Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electronic Origin of Doping-Induced Enhancements of Reactivity: Case Study of Tricalcium Silicate

Systematic manipulation of the reactivity of silicate materials in aqueous environment remains a challenging topic. Herein, by combining first-principles and reactive molecular dynamics simulations, we present a complete picture of the influence of impurity species on hydration reactivity, using the reactive triclinic tricalcium silicate phase as an example. We show that although initial hydration is influenced by the surface’s chemistry and structure, longer-term hydration is primarily controlled by proton transport through the bulk solid. Both shorter- and longer-term hydration processes are noted as being intrinsically correlated with electronic features. These outcomes provide the first direct evidence of the linkages between electronic structure and the longer-term (i.e., on the order of several nanoseconds) hydration behavior and sensitivity of hydrophilic crystalline materials and also offer a pathway to efficient compositional design for similar materials.
Optimization of Expression, Purification and Secretion of Functional Recombinant Human Growth Hormone in Prokaryotic Hosts Using Modified Staphylococcal Protein A Signal Peptide

Garshasb Rigi Shahrekord University Amin Rostami National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Habib Ghomi National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Gholamreza Ahmadian (  ahmadian@nigeb.ac.ir ) National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Vasiqe Sadat Mirbagheri National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Meisam Jeiranikhamenh National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Majid Vahed Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences Sahel Rahimi National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
Integrated Soil Fertility Management in Fruit Crops: An Overview

ABSTRACT Fruit crops offer a strong sink for sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, thereby, aid in moderating the impact of climate change-related issues, besides creating a parallel nutrient sink. Mere annual application of organic manures/composts has failed to address different soil fertility functions due to failure to prolong the impact of soil organic pool on long-term basis. The paradigm shifts from purely inorganic to either organic fertilizers or in combination with chemical fertilizers and microbial inoculants (preferably in consortium mode) started gaining wide scale use for enhanced soil health vis-à-vis elevated quality production and reduced rhizosphere CO2 emmission. This change of concept later formed the basis for Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM)-based strategy involving three basic components viz., microbial inoculants (biofertilizers), inorganic fertilizers, and organic fertilizers. Development of microbial consortium exploiting the microbial synergisms with variety of fruit crops as an important component of ISFM is one of the popular methods of managing multiple soil fertility constraints occurring within the rhizosphere. Further advancements in rhizosphere-specific consortia (often by scaling up crop-microbiome) mediated ISFM could further fulfil the nutrient demand and supply by crop. Upscaling such studies through rhizosphere hybridization has provided some initial inroads in harnessing the potential of different rhizosphere microbial communities. ISFM studies carried out in fruit crops in India, Iran, and China showed better agronomic response and soil health-related properties, considered very close to climate-resilient soil fertility management, a gateway to sustainable quality production. The review also highlights the future directions for ISFM in fruit crops catering to their multiple requirements.
Factors Explaining Business Student Attitudes Towards Mathematics: Does Gender Still Matter?

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that can explain the attitudes of business students towards mathematics, using data from a business school in Norway. This article focusses on gender, personality traits (Big Five Model) and mathematical background. The independent variables were investigated simultaneously using a linear regression model. Mathematical abilities are important for success in business studies, and therefore, attitudes towards mathematics matter, since they will affect students’ effort and their choice of further studies. It was found that mathematical background has the strongest effect on student attitudes towards mathematics. Personal characteristics also explain the variation in the attitudes towards mathematics to some degree. Gender has little or no impact on the dependent variable. If there is any gender difference it is in favour of female students.
Sarcopenia in metastatic cancer patients: results of a prospective non-randomized study.

Background Prognostic factors can impact the quality of life and overall survival in metastatic situations: sarcopenia and nutritional status disorders. Methods We conducted a non-interventional, observational prospective study during 3 consecutive months (SPACE trial, ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04714203). Performance status, lumbar skeletal muscle index (by CT scan), albumin, C-reactive protein, or LDH, were collected from medical records in the classic balance sheet at inclusion and then at 3 and 6 months after the day of inclusion. Results 38 patients were included with a median age of 68 years old and 31 were evaluable for sarcopenia. 58.1% of patients with metastatic cancer were sarcopenic at the diagnosis and 61% at 6 months. At the inclusion, 87.5% of sarcopenic patients were men (p < 0.0002) and sarcopenia status was associated with lung localization (p < 0.0332) and non-operable cancer (p < 0.0069). Conclusion The majority of patients in our study were sarcopenic at the inclusion and at 6 months. However, the number of patients was too small to correlate sarcopenia with survival. Further larger studies are needed to establish stronger results. In the future, sarcopenic patients could benefit from specialized care with nutrition and adapted physical activity.
Genome-wide hierarchical mixed model association analysis

