Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prediction of superconductivity in pressure-induced new silicon boride phases

The crystal structures and properties of boron-silicon (B-Si) compounds under pressure have been systematically explored using particle swarm optimization structure prediction method in combination with first-principles calculations. Three new stoichiometries, ${\mathrm{B}}_{2}\mathrm{Si}$, BSi, and ${\mathrm{BSi}}_{2}$, are predicted to be stable gradually under pressure, where increasing pressure favors the formation of silicon rich B-Si compounds. In the boron-rich compounds, the network of boron atoms changes from ${\mathrm{B}}_{12}$ icosahedron in the ambient phases to the similar buckled graphenelike layers in the high-pressure phases, which crystalize in the same $P\overline{3}m1$ symmetry but with different numbers of boron layers between adjacent silicon layers. Phonon calculations show that these structures might be retained to ambient conditions as metastable phases. Further electron-phonon coupling calculations indicate that the high-pressure phases of boron-rich compounds might superconduct at 1 atm, with the highest ${T}_{c}$ value of 21 K from the Allen-Dynes equation in $P\overline{3}m1$ ${\mathrm{B}}_{2}\mathrm{Si}$, which is much higher than the one observed in boron doped diamond-type silicon. Moreover, further fully anisotropic Migdal-Eliashberg calculations indicate that ${\mathrm{B}}_{2}\mathrm{Si}$ is a two-gap anisotropic superconductor and the estimated ${T}_{c}$ might reach up to 30 K at 1 atm. On the silicon-rich side, ${\mathrm{BSi}}_{2}$ is predicted to be stable in the ${\mathrm{CuAl}}_{2}$-type structure. Our current results significantly enrich the phase diagram of the B-Si system and will stimulate further experimental study.
Australian psychologists' perceptions on their role in end‐of‐life care of older adults

Abstract Objective The role of the psychologist within End of Life (EOL) care is poorly established, despite calls for greater involvement from both Australian and international researchers. The current study aims to develop a deeper understanding of Australian psychologists' perceptions on their current and potential roles in EOL care. Methods Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with registered psychologists (N = 35), and thematic analysis was applied to these interviews to identify themes and subthemes pertaining to psychologists' understandings of their role in EOL care. Results Six overarching themes were developed from the interview data: (a) Specific EOL Clients Assessment Skills; (b) Diverse and Multifaceted Interventions with Clients; (c) Skills Used in the Broader EOL system; (d) Barriers to Greater Visibility from Outside the Profession; (e) Barriers within the Profession; (f) Pathways to Greater Visibility. Conclusion The potential exists for psychologists to improve psycho‐social‐spiritual‐community outcomes at EOL and to meet the increasing demands of an ageing demographic with greater associated caregiver burden.
Effects of Management Competence, Firm-Level Institutions and HRM Bundles on the Performance of Private Universities in Ghana

The market for tertiary educational institutions, most especially for private universities, is highly competitive. The competitive nature of the market requires that Private Universities (PUs) step up their performance so as to remain competitive despite the major structural and market differences between them and public universities in the provision of tertiary education. The need for private universities to remain competitive in this turbulent market, calls for some careful examination of the factors that would enable private universities to enhance their performance. In this respect, this study sought to examine the effects of management competence, firm-level institutions, and human resource management (HRM) bundles on the performance of private universities in Ghana. Underpinned by the RBV and AMO theories, the study tested four hypotheses that sought to explain the relationships between the key variables of the study. The study was implemented using a quantitative research design. Out of the sixteen private universities sampled, thirteen private universities responded. The main research instrument was a structured questionnaire. Out of 230 questionnaires administered, 127 completed questionnaires were received and used for analysis. Collected data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (regression analysis) with the aid of SPSS software version 20 and AMOS version 23. Research findings from the tests of hypotheses established that management competence positively and significantly affected performance of private universities in Ghana. Though the study found that the composite variables of firm-level institutions and HRM bundles did not moderate the relationship between management competence and PU performance, the skills bundles (which is a component of the HRM bundles) significantly moderated the management competence – PU performance relationship in such a way that at high levels of skills bundle, management competence influences PU performance more than at low levels of skills bundle. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that PUs in Ghana institute competence acquisition and utilization policies, maintain appropriate firm-level institutions and HRM bundles and match these to their competence development strategies. study out to determine the effects of management competence, firm-level institutions and HRM bundles on the performance of private universities in Ghana. The findings which were established in the study leads to the following conclusions.
The establishment of a practical method for the determination of piperazine residues using accelerated solvent extraction and UHPLC-FLD

