Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High-intensity, whole-body exercise improves blood pressure control in individuals with spinal cord injury: A prospective randomized controlled trial

Blood pressure regulation following spinal cord injury (SCI) is often compromised due to impaired vascular sympathetic control, leading to increased reliance on cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity to maintain pressure. Whole-body exercise improves cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity in uninjured individuals, though has not been explored in those with SCI. Our objective was to determine changes in cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity following 6 months of high-intensity, whole-body exercise in individuals with SCI compared to lower-intensity, arms only exercise, or waitlist. This randomized controlled trial recruited individuals with SCI aged 18–40 years old. Sixty-one individuals were randomized, with 38 completing at least one cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity assessment. Whole-body exercise was performed with hybrid functional electrical stimulation rowing prescribed as two to three times per week, for 30–60 minutes with a target heart rate of >75% of maximum. The arms only exercise group performed upper body rowing exercise with the same prescription as whole-body exercise. Waitlist controls were not enrolled in any explicit training regimen. After 6 months, those in arms only exercise or waitlist crossed over to whole-body exercise. Cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity was assessed via the neck suction technique at baseline and at three-month intervals thereafter. Intention to treat analysis with a structured equation model demonstrated no significant effect of waitlist control or arms only exercise on cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity. Whole-body exercise significantly improved cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity at 6 months for those initially randomized (p = 0.03), as well as those who crossed over from arms only exercise or waitlist control (p = 0.03 for each). However, amount of exercise performed and aerobic gains (VO2max) each poorly correlated with increases in cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity (R2<0.15). In post-hoc analyses, individuals with paraplegia made significantly greater gains in baroreflex sensitivity compared to those with tetraplegia (p = 0.02), though gains within this group were again poorly correlated to gains in aerobic capacity. Clinicaltrials.gov number NCT02139436.
DETECTION OF FORMATION AND DISINTEGRATION OF MICELLES BY OBLIQUE-INCIDENCE REFLECTIVITY DIFFERENCE MICROSCOPY

An oblique-incidence reflectivity difference (OI-RD) scanning microscope was developed for label-free detection of the formation and disintegration of micelles upon solid substrates. Micelles are made of polymers with hydrophilic heads in contact with the surrounding solvent and hydrophobic tails in the micelle center. This characteristic makes them very efficient drug carriers. Streptavidin molecules were first printed on glass slides for capturing biotinylated polymers. Micelles were formed when the concentration of polymers was higher than a critical value. The formation of micelles resulted in an increase in the oblique-incidence reflectivity difference signals. As the concentration of polymers decreased below the critical value, micelles were disintegrated, and a corresponding decrease in the oblique-incidence reflectivity difference signals was observed. This microscope was employed for the real-time monitoring of the formation and disintegration of two different micelles. The critical concentration above which micelles were formed was determined to be around 0.0006 mg/mL for micelles made of PEG5KCA8 polymers. The results suggest that this microscope would have practical application in testing the efficiency and durability of micellar drug carriers.
Individual differences in bilingual word recognition: The role of experiential factors and word frequency in cross-language lexical priming

Abstract In studies of bilingual word recognition with masked priming, first language (L1) primes activate their second language (L2) translation equivalents in lexical decision tasks, but effects in the opposite direction are weaker (Wen & van Heuven, 2017). This study seeks to clarify the relative weight of stimulus-level (frequency) and individual-level (L2 proficiency, L2 exposure/use) factors in the emergence of asymmetrical priming effects. We offer the first data set where L2 proficiency and L1/L2 exposure/use are simultaneously investigated as continuous variables, along with word frequency. While we replicate the asymmetry in priming effects, our data provide useful insights into the factors driving L2–L1 priming. These fall almost exclusively under the category of stimulus-level factors, with L2 exposure/use being the only experiential variable to show considerable influence, although complex interactions involving L2 proficiency and word frequency are also present. We discuss the implications of these results for models of bilingual lexical processing and for the appropriate measurement of experiential factors in this type of research.
Dilute sedimenting suspensions of spheres at small inertia