Abstract In genome-wide mixed model association analysis, we stratified the genomic mixed model into two hierarchies to estimate genomic breeding values (GBVs) using the genomic best linear unbiased prediction and statistically infer the association of GBVs with each SNP using the generalized least square. The hierarchical mixed model (Hi-LMM) can correct confounders effectively with polygenic effects as residuals for association tests, preventing potential false-negative errors produced with genome-wide rapid association using mixed model and regression or an efficient mixed-model association expedited (EMMAX). Meanwhile, the Hi-LMM performs the same statistical power as the exact mixed model association and the same computing efficiency as EMMAX. When the GBVs have been estimated precisely, the Hi-LMM can detect more quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) than existing methods. Especially under the Hi-LMM framework, joint association analysis can be made straightforward to improve the statistical power of detecting QTNs.
Waste Reduction Potential in SAMTAMA Program Implementation (Study Case: RT 10/RW 03 Cempaka Putih Timur)

Waste is one of the big problems often faced by metropolitan cities like DKI Jakarta. The Jakarta Environment Agency's research stated that DKI Jakarta produces 7500-tons of waste per day with 60.5% coming from residential. Therefore, the DKI Jakarta government initiated the Sampah Tanggung Jawab Bersama (SAMTAMA) to mobilize residential people to manage waste from its source at certain locations as a pilot, one of locations is RT 10 / RW 03 Cempaka Putih Timur. RT 10 / RW 03 Cempaka Putih Timur is the RT that is considered optimal in implement the SAMTAMA program. Based on this, the objectives of this study are: (1) to find the existing condition of SAMTAMA program; (2) to measure the waste generation, composition, and reduction potential in the implementation of SAMTAMA program. The method implemented in measuring using SNI 19-3964-1994 which is carried out for 8 consecutive days. Waste composition is classified based on SNI 19-3964-1995, supplemented with components of B3 waste and diapers. The results of the analysis show that the average of waste generation is 14.99 kg/day where the treated waste is 11.36 kg/day and the untreated or residual waste is 3.63 kg/day with the largest composition is food waste with 10.66 kg/day (71%). With SAMTAMA Program implementation, the waste potential reduction can reach 0.019 kg/day/person.
Long‐term passive acoustics to assess spatial and temporal vocalization patterns of Atlantic common bottlenose dolphins (
 
 Tursiops truncatus
 
 ) in the May River estuary, South Carolina

Passive acoustics has been used extensively to study bottlenose dolphins; yet very few studies have examined the spatial, temporal, and environmental influences on vocalization types (echolocation, burst pulse sounds, and whistles), and few are long-term and provide high temporal resolution over multiple years. We used data from 2013 to 2018 to establish baseline acoustic patterns for bottlenose dolphins in the May River estuary, South Carolina. We deployed acoustic recorders at six stations during 2013 – 2014 and three stations during 2015 – 2018, with locations spanning the entire estuary (headwaters to echolocation detection was greatest during falling and low tides. This study provides an example of another tool, long-term passive acoustics monitoring, to better understand spatial and temporal distribution of dolphins in a typical salt marsh estuary, that can be applied to other ecosystems throughout the southeastern United States and globally. Smott, Seder, Shaneel Bivek, Jake Mor-genstern, Caleb Shedd, Eva May, Austin Roller, Miane Jackson, Allison Davis, Lincoln Fuller, Corey Chase, Michelle Mixson, Stephanie Keller, and Shane Carey. We also thank Gorka Sancho from the University of Charleston for serv-ing on the thesis committee under which this study was conducted. This work was supported by the Spring Island Trust, Town of Bluffton/Beaufort County, multiple University of South Carolina (USC) ASPIRE internal awards, Community Foundation of the Lowcountry, SC EPSCoR/IDeA Program award (#17-RE02), South Carolina Aquarium, Research Initiative for Summer Engagement (RISE) grant from USC, The LowCountry Institute, USCB Sea Islands Institute, Palmetto Bluff Conservancy, and the Port Royal Sound Foundation. This work was also supported, in part, by the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA) with NOAA financial assistance award number NA16NOS0120028. NOAA Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). The statements, findings, conclu-sions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of SECOORA or NOAA. In addition, A.M. received a Kathryn D. Sullivan Earth and Marine Science Graduate Fellowship to perform this work, which was supported by the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium and S.C. Space Grant Consortium.
A Flexible Laboratory Exercise Introducing Practical Aspects of Mean Squared Displacement

Mean squared displacement is a standard biophysical tool for characterizing the motion of particles in a thermally dominated environment, yet it is rarely formally introduced or discussed in undergraduate curriculum. Here, we provide a flexible and adaptable experimental or computational lab activity that provides a practical introduction to mean squared displacement and anomalous diffusion that includes optional experimental protocols and computational simulation techniques for data collection and discusses a variety of analysis techniques. This lab activity has been implemented both face-to-face and completely online and provides crucial experience in important research techniques, helping to bridge traditional undergraduate curriculum and modern biophysics research.
Do autistic adults spontaneously reason about belief? A detailed exploration of alternative explanations

