Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Subchronic Inhalation Toxicity: 90-Day Study (OECD TG 413)

902. This assay determines the subchronic inhalation toxicity of chemicals to provide robust data for quantitative inhalational hazard identification/characterisation. It is primarily used to derive regulatory concentrations for assessing worker risk in occupation settings. It is also used to assess human residential, transportation and environmental risk. Dosing duration is 90 days and the preferred species is the rat. Animals are exposed to test substance in inhalation chambers for six hours per day on a five day per week basis. The preferred mode of exposure is nose only, but whole body exposure may also be used. OECD TG 413 was first adopted in May 1981 and revised in September 2009. Although it has not been validated for the detection of endocrine active substances (EASs), this assay contains several endpoints that are suitable for the determination of endocrine effects. As all the endpoints are apical, it is difficult to discern mechanism of action from this test alone. Information on mechanism of action may need to be obtained from in vitro estrogen/androgen/thyroid/steroidogenesis (E,A,T,S) assays or in vivo lower tier tests such as the Uterotrophic Bioassay (UT – OECD TG 440) and the Hershberger Bioassay (H – OECD TG 441). Hormone measurements are not included in this assay.
Listening to People with Misophonia: Exploring the Multiple Dimensions of Sound Intolerance Using a New Psychometric Tool, the S-Five, in a Large Sample of Individuals Identifying with the Condition

Misophonia involves a strong emotional response to certain sounds and can cause significant distress and functional impairment. The aim of this study was to present and psychometrically evaluate a new, multidimensional measure of misophonia, the S-Five. The study also aimed to present and test a supplementary tool, a checklist of triggers that measure the nature and intensity of reactions. The stages of development for the measure are described. Psychometric testing on the final version of the tool was conducted using a sample of 828 individuals who identified with having misophonia. Analyses included factor structure assessment, measurement invariance testing, reliability (test–retest and internal consistency), and (concurrent) convergent validity assessment. Five factors emerged in the S-Five as dimensions of the experience of misophonia: internalising appraisals, externalising appraisals, sense of emotional threat, outbursts, and impact. No measurement bias was identified with respect to gender and age. All reliability and validity indices were satisfactory. The S-Five is a multidimensional measurement scale with satisfactory psychometric properties and will be a valuable tool for improving understanding of misophonia in research and clinical settings.
The Impact of Financing Contracts on the Profitability of Islamic Banks

This paper investigates the impact of financing contracts on Net Profit Margin (NPM) of the Islamic banks. Focussing on two financing contracts of Bai’ Bithaman Ajil (BBA) and Al-Ijarah Thumma Al-Bai’ (AITAB), the paper employs static panel data of Malaysian banks over 2008 to 2018. Controlling for bank and market-specific factors, the results indicated that AITAB exerted significant impact on the NPM. The paper further found that risk aversion, operating cost, liquidity and asset quality improves the NPM. In addition, the results show that the market structure influence the level of NPM. The Islamic banks may control these variables in setting for their preferred NPM level. Finally, the banks may need to carefully examine the types of financing contracts offered as they have different characteristics and may affect NPM.
Determinants of Job Satisfaction and Its Implications for the Lecturers Performance

The purpose of this research is to examine the positive effects of leadership style, work environment, and organizational climate on lecturer performance through Pamulang University’s job satisfaction. Researchers used the quantitative research method in this study. The data was collected by using questionnaires distributed through surveys. Proportional random sampling was used, earning 135 samples, and partial least squares (PLS) were used for statistical analysis. The results show that leadership style, work environment, and organizational climate have an impact on job satisfaction. Job satisfaction affects the performance of lecturers. Leadership style, work environment, and organizational atmosphere will also affect the performance of lecturers. Job satisfaction can mediate the influence of leadership style, work environment, and organizational climate on lecturer performance. This research is expected to be a recommendation for Pamulang University on how to improve lecturer performance which can be tried by improving leadership style, work environment, organizational climate, and job satisfaction.
Effect of the Post-Deposition Thermal Treatment on the Mechanical Properties of a Compositionally Modulated CrAlSiN-AlSiN Coating