Abstract The sedimentation dynamics of a dilute suspension of non-Brownian spheres is experimentally examined at small particle Reynolds numbers but at Reynolds numbers based on the container size extending up to the small-but-finite inertial regime. While the long-time velocity fluctuations are independent of the Reynolds number in the Stokes regime, they are seen to decrease with increasing Reynolds number above a critical container Reynolds number of approximately $0.1$, and more precisely to vary as a power $-0.1$ of the Reynolds number. The microstructure of the suspension is also seen to evolve with increasing Reynolds number and to depart from random positioning as it becomes more sub-homogeneous and disordered.
Spontaneous phase segregation of Sr2NiO3 and SrNi2O3 during SrNiO3 heteroepitaxy

Dynamic phase segregation, driven by the instability of Ni2+, occurs during SrNiO3 heteroepitaxy growth. Recent discovery of superconductivity in Nd0.8Sr0. 2NiO2 motivates the synthesis of other nickelates for providing insights into the origin of high-temperature superconductivity. However, the synthesis of stoichiometric R1−xSrxNiO3 thin films over a range of x has proven challenging. Moreover, little is known about the structures and properties of the end member SrNiO3. Here, we show that spontaneous phase segregation occurs while depositing SrNiO3 thin films on perovskite oxide substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Two coexisting oxygen-deficient Ruddlesden-Popper phases, Sr2NiO3 and SrNi2O3, are formed to balance the stoichiometry and stabilize the energetically preferred Ni2+ cation. Our study sheds light on an unusual oxide thin-film nucleation process driven by the instability in perovskite structured SrNiO3 and the tendency of transition metal cations to form their most stable valence (i.e., Ni2+ in this case). The resulting metastable reduced Ruddlesden-Popper structures offer a testbed for further studying emerging phenomena in nickel-based oxides.
Plasmonic nanoreactors regulating selective oxidation by energetic electrons and nanoconfined thermal fields

Surface plasmons generated nanoconfined thermal fields and energetic electrons, regulating selective oxidation. Optimizing product selectivity and conversion efficiency are primary goals in catalysis. However, efficiency and selectivity are often mutually antagonistic, so that high selectivity is accompanied by low efficiency and vice versa. Also, just increasing the temperature is very unlikely to change the reaction pathway. Here, by constructing hierarchical plasmonic nanoreactors, we show that nanoconfined thermal fields and energetic electrons, a combination of attributes that coexist almost uniquely in plasmonic nanostructures, can overcome the antagonism by regulating selectivity and promoting conversion rate concurrently. For propylene partial oxidation, they drive chemical reactions by not only regulating parallel reaction pathways to selectively produce acrolein but also reducing consecutive process to inhibit the overoxidation to CO2, resulting in valuable products different from thermal catalysis. This suggests a strategy to rationally use plasmonic nanostructures to optimize chemical processes, thereby achieving high yield with high selectivity at lower temperature under visible light illumination.
Modest Impact of Liver Transplantation on Hepatocellular Carcinoma Mortality in the United States, Findings from The Transplant Cancer Match (TCM) Study

Liver transplantation is considered the most curative treatment for patients with localized hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Recent organ allocation policies have reduced the priority of patients with HCC for liver transplantation, which might affect overall liver transplantation usage and HCC-specific mortality among patients with HCC. Therefore, studies on the impact of liver transplantation on population-level HCC-specific mortality rates are necessary and essential. Mahale and colleagues used comprehensive, linked population databases on both HCC cancer cases and liver transplantation recipients and applied incidence-based mortality (IBM) analysis to evaluate the overall impact of liver transplantation on HCC mortality in the United States. Although liver transplantation rates continue to rise in the United States, the authors showed that liver transplantation has had modest impact over time on HCC-specific mortality at the population level (liver transplantation was associated with a 0.5% reduction in the annual rate of increase in the IBM rate vs. nontransplant). Considering these findings, HCC screening and surveillance for early detection should be a priority, meanwhile, increased availability of liver transplantation for patients with HCC and other HCC curative-intent treatment modalities are also necessary to improve HCC survival. Moreover, HCC risk factors, viral hepatitis and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease prevention and treatment should also be incorporated in future HCC mortality research. See related article by Mahale et al., p. 513
LE BOIS DE LUTHERIE