This paper describes a reliable method for estimating piperazine residues in chicken tissues (muscle, kidney, and liver) and pork via ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with a fluorescence detector (FLD) using dansyl chloride (DNS-Cl) as the derivatization reagent. After extraction by accelerated solvent extraction (ASE), the analyte was purified on a strong cation-exchange solid-phase extraction (SPE) column. Separation was achieved using an Acquity UPLC HSS T3 (2.1×100 mm, 1.8 μm) column with ultrapure water-acetonitrile (15:85, V/V) as the mobile phase. The results showed that when the concentrations of piperazine were between the limit of quantitation (LOQ) and 200.0 μg/kg, the peak area of the derivative had a good linear relationship with the piperazine concentration, and the coefficients of determination (R2) were greater than or equal to 0.9991. When the spiked concentration of piperazine was equal to the LOQ, 0.5 MRL (maximum residue limit), 1.0 MRL and 2.0 MRL, the recoveries ranged from 79.64 to 99.77% and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were 1.14%-5.63%. The limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) were 0.50-1.20 μg/kg and 1.80-3.50 μg/kg, respectively. The method was applied to the quantification of piperazine residues in commercial chicken tissues and pork from local supermarkets.
Gateway or getaway? Testing the link between lifestyle politics and other modes of political participation

Abstract Many have depicted a steady rise in lifestyle politics. Individuals are increasingly using everyday life choices about consumption, transportation, or modes of living to address political, environmental, or ethical issues. While celebrated by some as an expansion of political participation, others worry this trend may be detrimental for democracy, for instance, by reducing citizens to consumers. Implicit in this common critique is the notion that lifestyle politics will replace, rather than coexist with or lead to, other forms of political participation. We provide the first detailed longitudinal analysis to test these hypotheses. Using unique panel data from 1538 politically active individuals from the Flemish region of Belgium (2017–18), we demonstrate that over time, lifestyle politics functions as a gateway into institutionalized and non-institutionalized modes of political participation and that this relationship is mediated by individuals’ increased political concerns.
ClpXP Protease Networks studied by Chemical Cross-Linking Combined with Mass Spectrometry – A Proteomic Survey on Human Pyridoxal 5’-Phosphate-Binding Proteins

This thesis focuses on structural investigations of the multisubunit proteolytic machinery ClpXP by chemical cross-linking combined with mass spectrometry (XL-MS). Moreover, application of cell-permeable cross-linkers enabled monitoring interaction networks of the protease in live cells. The second part of this thesis deals with the customization of vitamin B6-mimics to study human pyridoxal 5’-phosphate-binding proteins. Thereby, a huge fraction (around 50%) of the known vitamin B6-dependent proteins was covered including a barely characterized candidate that was investigated more in detail during the thesis.
The Prognostic Value of Late Kidney Transplant Rejection Pathology Characteristics

Renal allograft rejection, represented by the wide spectrum of lesions with different pathogenesis, pathology patterns, clinical course and prognosis, still remains the most often cause of late graft dysfunction. Moreover, a combination of several factors, either of which may impact the post-transplant course, generally take place. We aimed to analyze the incidence of late renal allograft rejection variants, and to determine clinical factors and pathology features, influencing prognosis in the specific types of late renal allograft rejection. The data obtained from 361 patients with acute (n=227) or chronic (n=134) late allograft rejection (mean time after kidney transplantation 48.8 ± 46.1 months) were analyzed retrospectively. C4d expression was found in 34% cases of acute rejection and in 58% cases of chronic rejection (64% in chronic transplant glomerulopathy and 52% in transplant vasculopathy). 5-year graft survival comprised 48% and 24% for acute and chronic transplant rejection respectively (Р<0.01). Combination of acute cell-mediated rejection with chronic transplant rejection did not influence significantly the prognosis for the latter. Diffuse C4d expression on peritubular capillaries turned to be an independent prognostic factor regardless the pathology variant of renal allograft rejection. In contrast, focal C4d expression had no impact on the prognosis, which did not differ significantly from C4d-negative type. On the other hand, in acute rejection prognosis for C4dpositive forms was worse compared to C4d-negative (55% vs 25%; P <0.01), while in chronic rejection there was no difference between C4d-positive and C4d-negative forms (26% vs 24%; P=NS). In multivariate Cox-model analysis, the following factors appeared to influence the prognosis: presence of chronic transplant glomerulopathy, features of vasculitis, severity of tubulitis, presence of thrombotic micrioangiopathy and prominence of interstitial fibrosis.
Effects of dl-3-butylphthalide soft capsules on treatment of acute ischemlC stroke: multi-center, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy and aspirin-control study