A CrAlSiN-AlSiN coating with periodically modulated composition was investigated regarding dependence of the mechanical properties and toughness, morphology, composition, and structure on thermal treatment in the interval of 600–900 °C in argon ambience. The coating exhibited superhardness and high toughness up to 800 °C. A very slight decrease in the nanohardness, resistance to elastic strain to failure, and plastic deformation were observed. The coating had enhanced elastic recovery stable up to 700 °C. It was found that the coating morphology was not substantially influenced by the thermal treatment. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed that the modulated coating had a nanocomposite structure, which did not change after annealing, even at 900 °C. The grains were composed mainly of fcc-CrN and h-AlN phases embedded into an amorphous Si3N4 matrix. A small amount of an h-Cr2N phase appeared after heating at temperatures above 700 °C. The coating composition was examined by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The coating was stoichiometric up to 800 °C. It became sub-stoichiometric with respect to nitrogen after annealing at 800 °C and 900 °C. It is thus concluded that the CrAlSiN-AlSiN coating with a periodically modulated structure keeps the combination of superhardness (45.3 GPa) and improved toughness (H3/E*2 = 0.362 GPa, elastic recovery 57%) at temperatures up to 800 °C, and is suitable for high thermal applications.
Transcriptional and Metabolic Investigation in 5′-Nucleotidase Deficient Cancer Cell Lines

Enzymes of nucleoside and nucleotide metabolism regulate important cellular processes with potential impacts on nucleotide-unrelated parameters. We have used a set of CRISPR/Cas9-modified cell models expressing both, one, or none of the 5′-nucleotidases cN-II and CD73, together with RNA sequencing and targeted metabolomics, to decipher new regulatory roles of these proteins. We observed important transcriptional modifications between models as well as upon exposure to adenosine. Metabolite content varied differently between cell models in response to adenosine exposure but was rather similar in control conditions. Our original cell models allowed us to identify a new unobvious link between proteins in the nucleotide metabolism and other cellular pathways. Further analyses of our models, including additional experiments, could help us to better understand some of the roles played by these enzymes.
Preparation of mechanically activated aluminum-rich Al-Co3O4 powders and their thermal properties and reactivity with water steam at high temperature

ABSTRACT A series of activated Al-Co3O4 powders were prepared by high-energy ball milling, and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The properties of these activated Al-Co3O4 powders reacting with the water steam were systematically investigated at 700°C, 800°C, and 900°C. Morphologies and phases of their reaction products with water steam were characterized by SEM, XRD, and the residual metal aluminum content in products was also measured. The results showed that the reaction properties of the Al-Co3O4 powders with the water steam were closely related to the milling time. The Al-Co3O4 powder experiencing 3 h milling showed the finer particle size, lower initial oxidation temperature, earlier autoignition, and longer combustion in the water steam at high temperature than the other samples. The Co2Al9 alloy was detected in the reaction products of Al-Co3O4 powders with water steam. The investigation demonstrated that the activated Al-based powders could be prepared with the Al and Co3O4 through high-energy milling process.
CIRCUIT SNAP

Students learning circuits for the first time often have to solve many voltage-resistor circuits in order to learn Kirchoff’s laws, KCL and KVL. However, most introduction circuits textbooks do not include answers to all their practice problems and examples. Without feedback, students often learn less than they could. We introduce an automated solution to this problem. Students will be able to take a picture of a circuit from a textbook, and our system will identify all the elements and solve the circuit. The system is robust and works with circuits from the most popular introdoction to circuits textbooks. We identify the most effective features and machine learning techniques to work under the noisy and small image constraints, along with evaluating those techniques that did not work. These include principle component analysis, k-nearest neighbors, and neural nets. Note: Though we do not cite every function/command in this paper, Python, OpenCV, and Scikit-Learn were used to implement many of the modules of this project.
Involvement of Ghrelin Dynamics in Stress-Induced Eating Disorder: Effects of Sex and Aging

