Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Réalisation et caractérisation d'aérogels organiques à fortes teneurs métalliques obtenus à partir d'un complexe de titane polymérisable

L'etude de la fusion par confinement inertiel du melange deuterium + tritium (DT) est une problematique depuis longtemps abordee par le CEA. Les experimentations liees a cette thematique, effectuees prochainement au sein du laser megajoule (LMJ), necessitent l'utilisation de materiaux aux proprietes particulieres. Cela concerne entre autres les mousses de polymeres (aerogels organiques) composant les cibles de pre-ignition. De tels materiaux doivent notamment associer une importante porosite a une forte teneur metallique (1% atomique de Ti), tout en etant compatible avec les procedes de preparation utilises. Dans ce contexte, un nouveau complexe polymerisable de titane a ete prepare et caracterise par plusieurs techniques d'analyses. Ce monomere dispose d'une forte teneur metallique tout en presentant une bonne stabilite vis-a-vis l'air et l'humidite. Sa copolymerisation radicalaire selon differentes conditions suivie d'un sechage en condition supercritique a permis l'obtention d'une serie d'aerogels organiques. Les caracterisations chimiques (RMN, infrarouge et analyses elementaires) ainsi que les caracterisations structurales (MEB-EDS, MET, mesure des isothermes d'adsorption/desorption de l'azote et SAXS) de ces polymeres ont permis de valider les criteres mentionnes dans notre cahier des charges. En outre, ces donnees ont permis de determiner les mecanismes de formation de la nanostructure des mousses.
Perceptions and applications of maker-centered pedagogies in K – Grade 12 ADST and STEM education in BC public schools

The researcher surveyed 97 British Columbia ADST or STEM educators concerning their understandings and perceptions of maker-centred pedagogies, and their willingness to apply these approaches. Questions addressed current applications of maker-centred pedagogies in public schools, and the major factors that affect the implementation of maker-centred approaches, including the characteristics of maker-centred pedagogies, the tools and resources used in making activities, and the strategies that support makercentred approaches. Findings from qualitative and quantitative analyses suggest that most respondents favored maker-centered pedagogies, and that maker-centred pedagogies are being implemented most often in secondary STEM classrooms, though least in Mathematics. Teachers report using both high-tech digital tools and low-tech and traditional tools in making activities. Concerns raised by respondents, but rarely mentioned in literature on making, are student safety, having sufficient physical space for making, fostering appropriate attitudes toward making, and a need for additional teacher training in this area.
Quantification of Atmospheric Ammonia Concentrations: A Review of Its Measurement and Modeling

Ammonia (NH3), the most prevalent alkaline gas in the atmosphere, plays a significant role in PM2.5 formation, atmospheric chemistry, and new particle formation. This paper reviews quantification of [NH3] through measurements, satellite-remote-sensing, and modeling reported in over 500 publications towards synthesizing the current knowledge of [NH3], focusing on spatiotemporal variations, controlling processes, and quantification issues. Most measurements are through regional passive sampler networks. [NH3] hotspots are typically over agricultural regions, such as the Midwest US and the North China Plain, with elevated concentrations reaching monthly averages of 20 and 74 ppbv, respectively. Topographical effects dramatically increase [NH3] over the Indo-Gangetic Plains, North India and San Joaquin Valley, US. Measurements are sparse over oceans, where [NH3] ≈ a few tens of pptv, variations of which can affect aerosol formation. Satellite remote-sensing (AIRS, CrIS, IASI, TANSO-FTS, TES) provides global [NH3] quantification in the column and at the surface since 2002. Modeling is crucial for improving understanding of NH3 chemistry and transport, its spatiotemporal variations, source apportionment, exploring physicochemical mechanisms, and predicting future scenarios. GEOS-Chem (global) and FRAME (UK) models are commonly applied for this. A synergistic approach of measurements↔satellite-inference↔modeling is needed towards improved understanding of atmospheric ammonia, which is of concern from the standpoint of human health and the ecosystem.
Mathematics Teacher Preparation Standards in a Research-Based Mathematics Course for Prospective Secondary Mathematics Teachers: Exploring Student Experiences and Curriculum Writers' Perspectives.