It is an understatement to say that wood is an-unique material used in the art of musical craftmanship. Under the generic name of "resonance woodw are admitted all species used for musical instruments.In this note our comments are limited to spruce and curly maple for violins. The violin makers traditionally select their boards according to the simplest macroscopic criteria as straight grain, fine structure and light density. The description of some acoustical parameters for the characterization of wood for violins was first made on small thin specimens using resonance frequency method. Here we present nine acoustical parameters determined with ultrasonic velocity method. Factors affecting acoustical and physical properties of resonance wood are discussed. We refere to the natural ageing of wood and to the behaviour of this material under long term loading.
Depth-Bounded Statistical PCFG Induction as a Model of Human Grammar Acquisition

Abstract This article describes a simple PCFG induction model with a fixed category domain that predicts a large majority of attested constituent boundaries, and predicts labels consistent with nearly half of attested constituent labels on a standard evaluation data set of child-directed speech. The article then explores the idea that the difference between simple grammars exhibited by child learners and fully recursive grammars exhibited by adult learners may be an effect of increasing working memory capacity, where the shallow grammars are constrained images of the recursive grammars. An implementation of these memory bounds as limits on center embedding in a depth-specific transform of a recursive grammar yields a significant improvement over an equivalent but unbounded baseline, suggesting that this arrangement may indeed confer a learning advantage.
Examining the Interconnections Between Sustainable Logistics Practices, Environmental Reputation and Financial Performance: A Mediation Approach

As environmental awareness and the patronage of logistics services grow, there is a growing demand for the logistics sector to provide more sustainable environmental services, and although the logistics sector performs functions such as reverse logistics, packaging, inventory management, transportation, warehousing, waste management, distribution, etc., which are very core to economic growth, they also significantly contribute to greenhouse effect and consume huge amounts of resources. This study, drawing on the institutional theory and the natural resource-based view, explores the framework through which sustainable logistics practices such as sustainable transportation, reverse logistics and management of waste, sustainable packaging and distribution, green monitoring and evaluation, and sustainable information sharing influence environmental reputation and financial performance. The study adopted partial least square structural equation modelling technique in analysing data due to it having more statistical power. The findings of the study showed that sustainable logistics practices had enormous influence on environmental reputation and financial performance. In terms of mediation, environmental reputation had no mediation effect between waste management and financial performance but partially mediated the relationships between sustainable transportation, sustainable information sharing and financial performance, while fully mediating the relationships between reverse logistics, sustainable packaging and distribution, green monitoring and evaluation, and financial performance. This study concentrated on the logistics sector; thus, this study results will provide vital data to both scholars and practitioners in comprehending the call and need to integrate sustainable policies and strategies into business and industrial operations to ensure environmental preservation.
Theoretical Analysis for a Molecular Resonant Tunneling Diode

A theoretical investigation was carried out to study the electronic and geometric structure of a conjugated poly-phenyl-based molecular resonant tunneling diode, which was experimentally demonstrated to behave like a molecular resonant tunneling diode. The molecule under investigation consists of three phenyl rings connected via two acetylene functional groups, where two H atoms of the middle phenyl ring were replaced by –NH2 and –NO2 groups. The electron transport behavior through this molecule was interpreted from the spatial orientation of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals, which extend across the molecule. The result indicates that approximately 2.2 eV bias voltage is required for the electronic transport to be observed, which is in good agreement with experimental results.
Photocatalytic properties of rutile TiO2 powder for overall water splitting