Stress, a factor that affects appetite in our daily lives, enhances or suppresses appetite and changes palatability. However, so far, the mechanisms underlying the link between stress and eating have not been fully elucidated. Among the peripherally produced appetite-related peptides, ghrelin is the only orexigenic peptide, and abnormalities in the dynamics and reactivity of this peptide are involved in appetite abnormalities in various diseases and psychological states. This review presents an overview of the research results of studies evaluating the effects of various stresses on appetite. The first half of this review describes the relationship between appetite and stress, and the second half describes the relationship between the appetite-promoting peptide ghrelin and stress. The effects of sex differences and aging under stress on appetite are also described.
SPIDER: A Social Computing Inspired Predictive Routing Scheme for Softwarized Vehicular Networks

Software-defined vehicular network (SDVN) is a promising networking paradigm that can provide intelligent information exchanges by separating network management and data transmission. Although the transmission quality of vehicles can be greatly improved by deploying softwarized networking schemes, critical networking issues such as the timeliness of data packets remain due to the dynamic nature of vehicular networks. It is vital to design efficient networking schemes by deeply considering the characteristics of the network, transportation system, and users, to improve overall network performance. To this end, this paper proposes a social computing inspired predictive routing scheme (SPIDER) for SDVNs that has a comprehensive consideration to enable low-latency reliable data exchange under dynamic vehicular networks. As for the link lifetime grounded on the vehicular historical data, we introduce the context feature mining and one-shot prediction method to predict vehicle movements with considering the energy saving. We also involve social computing techniques to find the relay nodes with good data spreading abilities. The extensive experiments prove our proposed scheme outperforms four existing schemes.
Elevation and elevation-change maps of Fountain Creek, southeastern Colorado, 2015-20

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Colorado Springs Utilities, has collected topographic data annually since 2012 at 10 study areas along Fountain Creek, southeastern Colorado. The 10 study areas were located between Colorado Springs and the terminus of Fountain Creek at the Arkansas River in Pueblo. The purpose of this report is to present elevation maps based on topographic surveys collected in 2020 and to present maps of elevation change that occurred between 2015 and 2020 at all 10 study areas. Elevation and elevation-change maps were developed in Global Mapper, R, and ArcGIS from topographic surveys collected at each study area during the winters of 2015 and 2020. Topographic surveys in 2015 were completed using real-time kinematic Global Navigation Satellite Systems. Topographic surveys in 2020 were completed using both real-time kinematic Global Navigation Satellite Systems and light detection and ranging. Elevation-change maps were created using propagated uncertainties associated with the 95-percent confidence limit. Study areas along Fountain Creek underwent a range of geomorphic responses between 2015 and 2020 that were often related to the dominant channel planform pattern of the study area. The results of this ongoing monitoring effort can be used to assess long-term changes in land-surface elevation and to advance understanding of the geomorphic response to possible changes in flow conditions on Fountain Creek.
A facile one‐step synthesis of bio‐inspired porous graphitic carbon sheets for improved lithium‐sulfur battery performance

The development of cost‐effective carbon materials with tunable porosity for energy storage applications is challenging. In this study, a facile one‐step in situ chemical activation process was adopted to synthesize porous graphitic carbon sheets (GCSs) from a tissue paper. The resulting GCS exhibits high specific surface area, large pore volume, and a highly graphitized carbon structure with graphene‐like morphology. Sulfur‐infused GCSs with optimum sulfur loading along with GCS‐coated separator deliver a high initial discharge capacity of 1643 mAh g−1 at 0.1C rate. Moreover, when the electrode is tested at a high current rate of 1C, the cell delivered excellent cyclic stability of 652 mAh g−1 over 200 cycles. The improved electrochemical performance attributes to the unique properties of GCS, which functions as an efficient host matrix as well as an interlayer by constraining the dissolved polysulfides in addition to the enhancement in ionic and electronic conductivities.
EXTRACTION OF POLYSACCHARIDES FROM LINGZHI BY ULTRASONIC-ASSISTED ENZYMATIC METHOD