Recommendations for preparing teachers of mathematics have been published by multiple professional organizations in the United States; however, there is limited research on whether student course perceptions affirm the instructor-identified alignment of mathematics content courses for prospective secondary mathematics teachers (PSMTs) to these recommendations. We investigate the alignment of research-based tasks and explorations used in a content course for PSMTs to the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators Standards for the Preparation of Teachers of Mathematics and recommendations in the Mathematical Education of Teachers II. Analyzing end-of-course interviews with 11 students enrolled in this course, we employ thematic analysis to identify themes in student perceptions that reflect central ideas in these documents. Four aspects of the course arose that likely support these themes and related standards and recommendations. This study generates other questions about the extent to which mathematics content courses focusing on research-based knowledge and practices for PSMTs should naturally elicit solid links to these standards.
Biopreservation of Fresh Strawberries by Carboxymethyl Cellulose Edible Coatings Enriched with a Bacteriocin from  Bacillus methylotrophicus BM47

SUMMARY Bacteriocins are a large group of antimicrobial compounds that are synthesized by representatives of the genus Bacillus and lactic acid bacteria. They are used extensively in the food industry as biopreservatives. Incorporated in the composition of edible coatings, bacteriocins can reduce microbial growth and decay incidence in perishable fruits, thus improving product shelf-life and commercial appearance. The present study aims to investigate the effect of edible coatings of 0.5% carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) enriched with a purified bacteriocin from Bacillus methylotrophicus BM47 on the shelf-life extension of fresh strawberries. During storage at 4 °C and 75% relative humidity for 16 days, the measurements of mass loss, decay percentage, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), pH, organic acids, total phenolic and anthocyanin contents and antioxidant activity were made. The results demonstrate that the application of edible coatings with 0.5% CMC and 0.5% CMC with bacteriocin (CMC+B) led to a significant decrease of mass loss in the treated strawberries compared to the uncoated fruit. After the 8th day of storage, significant reductions in decay percentage along with the absence of fungal growth in CMC+B-coated fruit were observed in comparison with the CMC-coated and control strawberries. During the second half of the storage period, CMC and CMC+B treatments reduced TSS amount in the coated fruit compared to the control, but did not affect the increase of TA and decrease of pH values that are normally associated with postharvest changes. The CMC and CMC+B coatings did not prevent the decrease of ascorbic acid, and total phenolic and anthocyanin contents during cold storage. The application of CMC and CMC+B coatings had a significant inhibitory effect on decreasing the antioxidant activity throughout the storage period and maintained the antioxidant levels in both treatments close to the initial value of 76.8 mmol Trolox equivalents per 100 g of fresh mass.
Digital Footprints: Exploring Digital Inclusion in Adults with Mild to Moderate Intellectual Disabilities

This study aims to explore digital inclusion for adults with intellectual disabilities. The research question is: How do adults with intellectual disabilities currently use digital media and the digital world? The study consists of eleven participants who range between ages 18-65 who have either a mild or moderate intellectual disability. The participants participated in an unique university course specially designed to match adults with an intellectual disability with undergraduate students that focused on learning and creating digital art. A qualitative methodology was used with a phenomenological approach to gather data in two ways: 1. one-to-one interviews and 2. field notes of the participant’s interactions with the digital technology. The data was analysed through thematic analysis to discover patterns and themes to answer the research question. The results were six emergent themes: effects of digital literacy deficits, online social interactions, positive and novel experiences, knowledge equals autonomy, digital visitor, and caregiver’s role. An unforeseen result was documented that creating digital art within a classroom environment with research participants (adults with intellectual disabilities) appeared to increase their self-esteem and social interactions with others. This study is a stepping-stone to creating a baseline on this population’s uses and barriers of digital technology and the digital world. The results demonstrate how the lack of digital inclusion contributes to unnecessary barriers for adults with intellectual disabilities in accessing online art therapy and digital art therapy.
Fencing Functional Training System (FFTS): A New Pedagogical-Educational Training Project

The purpose of this article is to suggest a preliminary methodological approach to an ad hoc functional training for fencers of all three weapons. Fencing is an asymmetric open skills sport with a high psychological application and a huge impact on the musculoskeletal system, thus requiring a high level of physical training. Modern fencing needs to gain a new performance model, which takes into consideration the cognitive aspects of performance. The new model needs to create an exercise plan for athletic training in fencing could be useful to train not only elite fencers but also young practitioners. The preliminary case report study described below aims to give a first analysis to identify functional exercises that could be useful, if properly modified, for improving fencer’s motor control and his performance.
Actuarial applications of survival analysis in healthcare