Background: Some autistic individuals with good compensatory skills may circumvent diagnosis, but still struggle with mentalizing. This missed or delayed identification can deprive them of the opportunity to receive necessary support and interventions. Thus, more sensitive assessment techniques are needed that are not susceptible to compensation. One such promising assessment, Southgate et al. (2007)'s anticipatory looking paradigm, has presented exciting yet inconclusive evidence surrounding spontaneous mentalizing in autism. The present study therefore aimed to advance this paradigm by addressing some alternative explanations and scrutinizing the claims that have been made in the literature, through implementing a multi-trial design with shorter trials, matched true-belief conditions, and both high and low inhibitory demand false-belief conditions. We also sought to inspect if any group differences were related to group-specific patterns of attention on key events. Methods: Seventeen autistic adults were compared with nineteen neurotypical adults on an adapted implicit mentalizing task and a well-established explicit mentalizing task. One-sample t -tests were used to compare performance to chance on the implicit task, a mixed-design ANOVA was conducted to examine main effects of group, time and belief and their interactions, and t -tests were used to further explore gaze patterns. Results: The two groups were comparable in the explicit mentalizing task, indicating sophisticated mentalistic reasoning; however, the autism group did not show anticipatory looking behaviour in the implicit mentalizing task, indicating that they struggled to mentalize the protagonist's beliefs. Surprisingly, there was no group difference in attention distribution during any of the key event. Limitations: Our true-belief conditions may also trigger mentalizing; future studies should therefore create a mentalizing-free baseline matched with the false-belief scenario. Conclusions: Our findings further document that although many autistic individuals perform well in explicit tasks, they struggle to spontaneously mentalize in implicit tasks, consistent with their everyday social difficulties. We ruled out some alternative theoretical explanations for this pattern of performance, leading to a better understanding of mentalizing difficulties. We also presented evidence that autistic adults may process information from social cues in the same way as neurotypical adults, but this information is not then used to update mental representations.
Anatomical plane and transverse axis of the scapula: Reliability of manual positioning of the anatomical landmarks

Background The aim of our study was to evaluate the accuracy of manual determination of the three key points defining the anatomical plane of the scapula, which conditions the reliability of planning software programs based on manual method. Method We included 82 scapula computed tomography scans (56 pathologic and 26 normal glenoid), excluding truncation and major three-dimensional artifact. Four observers independently picked the three key points for each case. Inter- and intra-observer agreement was calculated for each point, using the intraclass correlation method. The mean error (mm) between the observers was calculated as the diameter of the smallest sphere including the four chosen positions. Results Lower inter-observer agreement was found for the trigonum superoinferior position and for the glenoid center anteroposterior position. The mean positioning error between the four observers was 6.9 mm for the trigonum point, and error greater than 10 mm was recorded in 25% of the cases. The mean positioning error was 3.5 mm for the glenoid center in altered glenoid, compared to 1.8 mm for normal glenoid. Discussion Manual determination of an anatomical plane of the scapula suffers from inaccuracy especially due to the variability in trigonum picking, and in a lesser extent, to the variability of glenoid center picking in altered glenoid.
Risk factors associated with Diabetes Mellitus in COVID-19 infected patients: A meta-analytic synthesis of observational studies

Aims: We carried out a systematic literature review and meta-analytic synthesis to find out association between DM and related outcomes in patients with COVID-19 infection. Methods: We systematically searched MEDLINE, and Web of Science to identify studies investigating comorbidities, clinical manifestations and resource utilization of diabetic patients exposed with COVID-19 published from inception to January 2021. Meta-analysis was carried out using Review Manager 5.3. Random effects model was used to compute the pooled estimates of odds ratio/mean difference (OR)/(MD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Results from the pooled meta-analysis found that CVD, hypertension, AKI, cerebrovascular disease, AKI and ARDS were significantly associated with DM in COVID-19 infected patients compared to non-diabetic patients. There is significant association found between mortality and DM compared to non-diabetic patients [OR (95% CI): 2.46 (1.68, 3.58)]. ICU admission and use of mechanical ventilation was significantly associated with DM and COVID-19 vs. non-diabetic [OR (95% CI): 2.79 (1.79,4.34) and 3.33 (2.05, 5.42)] respectively. However, LOS, hospitalization, and ICU admission were not significantly differing between diabetes vs. non-diabetes. Conclusions: The results showed a significant association between mortality and DM exposed with COVID-19. Other co-morbidities especially CVD/hypertension could be a serious threat for DM COVID-19 infected patients for the higher mortality.
Evaluasi Metode ISO/IEC 9126 Pada Kinerja Website Sistem Informasi Akademik Perguruan Tinggi