The medicinal values of polysaccharides (PS) in Lingzhi have been shown to lie in many anti-cancer effects and good benefits for human health. Lingzhi, which is rich in healthy PS, has been used more and more commonly in Vietnam in recent years. In the present work, ultrasonic-assisted enzymatic extraction (UAEE) was used for extraction of PS from Lingzhi. The experiments were conducted according to a Box-Behnken design (BBD), with four independent variables: solvent temperature, ultrasonic power, pH, and ultrasonic irradiation time. The results showed that the best adequate extraction conditions were extraction time of 144 min, extraction temperature of 55°C, ultrasonic power of 240W, pH 7.9, and ultrasonic irradiation time of 144 min. Under these conditions, the predicted optimal yield was 3.716%. Whereas by following the optimized conditions, the experimental yield of PS was 3.65% ± 0.14, which was in good agreement with that of the prediction. Compared to the hot water extraction (HWE) method, ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE) method and enzyme-assisted extraction (EAE) method, the yield of PS obtained by UAEE was favorable. The PS yield obtained by HWE, and EAE were 1.96% and 3.10%, respectively. These results demonstrated that UAEE was an appropriate and effective extraction of polysaccharides from Lingzhi.
Who are studying at International Branch Campuses in China? A case study

International Branch Campuses (IBCs) grow rapidly, and China is the largest host country of IBCs. This article examines the student characteristics at an IBC in China. The student characteristics arise from the literature regarding college choice and the choice of IBC. A documentary study examines the academic performance, represented by gaokao scores, of the students from an IBC with independent legal person status in China. Further, using the data of 798 survey respondents, the student characteristics are analyzed with a descriptive analysis, and the results are compared to the data in existent documents and reports. The results show that the development of IBCs in China favors urban and socioeconomically advantaged students. Family income becomes a stronger and direct factor on the choice of IBC. Chinese middle- and upper-class utilize their capitals to obtain study opportunities at IBCs. This article fills the gap in the student characteristics and identifies the inequalities at an IBC. The implications are discussed.
Do You Approach Positive Events or Do They Approach You? Linking Event Valence and Time Representations in a Dutch Sample

In order to think and talk about time, people often use the ego- or time-moving representation. In the ego-moving representation, the self travels through a temporal landscape, leaving past events behind and approaching future events; in the time-moving representation, the self is stationary and temporal events pass by. Several studies contest to the psychological ramifications of these two representations by, inter alia, demonstrating a link between them and event valence. These studies have, however, been limited to English speakers, even though language has been found to affect time representation. The present study therefore replicated Margolies and Crawford’s (2008) experiment on event valence and time representation amongst speakers of Dutch. Unlike Margolies and Crawford (2008), we do not find that positive valence leads to the endorsement of an ego-moving statement. Future studies will need to determine the ways through which language might moderate the relation between event valence and time representation.
Can you hear the Colour? Towards a Synaesthetic and Multimodal Design Approach in Virtual Worlds

