Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nodding by the fire: appreciation of the Derry Temple

ABSTRACT I represent an ethnographic inquiry on sacrifice, precarity and reconciliation in a sectarian context through an amalgam of photographs and poetry, to transubstantiate fieldnotes and journal entries into an aesthetic account embodying the art installations that are this ritual process incarnate. I explore the production, consumption and disposition of an artwork called ‘Temple’ by sectarian communities in Northern Ireland through the orchestration of bricoleur artist David Best, which took place in Derry/Londonderry in the spring of 2015. I present a set of photographs that limns the event to anchor a series of poems that unpack the researcher’s and participants’ apprehension of their engagement with the installation. I emphasise material, spatial, emotional and ideological dimensions of the event. Photopoetic representation greatly enhances the researcher’s sensual attention and emotional resonance in the field, challenges the imagination to craft an evocative account of deep, multi-perspectival fidelity, and opens up lived experience to the possibility of empathic intervention.
Filtering Noisy ECG Signals Using the Extended Kalman Filter Based on a Dynamic ECG Model

In this paper an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) has been proposed for the filtering of noisy ECG signals. The method is based on a modified nonlinear dynamic model, previously introduced for the generation of synthetic ECG signals. An automatic parameter selection method has also been suggested, to adapt the model with a vast variety of normal and abnormal ECG signals. The results show that the EKF output is able to track the original ECG signal shape even in the most noisiest epochs of the ECG signal. The proposed method may serve as an efficient filtering procedure for applications such as the noninvasive extraction of fetal cardiac signals from maternal abdominal signals.
The Glu143 Residue Might Play a Significant Role in T20 Peptide Binding to HIV-1 Receptor gp41: An In Silico Study

Despite the enormous efforts made to develop other fusion inhibitors for HIV, the enfuvirtide (known as T20) peptide is the only approved HIV-1 inhibitory drug so far. Investigating the role of potential residues of the T20 peptide’s conformational dynamics could help us to understand the role of potential residues of the T20 peptide. We investigated T20 peptide conformation and binding interactions with the HIV-1 receptor (i.e., gp41) using MD simulations and docking techniques, respectively. Although the mutation of E143 into alanine decreased the flexibility of the E143A mutant, the conformational compactness of the mutant was increased. This suggests a potential role of E143 in the T20 peptide’s conformation. Interestingly, the free energy landscape showed a significant change in the wild-type T20 minimum, as the E143A mutant produced two observed minima. Finally, the docking results of T20 to the gp41 receptor showed a different binding interaction in comparison to the E143A mutant. This suggests that E143 residue can influence the binding interaction with the gp41 receptor. Overall, the E143 residue showed a significant role in conformation and binding to the HIV-1 receptor. These findings can be helpful in optimizing and developing HIV-1 inhibitor peptides.
The Impact of Mobile-Assisted Language Learning on English as a Foreign Language Learners’ Vocabulary Learning Attitudes and Self-Regulatory Capacity

Over the past decades, English as a foreign language (EFL) learning has witnessed a heightened interest in the role of mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) in vocabulary learning. To shed more light on the impact of MALL on vocabulary learning, this study, employing a quantitative longitudinal design, aimed at examining the impact of a MALL programme on 139 EFL learners’ vocabulary learning attitudes and self-regulatory capacity. To this end, this study investigated the latent change score models of the learners’ vocabulary learning attitudes and self-regulatory capacity over time. Over the course of 1 year, various mobile applications were integrated into the regular English language instruction of the learners. The required data were collected via administering vocabulary learning attitude and self-regulating capacity in vocabulary learning scales. The data were analysed applying latent growth curve modelling to examine the participants’ longitudinal trajectories and patterns of change in the two waves of collected data. The fit indices of the latent change models revealed an increase in both the EFL learners’ vocabulary learning attitudes and their self-regulatory capacity during the 1-year MALL programme. The analysis of between-person differences also indicated that changes in both variables were positively correlated.
Automatic image caption generation using deep learning and multimodal attention