The application of illuminated rutile TiO2 powder modified with a metal cocatalyst to the overall water splitting into H2 and O2 was studied. Although unmodified rutile exhibited little activity, modification with a suitable amount of Pt nanoparticles resulted in observable H2 and O2 evolution from pure water under band-gap irradiation. Pt-loaded rutile TiO2 exhibited stable and high photocatalytic activity in pure water. The photocatalytic performance is much lower under acidic and basic conditions, due to a photo-corrosion effect and inefficient water reduction process, respectively.
Sur l'effet photoélectrique composé

Un phenomene nouveau, consistant en l'emission par un meme atome d'une serie de photoelectrons de vitesses diverses, a ete observe a l'aide de la methode de C. -T. -R. Wilson. Une interpretation theorique simple en est donnee : elle suppose que l'energie liberee par des deplacements d'electrons dans les niveaux d'un atome excite peut se porter tout entiere sur un autre electron du meme atome, et le chasser sous forme de rayon β. Cette energie prendrait donc directement laforme corpusculaire sans passer par la forme d'un rayonnement electromagnetique. L'analogie avec les rayons β des corps radioactifs est indiquee, ainsi que diverses consequences de la theorie proposee ; 9 cliches montrant le phenomene sous ses divers aspects sont reproduits.
Applying wrapper-based variable selection techniques to predict MFIs profitability: evidence from Peru

ABSTRACT In this paper, we analyse the main factors explaining the profitability (ROA) of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Peru from 2011 to 2107. We apply three wrapper techniques to asample of 168 Peruvians MFIs and 69 attributes obtained from MIX Market database. After running the algorithms M5ʹ, knearest neighbours (KNN) and Random Forest, we find that the M5ʹ algorithm provides the best fit for predicting ROA. Particularly, the key variable of the regression tree is the percentage of expenses over assets and, depending on its value, it is followed by net income after taxes and before donations, or profit margins.
Methanol Electro‐oxidation on Unsupported Pt‐Ru Alloys at Different Temperatures

A wide compositional range of unsupported platinum-ruthenium alloy catalysts were prepared by thermal decomposition of the chlorides and chloroacids. The electrocatalysts were characterized by cyclic voltammetry, X-ray diffraction, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The BET surface area of the electrocatalysts increases with increasing Ru content up to {approximately}70 atomic percent (a/o) and then reaches a plateau value. Electrodes fabricated from the electrocatalysts were also evaluated as anodes for methanol electro-oxidation in sulfuric acid over a range of temperatures. Unlike the situation for pure Pt, Ru is inactive for methanol electro-oxidation at 25 C but becomes active at higher temperatures. The peak current observed during an anodic potential scan gradually shifts to more cathodic potentials with increasing temperature. When a comparison is made on the basis of electrode geometric surface area, a {approximately}50 a/o ruthenium electrocatalyst provides the highest activity for methanol electro-oxidation at both 25 and 60C. The methanol electro-oxidation rate is 0.5 orders with respect to methanol concentration (between 0.1 and 2 M) for the Pt-Ru ({approximately}50:50) electrode.
Poly(3-hydroxypropionate): Biosynthesis Pathways and Malonyl-CoA Biosensor Material Properties

Many single-use non-degradable plastics are a threat to life today, and several polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) biopolymers have been developed in the bioplastic industry to place petrochemical-based plastics. One of such is the novel biomaterial poly(3-hydroxypropionate) [poly(3HP)] because of its biocompatibility, biodegradability, and high yield synthesis using engineered strains. To date, many bio-polymer-based functional composites have been developed to increase the value of raw microbial-biopolymers obtained from cheap sources. This review article broadly covers poly(3HP), a comprehensive summary of critical biosynthetic production pathways comparing the yields and titers achieved in different Microbial cell Factories. This article also provides extensive knowledge and highlights recent progress on biosensors’ use to optimize poly(3HP) production, some bacteria host adopted for production, chemical and physical properties, life cycle assessment for poly(3HP) production using corn oil as carbon source, and some essential medical applications of poly(3HP).
Emergent bilinguals in a digital world: a dynamic analysis of long-term L2 development in (pre)primary school children