Healthcare actuaries are increasingly responsible for advising their employers and clients in areas of managed care. Managed care links traditional health actuarial financial work to areas of medical practice, to address the fundamental question: what works? These relatively new responsibilities have required an expansion of actuarial techniques into non-traditional areas, and, in particular, epidemiology and biostatistics. This study is about a specific area of statistics, survival analysis, a topic of great potential application in non-traditional managed care actuarial practice. Survival analysis is used frequently in biostatistics to evaluate the efficacy of treatments and to identify factors that contribute to patient survival. In this study, we illustrate three applications of survival models to solve real-world problems in areas of health actuarial practice: the estimation of survival of permanently disabled workers receiving lifetime benefits for occupational illness and injury, the rate at which seriously ill hospice patients, at risk of polypharmacy, are weaned from non-life sustaining drugs, and the ability to predict, using a model incorporating drug dosage information and specifically changes in dosage, changes in expected future lifetimes of hospice patients. All three case studies are examples of practical models that can be applied within a business context. The study will serve a more important purpose, if it shows health actuaries the potential value of the application of a non-traditional technique within their evolving practice. http://www.hw. ac.uk/registry/resources/abstractofthesis.doc.
Avaliação da tecnologia Oxford Nanopore para análise de identidade genética de clones de cana-de-açúcar (Saccharum spp.)

O Brasil e, atualmente, o maior produtor mundial de cana-de-acucar, que e materia prima de dois importantes produtos para a economia brasileira: o acucar e o etanol. Com intuito tanto de se avaliar a tecnologia Oxford Nanopore para aplicacoes de genotipagem por sequenciamento (Genotyping By Sequencing – GBS), tendo como diferencial a obtencao de uma alta cobertura de sequenciamento (>1.000X), como de se desenvolver uma plataforma GBS capaz de identificar clones de cana-de-acucar, com seguranca e praticidade, este trabalho utilizou a plataforma MinION para a realizacao da genotipagem com base no sequenciamento de 48 individuos. Para isto, utilizando-se o genoma de Sorghum bicolor como referencia e um conjunto de bibliotecas de transcritos de cana-de-acucar, foram desenhados 20 pares de primers, os quais foram utilizados para obtencao de amplicons, nos quais foram identificados marcadores moleculares SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms). Foram construidas seis bibliotecas de sequenciamento, sendo as duas primeiras utilizadas em ensaios-piloto. O alinhamento das sequencias obtidas no genoma de referencia foi realizado utilizando-se o programa BWA. A identificacao e genotipagem dos SNPs foi realizada utilizando-se o software SAMtools. A identificacao dos clones de cana-de-acucar foi feita a partir do calculo da distância genetica entre os individuos. A analise de agrupamento foi realizada utilizando-se um script escrito no software R. O sequenciamento resultou em cerca de 841 mil sequencias. O tamanho medio dos amplicons foi de 1,6 kb. Obteve-se uma alta cobertura de sequenciamento (media de 10.498X/amplicon). Nove amplicons foram selecionados, nos quais foram identificados 356 sitios SNPs. A porcentagem de mismatches entre as sequencias obtidas e a de referencia variou de 8% a 20% e a porcentagem de indels manteve-se homogenea (~6%). As duplicatas de um mesmo individuo utilizadas como controle biologico formaram no com consistencia de 94% no dendrograma obtido, entretanto nao apresentaram identidade genetica perfeita entre elas. Sugere-se que tal fato esteja associado principalmente a alta taxa de erro de sequenciamento da tecnologia de sequenciamento Oxford Nanopore, evidenciando a dificuldade de sua utilizacao em aplicacoes que demandem uma identificacao genetica com alto grau de seguranca, como ocorre em problemas envolvendo a identificacao clonal em cana-de-acucar.
Effects of dispersal on the response of zooplankton communities to salt contamination