We present an improved image caption generation model that incorporating multimodal attention mechanism. We use ResNet‐101 to extract image features while incorporating channel attention mechanism and spatial attention mechanism. We use Faster R‐CNN for object detection and use a multi‐head attention structure consisting of spatial attention and self‐attention. This allows our algorithm to improve the model's capability to learn and use the internal grammatical features of natural sentences. Moreover, we use GPU parallel computing to accelerate the entire model training. We apply our model and algorithm to early education scenarios: show and tell for kids. We compare our algorithm with the state‐of‐the‐art deep learning algorithms. Our experimental results show that our model improves the captioning accuracy in terms of standard automatic evaluation metrics.
Assessment Potential of Zooplankton to Establish Reference Conditions in Lowland Temperate Lakes

Zooplankton community data from 45 dimictic lakes, representing homogenous abiotic conditions, were used to distinguish indicator taxa of near-pristine, reference lakes with low anthropopression. Reference conditions were selected based on natural land use in the catchment, lack of or low human activity, and the absence of point sources of pollution, as well as good water quality. According to these criteria, six lakes were designated references and all represent mesotrophic conditions. Reference lakes had a low abundance of Cyclopoida and Rotifera, and significantly lower biomass compared to non-reference lakes. We have found that species characteristic of the reference lake were: Bosmina (Eubosmina) coregoni, Ascomorpha ecaudis, Collotheca pelagica, and Gastropus stylifer. The species responsible for differences among reference and non-reference lakes were Keratella tecta, Pompholyx sulcata, and Ascomorpha saltans, which are considered typical for eutrophic waters.
Stearic Acid Functionalized Iron Nanoparticle Based Magnetic Solid-Phase Extraction (MSPE) for the Determination of Oxadiazon in Purslane by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)

Abstract An accurate, simple, and sensitive method was developed for the determination of the herbicide oxadiazon in purslane. The method was based on magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) using stearic acid modified iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4@SA) as the adsorbent for preconcentration, followed by the reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) determination of oxadiazon. The MSPE method was optimized using the univariate approach of optimization, where one parameter was tested at different variables and the other parameters were held constant. Using the optimum conditions, the oxadiazon limits of detection and quantification (LOD and LOQ) were 0.29 and 1.0 ng mL−1. The calibration plot of the method was linear across a broad dynamic range from 1.0 to 1000 ng mL−1 with a coefficient of determination equal to 0.9988. The accuracy and applicability of the method was validated by performing spike recovery experiments with purslane samples. The matrix matching calibration strategy was used to mitigate interferences from the sample to attain recovery values between 90 and 110%. The high recoveries and low standard deviations (<10%) verified the accuracy and precision of the developed protocol.
miR-30d Inhibition Protects IPEC-J2 Cells Against Clostridium perfringens Beta2 Toxin-Induced Inflammatory Injury

Clostridium perfringens beta2 (CPB2) toxin, one of the virulence factors of Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens), can cause necrotizing enterocolitis in piglets. Accumulating pieces of evidence indicate that microRNAs (miRNAs) refer to the regulation of inflammatory processes. Previously, we have discovered that miR-30d was differentially expressed between the ileum of normal piglets and C. perfringens type C-infected diarrheal piglets. Here, we found that miR-30d expression was lowered in CPB2 toxin-treated intestinal porcine epithelial cells (IPEC-J2) at different time points. Subsequently, we determined that miR-30d inhibitor attenuated CPB2 toxin revulsive inflammatory damage in IPEC-J2 cells and promoted cell proliferation and cell cycle progression, whereas miR-30d mimic had opposite results. In addition, we confirmed that Proteasome activator subunit 3 (PSME3) was a downstream target gene of miR-30d via a dual luciferase reporter assay, qPCR, and western blot. We also found that overexpression of PSME3 suppressed CPB2 toxin-induced inflammatory damage and promoted cell proliferation and cycle progression. Our results demonstrate that miR-30d aggravates CPB2 toxin revulsive IPEC-J2 cells inflammatory injury via targeting PSME3, thereby providing a novel perspective for the prevention and treatment of piglet diarrhea at the molecular level.
Aquifer-Peatland Hydrological Connectivity and Controlling Factors in Boreal Peatlands