Abstract In this study, I present dense, longitudinal data exploring the insights that a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) perspective can bring to bear on patterns of relationships found between learner individual differences – notably age of onset (AO) and extracurricular L2 English use – in children in (pre)primary programs in Switzerland. We studied 71 children who had received 50/50 bilingual instruction in German and English (so-called “partial CLIL” programs) as well as 105 children in “minimal CLIL” programs with almost uniquely monolingual German instruction (90% German, 10% English). In the data analysis, (1) generalized additive mixed modeling (GAMM) was combined with (2) mixed-effects regression modeling. The findings show that AO may exert an effect on L2 performance in bilingual but not traditional instructional settings. Furthermore, contact with English outside school is a strong predictor for learner outcome, regardless of the intensity of instruction and an early or late start respectively. We conclude that the traditional view of the age factor in instructional settings needs to give way to a new understanding of L2 development in intensive exposure conditions, in which age of acquisition is seen as a major determinant.
Effect of SARS-CoV-2 proteins on vascular permeability

SARS-CoV-2 infection leads to severe disease associated with cytokine storm, vascular dysfunction, coagulation, and progressive lung damage. It affects several vital organs, seemingly through a pathological effect on endothelial cells. The SARS-CoV-2 genome encodes 29 proteins, whose contribution to the disease manifestations, and especially endothelial complications, is unknown. We cloned and expressed 26 of these proteins in human cells and characterized the endothelial response to overexpression of each, individually. Whereas most proteins induced significant changes in endothelial permeability, nsp2, nsp5_c145a (catalytic dead mutant of nsp5) and nsp7 also reduced CD31, and increased von Willebrand factor expression and IL-6, suggesting endothelial dysfunction. Using propagation-based analysis of a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network, we predicted the endothelial proteins affected by the viral proteins that potentially mediate these effects. We further applied our PPI model to identify the role of each SARS-CoV-2 protein in other tissues affected by COVID-19. Overall, this work identifies the SARS-CoV-2 proteins that might be most detrimental in terms of endothelial dysfunction, thereby shedding light on vascular aspects of COVID-19.
The Gene Expression Profile of the Song Control Nucleus HVC Shows Sex Specificity, Hormone Responsiveness, and Species Specificity Among Songbirds

Singing occurs in songbirds of both sexes, but some species show typical degrees of sex-specific performance. We studied the transcriptional sex differences in the HVC, a brain nucleus critical for song pattern generation, of the forest weaver (Ploceus bicolor), the blue-capped cordon-bleu (Uraeginthus cyanocephalus), and the canary (Serinus canaria), which are species that show low, medium, and high levels of sex-specific singing, respectively. We observed persistent sex differences in gene expression levels regardless of the species-specific sexual singing phenotypes. We further studied the HVC transcriptomes of defined phenotypes of canary, known for its testosterone-sensitive seasonal singing. By studying both sexes of canaries during both breeding and nonbreeding seasons, nonbreeding canaries treated with testosterone, and spontaneously singing females, we found that the circulating androgen levels and sex were the predominant variables associated with the variations in the HVC transcriptomes. The comparison of natural singing with testosterone-induced singing in canaries of the same sex revealed considerable differences in the HVC transcriptomes. Strong transcriptional changes in the HVC were detected during the transition from nonsinging to singing in canaries of both sexes. Although the sex-specific genes of singing females shared little resemblance with those of males, our analysis showed potential functional convergences. Thus, male and female songbirds achieve comparable singing behaviours with sex-specific transcriptomes.