Synaesthesia is a phenomenon where senses naturally combine resulting in, for example, ‘seeing’ music or ‘hearing’ colours. It is of interest in the field of Human-Computer Interaction as a way of creating new or enhanced experiences and interactions with Mixed Reality technologies. In Virtual Reality, research has mainly focused on evaluating advanced graphics and capturing immersion levels and User Experience within ‘typical’ and ‘expected’ interactions. This paper investigates how multimodal design characteristics can lay the foundations to a more ‘synaesthetic’ design approach in Mixed Reality to identify how ‘atypical’ interactions can also affect User Experience. 20 participants completed a maze activity, emotion and immersion surveys and interviews. Results suggest a significant increase in surprise, pride and inspiration and a decrease in interest and enthusiasm. The visual and audio aspects were well received by participants and the sensory elements had a positive effect on User Experience. Time perception was measured and 90 per cent of participants’ time estimations were longer than the actual time. Change blindness was investigated with most participants not noticing the visual or audio changes. Finally, we discuss how this study can inform future projects which aim to implement a synaesthetic-oriented and multimodal approach in Mixed Reality design.
Comparative analysis of zooplankton diversity in freshwaters: What can we gain from metagenomic analysis?

Molecular genetic approaches applied to environmental DNA have great potential for biodiversity research and ecosystem monitoring. A metagenome contains genetic information from all organisms captured in an environmental sample. It has been primarily used to study bacteria and archaea, but promising reports focusing on metazoan diversity are emerging. However, methodological uncertainties remain, and studies are required to validate the power and the limitations of such an approach when applied to macro-eukaryotes. Here, we analyzed water sample metagenomes to estimate zooplankton diversity in 22 freshwater lakes across Eastern Canada. We tested the coherence of data based on morphologically identified zooplankton taxa and molecular genetic data derived from shotgun sequencing of environmental DNA collected at the same time. RV coefficients showed a significant correlation between the relative abundance of zooplankton families derived from small subunit rRNA genes extracted from the metagenomes and morphologically identified zooplankton. However, differences in congruence with morphological counts were detected when varied bioinformatic approaches were applied to presence-absence data. This study presents one of the first diversity assessments of a group of aquatic metazoans using metagenomes and validates the coherence of the community composition derived from genetic and classical species surveys. Overall, our results suggest that metagenomics has the potential to be further developed to describe metazoan biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems, and to advance this area we provide key recommendations for workflow improvement.
Pandemic Policy and Life Satisfaction in Europe

We use data from the COME‐HERE longitudinal survey collected by the University of Luxembourg to assess the effects of the policy responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic on life satisfaction in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden over the course of 2020. Policy responses are measured by the Stringency Index and the Economic Support Index from the Blavatnik School of Government. Stringency is systematically associated with lower life satisfaction, controlling for the intensity of the pandemic itself. This stringency effect is larger for women, those with weak ties to the labor market, and in richer households. The effect of the Economic Support is never statistically different from zero.
Analysis of Dynamic Behavior of Spray Boom under Step Excitation

Dynamic behavior modeling and parameter optimization of the spray boom based on multi-body vibration were developed to study the influence of the boom sprayer’s motion in a complex working environment on the dynamic behavior of the spray boom. First, a geometric continuous model of spray boom vibration was established considering the influence of the boom sprayer body and boom suspension. Then, the dynamic behavior of the spray boom under step excitation was studied on a SWAN3WP-500 self-propelled boom spray experimental platform. The time-domain response of spray boom movement was characterized using a multi-channel dynamic test system, and the simulation results of the geometric continuous model were verified. The correlation coefficient between the simulated and experimental results is 0.917, and the maximum relative error is 12.16%. Finally, the effects of boom sprayer speed, spray boom length, and spray boom cross-section shape on spray boom vibration were analyzed through the geometric continuous model. (1) The amplitude and period of vibration at the extremity of the spray boom gradually decline with a rise in boom sprayer speed. (2) The amplitude and period of vibration at the extremity of the spray boom gradually increase when the unilateral spray boom is shorter than 5 m but slowly decrease when it is longer than 5 m. To avoid excessive static elastic deformation of the spray boom, the length of the unilateral spray boom should be controlled within 6 m. (3) A reasonable cross-sectional shape can improve the spray boom vibration, and the spray boom with a type B cross-section can better inhibit the vertical vibration of the spray boom under the same cross-sectional area.