent inhibition of the enzyme by accelerating the intermediacy of nitroxyl which is also highly effective in nitrosating RSHs. The occurrence of this intermediate during the NOMela–vitamin C reaction was verified by using Mn(III)‐tetrakis(1‐methyl‐4‐pyridyl)porphorin pentachloride as nitroxyl scavenger. The NOMela‐dependent inactivation of GAPDH was so effective that this reaction can be used to quantify NOMela with high sensitivity.