The conditions in which groundwater inflow occurs in boreal peatlands and its contribution to peatland water balance are still poorly understood. The objectives of this research were to quantify the hydrological connectivity between a surficial aquifer and a peatland, and to identify the controlling factors in boreal peatlands of north-central Quebec (Canada). The peatlands were instrumented with piezometers and groundwater levels were monitored during two growing seasons. Hydraulic conductivities were measured on peat cores and in situ, groundwater inflows and outflows were calculated using the Darcy equation. The peatland water budgets were simulated for the two peatlands with a steady-state groundwater flow model to verify flow hypotheses, to quantify unmeasured flows and to explore recharge scenarios leading to changes in connectivity. The two peatlands have contrasted water budgets, with recharge representing the largest inflow (78%) and subsurface runoff representing the largest outflow (85%) the peatland with the smallest catchment area (Misask). The peatland with the largest catchment area (Cheinu) is also located downgradient within the regional watershed. Its inflows are dominated by groundwater (56%) and its outflows are mostly towards subsurface runoff (74%). The two peatlands are in conditions of precipitation excess and a recharge reduction would not affect their peatland heads markedly (<10 cm). However, recharge changes could induce larger modifications in groundwater inflows and outflows for the peatland with a larger catchment area. The dominating peatland hydrological functions are thus contrasted at the two sites, and it is hypothesized that the water table depths thresholds triggering changes between storage, transmission and runoff functions are also different. Although further studies remain to be done to understand how hydrological conditions change through time, and ultimately what are the long-term impacts of a changing climate on hydrology, vegetation and carbon accumulation, this work shows that understanding peatland hydrology requires to consider hydrological conditions beyond the peatland limits.
Towards the Validation of an Observational Tool to Detect Impaired Drivers—An Online Video Study

Abuse of alcohol and other drugs is a major risk factor at work. To reduce this risk, workplace drug testing is performed in transportation and other industries. VERIFY, an observational method, is one of the key elements in a procedure adopted by the police of the canton of Zurich, Switzerland, for detecting impaired drivers. The observational method has been successfully applied by adequately trained police officers since 2014. The aim of this study is to examine the interrater reliability of the observational method, the effect of training in use of the method, and the role of having experience in the police force and traffic police force on the outcome when rating a driver’s impairment. For this purpose, driver impairment in staged road traffic controls presented in videos was rated by laypeople (n = 81), and police officers without (n = 146) and with training (n = 172) in the VERIFY procedure. In general, the results recorded for police officers with training revealed a moderate to very good interrater reliability of the observational method. Among the three groups, impaired drivers were best identified by officers with training (ranging between 82.6% and 89.5% correct identification). Trained officers reported a higher impairment severity of the impaired drivers than the other two groups, indicating that training increases sensitivity to signs of impairment. Our findings also suggest that online video technology could be helpful in identifying impaired drivers. Trained police officers could be connected to a road traffic control to make observations via live video. By this method efficiency and reliability in detecting abuse of alcohol and other drugs could be improved. Our findings also apply to workplace drug testing in general.
Computer-Aided Design of α-L-Rhamnosidase to Increase the Synthesis Efficiency of Icariside I