Objective To assess the efficacy and safety of dl-3-butylphthalide on the treatment of acute ischemic stroke. Methods A total of 197 patients who were in the period of 72 hours of first attack of ischemic stroke of internal carotid artery with NIHSS from 5 to 25 scores were enrolled in this multi-center, randomized, double-blind and aspirin-control study. Compound " Dan Shen" was used as a baseline therapy. Results Basical recovery plus significant improvement was seen in 74.7% of the patients in dl-3-butylphthalide group and 60.9% in aspirin group (CMH value 4.0,P=0.047);There was a significant improvement for dl-3-butylphthalide group regarding NIHSS total score, total score difference value and Barthel index on the day 11th and 21st after treatment compared with control group. The main adverse reaction of dl-3-butylphthalide was increased aminotransferase and mainly the slight increase of aspartate aminotransferase, by 4.34% and 0 respectively. Conclusion dl-3-butyiphthalide should be regarded as an effective and safe treatment for ischemic stroke and a treatment without severe side effects. Key words: Cerebrovascular accident; Brain iachemia; Benzofurans; Randomized controlled trials
Wireless power transfer framework for minirobot based on resonant inductive coupling and impedance matching

Minirobots which are under the field of miniature robotics, have a dimension of a few centimetres to even a few millimetres. Conventionally, these small sized robots are usually powered up by batteries. The batteries can take up a lot of space and result in a bulky system. Isolating the energy storage components from the robot itself can provide a good alternative to further down sized the robot. This can be done with the incorporation of wireless power transfer (WPT) technology. However, studies of small-size WPT are usually reported with poor efficiency. The objective of this paper is to present an efficient wireless power transfer framework for the minirobot by employing the resonant inductive coupling together with impedance matching technique. The theory and design process will be discussed. Then, a simple prototyping experiment was conducted to verify the proposed framework. Result showed 35% transfer efficiency had been achieved on a transmission distance of 0.5 cm. The proposed framework had also successfully powered a 4 watts minirobot prototype at about 16% transfer efficiency where its receiver coil was located 3.5 cm above the transmitter coil.
Tracking Control of a Flexible String System Based on Iterative Learning Control

This brief addresses a flexible string with disturbances and a tip payload which is described by a coupled partial differential equation (PDE)–ordinary differential equation (ODE) system. An exosystem under unknown initial condition is utilized to generate the disturbances and prescribed trajectory, both of which can be periodic or aperiodic with respect to iteration. An observer and adaption laws are designed to estimate the distributed and boundary disturbances. The reference system under the estimated distributed disturbance is defined and proved to be uniformly bounded, where the endpoint displacement is set as the known prescribed trajectory in order to address the tracking control problem. Iterative learning controller is then designed to guarantee the convergence of the tracking error and the uniform boundedness of the closed-loop system. A set of simulation examples are presented to describe the performance of a closed-loop system.
De Consumidores a Coautores: Explorando o Design Participativo de Tecnologia Tangível em Contexto Educacional

A tangibilidade dos sistemas computacionais está cada vez mais presente na vida cotidiana das pessoas, de forma que as crianças estão naturalmente imersas nesse mundo. Ao mesmo tempo em que a literatura acadêmica tem mostrado os benefícios das interfaces tangíveis em ambientes de aprendizado, ainda são raras as iniciativas que possibilitem aos educadores uma mudança de postura de consumidores a agentes ativos no design dessa tecnologia. Nesse contexto, este trabalho busca contribuir com o envolvimento de profissionais da Educação no design de sistemas móveis para o contexto educativo. O artigo explora técnicas do Design Participativo no design e desenvolvimento do Gira Letra, um aplicativo educacional voltado para o público infantil, que utiliza a bola robótica Sphero como uma interface tangível. O processo utilizado e resultados de três oficinas participativas que enfocaram a ideação e design do produto, bem como a avaliação de um protótipo criado para a plataforma Android são apresentados e discutidos. As oficinas foram realizadas em contexto escolar, em uma instituição que oferece educação suplementar, e contaram com a participação de crianças e professores. Os resultados sugerem a viabilidade do processo conduzido e apontam novos caminhos de investigação.
Fusion of Handcrafted and Deep Features for Medical Image Classification

Medical image classification has recently attracted increased attention. Effective feature extraction and learning are key means to improve classification performance. However, in the current study, handcrafted feature are mostly designed with intuitive mode, while the deep feature depends on a large amount of training samples and has weak interpretability. To capture more discriminative features for medical image, a novel feature fusion approach, termed multi-layer visual feature fusion (MLVSF), has been proposed on the basis of low-level, mid-level and deep features. More specifically, by fusing the handcrafted and deep features generated by local binary pattern variant, bag-of-visual-words, convolutional neural network, respectively, MLVSF can effectively enhance the discriminating power of features for medical image recognition. Experimental results on two medical image datasets show that MLVSF can improve convolutional neural networks, and achieve a better classification accuracy in comparison with some state-of-the-art methods.
Inverse problems for the study of climatic and ecological processes under anthropogenic influences

This paper presents a description of algorithms for solving direct and inverse climatic and environmental problems based on a variational principle with weak constraints. The initial first-order system is supplemented by a system of equations in variations. It provides a calculation of all necessary components of the modeling system by combining the model and observation data and including first- and second-order functionals of sensitivity to variations in the model parameters, input data, and observation results.
The urinary microbiota composition remains stable over time and under various storage conditions