Kualitas sebuah website menjadi hal yang sangat penting untuk dipertimbangkan. Mengingat bahwa website masih menjadi salah satu teknologi yang masih banyak digunakan dalam berbagai hal. Salah satu contoh yang paling sering dijumpai adalah sistem informasi akademik perguruan tinggi yang jumlah penggunanya kian bertambah dari waktu ke waktu sehingga tentunya website sistem informasi yang ada harus memiliki kualitas dan kehandalan yang baik untuk dapat memberikan layanan yang optimal kepada penggunanya, maka dari itu penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengevalusi website SIA Stmik Nusa Mandiri dengan menggunakan pendekatan model ISO/IEC 9126 yang dimana dalam penelitian ini lebih berfokus untuk mengukur kinerja 4 karakteristik yang terdapat pada model ISO/IEC 9126 yaitu karakteristik usability,reliability,efficiency dan portability, uji karakteristik usability dilakukan dengan alat ukur berupa angket dan kemudian diolah untuk dapat membuktikan hipotesa yang ada, untuk karakteristik reliability, efficiency dan portability digunakan sebuah tool untuk dapat mengukur dan melihat perilaku website SIA Stmik Nusa Mandiri. Dari hasil uji yang dilakukan menunjukkan hasil yang cukup memuaskan pada website SIA Stmik Nusa Mandiri dengan beberapa hal yang harus menjadi perhatian untuk optimalisasi website yang ada, sehingga hasil penelitian ini diharapkan dapat menjadi bahan evaluasi bagi pihak Stmik Nusa Mandiri kedepannya.
Power Flow Adjustment for Smart Microgrid Based on Edge Computing and Deep Reinforcement Learning

As one of the core components that improve transportation, generation, delivery, and electricity consumption in terms of protection and reliability, smart grid can provide full visibility and universal control of power assets and services, provide resilience to system anomalies and enable new ways to supply and trade resources in a coordinated manner. In current power grids, a large number of power supply and demand components, sensing and control devices generate lots of requirements, e.g., data perception, information transmission, business processing and real-time control, while existing centralized cloud computing paradigm is hard to address issues and challenges such as rapid response and local autonomy. Specifically, the trend of micro grid computing is one of the key challenges in smart grid, because a lot of in the power grid, diverse, adjustable supply components and more complex, optimization of difficulty is also relatively large, whereas traditional, manual, centralized methods are often dependent on expert experience, and requires a lot of manpower. Furthermore, the application of edge intelligence to power flow adjustment in smart grid is still in its infancy. In order to meet this challenge, we propose a power control framework combining edge computing and machine learning, which makes full use of edge nodes to sense network state and power control, so as to achieve the goal of fast response and local autonomy. Furthermore, we design and implement parameters such as state, action and reward by using deep reinforcement learning to make intelligent control decisions, aiming at the problem that flow calculation often does not converge. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method with successful dynamic power flow calculating and stable operation under various power conditions.
Comparing short-term outcomes after totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy and laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy with Billroth I anastomosis: early experience of a single institution

Purpose To determine the safety and feasibility of totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (TLDG) with modified delta-shaped anastomosis, we compared the short-term outcomes of TLDG to those of laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG) with Billroth I anastomosis. Methods We analyzed the characteristics of 85 patients with gastric cancer who underwent laparoscopic distal gastrectomy with Billroth I anastomosis between January 2013 and December 2018. After propensity score matching, each group had 35 patients. Results Of these 85 patients, 44 underwent TLDG and 41 underwent LADG. Propensity score matching was performed with three covariates (age, underlying disease, and hypertension), and 35 patients from each group were matched 11. After matching, the TLDG group was older than the LADG group (64.5 ± 10.6 years vs. 56.3 ± 11.2 years, p = 0.003) and had more patients with hypertension (57.1% vs. 22.9%, p = 0.003). Tumors were larger in the TLDG group than in the LADG group (23.4 ± 16.2 mm vs. 16.0 ± 7.9 mm, p = 0.018). A greater proportion of patients had fever in the TLDG group than the LADG group (42.9% vs. 20.0%, p = 0.039), and C-reactive protein from postoperative days 3 to 6 was greater in the TLDG group (11.4 ± 5.7 mg/dL vs. 7.0 ± 5.0 mg/dL, p = 0.001). Conclusion Although our data represent only our early experience performing TLDG with modified delta-shaped anastomosis, this procedure is relatively safe and feasible. Nevertheless, compared to LADG, which is the conventional method, the operative time for TLDG was longer. Surgeons must also watch out for anastomotic complications.