Icariside I, the glycosylation product of icaritin, is a novel effective anti-cancer agent with immunological anti-tumor activity. However, very limited natural icariside I content hinders its direct extraction from plants. Therefore, we employed a computer-aided protein design strategy to improve the catalytic efficiency and substrate specificity of the α-L-rhamnosidase from Thermotoga petrophila DSM 13995, to provide a highly-efficient preparation method. Several beneficial mutants were obtained by expanding the active cavity. The catalytic efficiencies of all mutants were improved 16–200-fold compared with the wild-type TpeRha. The double-point mutant DH was the best mutant and showed the highest catalytic efficiency (k cat /K M : 193.52 s−1 M−1) against icariin, which was a 209.76-fold increase compared with the wild-type TpeRha. Besides, the single-point mutant H570A showed higher substrate specificity than that of the wild-type TpeRha in hydrolysis of different substrates. This study provides enzyme design strategies and principles for the hydrolysis of rhamnosyl natural products.
Transcriptional Biomarkers and Immunohistochemistry for Detection of Illicit Dexamethasone Administration in Veal Calves

Corticosteroids such as Dexamethasone (DEX) are commonly licensed for therapy in meat animals due to their known pharmacological properties. However, their misuse aimed to achieve anabolic effects is often found by National Residues Control Plans. The setup of a complementary “biomarker based” methods to unveil such illicit practices is encouraged by current European legislation. In this study, the combined use of molecular and histological quantitative techniques was applied on formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) muscle samples to assess the effects of illicit DEX treatment on veal calves. A PCR array, including 28 transcriptional biomarkers related to DEX exposure, was combined with a histochemical analysis of muscle fiber. An analysis based on unsupervised (PCA) and supervised (PLS-DA and Kohonen’s SOM) methods, was applied in order to define multivariate models able to classify animals suspected of illicit treatment by DEX. According to the conventional univariate approach, a not-significant reduction in type I fibres was recorded in the DEX-treated group, and only 12 out of 28 targeted genes maintained their expected differential expression, confirming the technical limitations of a quantitative analysis on FFPE samples. However, the multivariate models developed highlighted the possibility to establish complementary screening strategies, particularly when based on transcriptional biomarkers characterised by low expression profiles.
Prioritized Delay Optimization for NOMA-Based Multi-UAV Emergency Networks

In emergency networks, it is significant to jointly consider users’ priorities and communication delays for post-disaster users. To this end, we propose an essential metric by integrating these two factors, namely <italic>prioritized delay</italic>. Moreover, we formulate a min-max prioritized delay problem for non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA)-based multi-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) emergency networks, where the powers of all users are concurrently optimized to balance prioritized delay among users while suppressing multi-user interference introduced by NOMA and multiple UAVs. The problem is found to be non-convex, and we propose the <italic>substitution-decomposition-scaling-block successive upper bound minimization</italic> (SDS-BSUM) algorithm to address this issue. Specifically, the originally-formulated problem is first transformed into a standard form through variable <italic>substitution</italic>, followed by problem <italic>decomposition</italic> into single-UAV subproblems through exploiting its separable structure, and the <italic>scaling</italic> of non-convex constraints into tight convex ones. Finally, the converted problem is fitted into <italic>BSUM</italic> for solving. Simulation results reveal that compared with the existing schemes, the proposed SDS-BSUM not only reduces the prioritized delay by up to 70<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\%$</tex-math></inline-formula>, but also achieves an excellent delay fairness commensurate with users’ priorities.
Design aesthetics in predominantly-utilitarian versus predominantly-hedonic services: the “what is beautiful is good” and “Ulysses” effects

ABSTRACT This study is the first that uses quadratic effects to explore when design aesthetics can generate the opposite effect. It complements the “what is beautiful is good” effect by introducing the “Ulysses” effect (newly introduced effect). Mobile banking and mobile gaming are selected as predominantly-utilitarian and predominantly-hedonic services, respectively. Using online questionnaires, data are collected in France. SmartPLS is used. The results show that, in a predominantly-utilitarian service, the relationship between design aesthetics and intention is an inverted U-shaped curve. However, in a predominantly-hedonic service context, the relationship between design aesthetics and intention is rather linear ascending.
Therapeutic Effects of Insulin-Producing Human Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in a Type 1 Diabetes Mouse Model

In patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D), compromised pancreatic β-cell functions are compensated through daily insulin injections or the transplantation of pancreatic tissue or islet cells. However, both approaches are associated with specific challenges. The transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represents a potential alternative, as MSCs have tissue-forming capacity and can be isolated from various tissues. The human umbilical cord (hUC) is a good source of freely available MSCs, which can be collected through pain-free, non-invasive methods subject to minimal ethical concerns. We sought to develop a method for the in vitro generation of insulin-producing cells (IPCs) using MSCs. We examined the potential therapeutic uses and efficacy of IPCs generated from hUC-derived MSCs (hUC-IPCs) and human adipose tissue (hAD)-derived MSCs (hAD-IPCs) through in vitro experiments and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced C57BL/6 T1D mouse models. We discovered that compared to hAD-IPCs, hUC-IPCs exhibited a superior insulin secretion capacity. Therefore, hUC-IPCs were selected as candidates for T1D cell therapy in mice. Fasting glucose and intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test levels were lower in hUC-IPC-transplanted mice than in T1D control mice and hAD-IPC-transplanted mice. Our findings support the potential use of MSCs for the treatment of T1D.
The Influence of the Environment on Cross-Border E-Commerce Adoption Levels Among SMEs in China: The Mediating Role of Organizational Context

Utilizing the Technology, Environment, and Organization (TOE) framework, the purpose of this study was to look into the influence of the environment on the adoption of the four levels of cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) on SMEs in China. The data was acquired using an online survey form, with a sample size of N = 208. Data were analyzed via Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) by using Smart PLS 3 software. The results indicate that except level 1, the environmental context has a positive impact on all levels of CBEC adoption and organizational context. It was further found that organizational context positively influences all four levels of CBEC adoption. Furthermore, the mediating role of organizational context was also tested between environmental context and the four levels of CBEC adoption. These data supported our hypotheses for level 2 and 3 whereas, for level 1 and 4, we did not find any support. Several theoretical and practical implications are discussed in the concluding part of this paper.
What’s Wrong with Being Global: Perception of Healthiness of Global Food Products

This research demonstrates that global food products suffer from healthiness bias – a tendency to favor local food products and evaluate them as healthier than equivalent global or foreign food products. The paper extends previous research findings and provides empirical evidence that the perception of the product’s healthiness is a driver of this phenomenon. Results of three between-subject experimental research design studies indicate that global (versus local and foreign) food products are associated with lower perception of healthiness. In turn, such evaluations impact consumers’ buying intentions. Moreover, bias is more pronounced for consumers who perceive themselves as vulnerable to diseases and, conversely, disappears for those who are not vulnerable to diseases. The paper discusses the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings and points toward future research directions.
Conductive Compliant Mechanisms: Geometric Tuning of 3d Printed Flexural Sensors

Additive manufacturing of thermoplastic conductive polymer composites oﬀers interesting opportunities for customizing compliant ﬂexural sensors. The study aimed to show that additive manufacturing could be used to fabricate ﬂexural sensors for evaluating the eﬀect of sensor geometry on the sensor output. Prior literature has primarily focused on material optimization rather than geometrical design. The results of this paper show that the signal amplitude between geometrically diﬀerent ﬂexural sensors with the same footprint can increase ∼ 28 times. In addition, the bending force is found proportional to the signal amplitude. Thus, concentrating the bending to a small section increases the signal amplitude but also increases the eﬀect of material relaxation broadening the hysteresis loop. This study highlights the importance of considering the geometrical design when ﬁne-tuning additive manufactured ﬂexural sensors. In future work, it is paramount to improve reproducibility, signal linearity, and investigate the eﬀects of geometry on other sensor parameters.