Background New sensitive techniques have revealed a large population of bacteria in the human urinary tract, challenging the perception of the urine of healthy humans being sterile. While the role of this urinary microbiota is unknown, dysbiosis has been linked to disorders like urgency urinary incontinence and interstitial cystitis. When comparing studies it is crucial to account for possible confounders introduced due to methodological differences. Here we investigated whether storage condition or time of collection, had any impact on the urinary microbial composition. Results For comparison of different storage conditions, urine was collected from five healthy adult female donors, and analyzed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Using the same methods, the daily or day-to-day variation in urinary microbiota was investigated in nineteen healthy donors, including four women, five men, five girls, and five boys. With the exception of two male adult donors, none of the tested conditions gave rise to significant differences in alpha and beta diversities between individuals. Conclusion: The composition of the urinary microbiota was found to be highly resilient to changes introduced by storage temperature and duration. In addition, we did not observe any intrapersonal daily or day-to-day variations in microbiota composition in women, girls or boys. Together our study supports flexibility in study design, when conducting urinary microbiota studies. Author summary The discovery of bacteria native to the urinary tract in healthy people, a location previously believed to be sterile, has prompted research into the clinical potential of these bacteria. However, methodological weaknesses can significantly influence such studies, and thus development of robust techniques for investigating these bacteria are needed. In the present study, we investigated whether differences in storage following collection, could affect the bacterial composition of urine samples. Next, we investigated if this composition exhibited daily or day-to-day variations. Firstly, we found, that the bacterial composition of urine could be maintained by storage at −80 °C, −20 °C, or refrigerated at 4 °C. Secondly, the bacterial composition of urine remained stable over time. Overall, the results of this study provide information important to study design in future investigations into the clinical implications of urinary bacteria.
Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Tyrphostin AG490 Inhibits Osteoclast Differentiation in Collagenase-Induced Osteoarthritis

The janus kinase (JAK)-signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) cascade plays a principal role in the signaling of a vast array of cytokines and growth factors which stimulates diverse cellular functions and immune responses. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease in the adult population. The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of tyrosine kinase inhibitor, tyrphostin AG490 in a mouse model of collagenase-induced osteoarthritis (CIOA). CIOA was provoked by two intraarticular (i.a.) injections of collagenase in mice and intraperitoneally (i.p.) treated with AG490 at a dose of 5 mg/kg at days 0, 5 and 10 and at a dose of 8 mg/kg at day 18. The administration of AG490 in CIOA mice inhibited osteoclast generation in bone and the loss of glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans in cartilage. Tyrphostin decreased the levels of IFN-γ, IL1, IL-6 and IL-17 in the synovial fluid (SF) dependant on the time post AG490 administration. Limited numbers of CD11b positive Ly6G neutrophils in blood and SF along with a decrease of F4/80 positive cells in synovial fluid (SF) were observed in tyrphostin AG490-treated arthritic mice. AG490 inhibited M-CSF+RANKL-induced cytokine production by bone marrow (BM) cells and the differentiation of BM cells in vitro. Because of the findings presented, we argue that tyrphostin AG490 may hold promising therapeutic potential against important clinical conditions such as osteoarthritis (OA).
SEMA3F-deficient colorectal cancer cells Promote lymphangiogenesis: fatty acid metabolism replace glycolysis for energy supply during lymphatic endothelial cells proliferation in tumor hypoxia microenvironment

lymphangiogenesis as a process is colorectal cancer first metastasis via lymphatic vessels to proximal lymph nodes. The fuel metabolism in mitochondrial and support proliferation of lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) remain elusive during lymphangiogenesis in tumor hypoxic microenvironment. Recent studies report that loss of SEMA3F critically contributes to lymphangiogenesis of the CRCs. Here, we silenced SEMA3F expression of CRCs and co-culture with hLECs, the tubulogenesis capacity and hLECs migration were escalated in the hypoxia, the hLECs mainly relied on fatty acid metabolism not aerobic glycolysis during lymphangiogenesis. SEMA3F-deficient CRCs up-regulated PMAKP expression and phosphorylation of hLECs, and activated its peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPARs) and Peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor gamma coactivator-1 alpha (PGC-1a) facilitated their switched toward fatty acids (FA) catabolism. Furthermore, we observed that activation of the PGCI-PPAR lipid oxidation signaling pathway in hLECs was caused by the secretion of interleukin-6 by tumor cells.Taken together, this study indicates that CRCs with SEMA3F expression depletion significantly promotes lymphangiogenesis in hypoxia and faciliates the secretion of IL-6 in tumor cell, and activates mitochondria fatty acids oxidation (FAO) reaction in the hLECs by PGCI-PPAR signaling pathways to support its growth.