The application of road de-icing salts has become associated with elevated chloride concentrations in freshwater environments. The response of ecosystems to road salt may be dependent on the spatial exchange of organisms across landscapes as the dispersal of better adapted individuals, which are functionally redundant, have the potential to buffer environmental change. My research will test the prediction that the dispersal of zooplankton with previous exposure to elevated chloride concentrations will help increase community resilience and ecosystem function of freshwater habitats without previous chloride exposure. To assess the individual and interactive effects of zooplankton dispersal and salt contamination, I conducted a mesocosm experiment with a factorial design for salt and dispersal. Cladoceran, nauplii, copepodids, copepods, and rotifers were assessed to determine exacerbating, neutral or ameliorating effects of the treatment groups. Nauplii, copepodids and copepod abundances experienced an exacerbating effect with salinity treatments, whereas rotifers were found to increase in abundance with salinity treatments and cladoceran abundance did not significantly vary with salinity treatments. Dispersal was not found to have an effect on the abundance of any of the zooplankton groups assessed. An interactive effect of salt and dispersal was found in nauplii, where nauplii in the dispersal treatment were not found to be significantly impacted by elevated chloride but were adversely affected by salt in treatments that did not receive dispersers. A greater understanding of how dispersal may impact zooplankton community responses to salt contamination is critical for understanding the variation in which freshwater communities respond to elevated chloride concentrations.
Chromatographic, spectroscopic and microscopic analyses reveal the impact of iron oxides and electron shuttles on the degradation pathway of 2,4,6- trinitrotoluene (TNT) by a fermenting bacterium

Contamination of surface and subsurface environments with explosives such as 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) is a worldwide problem. The fate and analysis of TNT were investigated in numerous artificially contaminated model systems. We developed a unique high performance liquid chromatography gradient elution method for the analysis of commonly observed TNT metabolites and EPA explosives. Column temperature was identified as the key parameter for optimal separation. Iron (hydr)oxides play an important role in the reduction, sorption and fate of TNT in soil and sediment. Consequently, characterization of the nature and properties of natural and synthetic Fe (hydr)oxides is important for determining reaction mechanisms and surface-associated chemical processes. This work thus summarizes the potential applicability of imaging and spectroscopic techniques for eliciting chemical and physical properties of iron (hydr)oxides. TNT is persistent in soils due to its low . redox potential and sorption. Batch and column1 studies revealed some of the first results on TNT desorption behavior in two well-defined model soil systems. Biosurfactants were found to be the most promising technique for enhanced TNT desorption. Batch studies with a Cellulomonas sp. in the presence of ferrihydiite and the electron shuttle anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate (AQDS) were conducted to reveal biotic and abiotic mechanisms contributing to the degradation of TNT. Strain ES6 was found to reduce TNT and ferrihydrite with enhanced reduction in the presence of AQDS. Ferrihydrite stimulated the formation of more reduced TNT metabolites such as 2,4diamino-6-nitrotoluene. Interestingly, a completely different degradation pathway was observed in AQDS-amended iron-free cell suspensions, showing a rapid transformation of TNT to 2,4-dihydroxylamino-6-nitrotoluene, which transformed into unidentified polar products. The influence of iron phases (i.e. hematite, magnetite, and ferrihydrite) and secondary Fe mineral formation on the degradation of TNT was also evaluated. The initial reduction of TNT was fastest in the presence of hematite; however, the further reduction of hydroxylamino-dinitrotoluenes was fastest, in the presence of magnetite and ferrihydrite (no AQDS). The impact of AQDS was predominant in the presence of hematite resulting in the formation of 2,4,6-triaminotoluene. Ferrihydrite underwent reductive dissolution with the formation of secondary hematite. The enhanced TNT reduction in ferfihydrite-amended systems was therefore most likely due to redox-active Fe(II) rather than secondary Fe phases.
Efeito da pesca comercial e esportiva sobre os “troféus” de tucunaré-açu (Cichla temensis, Humboldt, 1821) em um trecho do médio Rio Negro, Barcelos-Amazonas

No medio rio Negro, a pesca comercial e a esportiva tem como alvo comum o tucunare. No entanto, a explotacao sobre o estoque dessa especie ocorre de forma desordenada e sao escassas as informacoes sobre como essas atividades ocorrem na regiao. Principalmente, sobre a pesca esportiva que e uma das atividades pesqueiras menos estudadas. Assim, este estudo inedito avalia o estoque de Cichla temensis em um trecho do medio Rio Negro, onde as atividades de pesca comercial e esportiva ocorrem com maior intensidade. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio de aplicacao de questionarios semiestruturados, ao pescadores comerciais e esportivos, tambem foi aferido o peso e comprimento total dos individuos capturados pela pesca esportiva. Para a caracterizacao da pesca esportiva registrou-se o tempo medio de duracao da temporada, que foi de seis meses, quando empresas as de turismo e de pesca atuam em cinco modalidades distintas. A modalidade de barco-hotel mostrou ser a mais aderida pelos operadores, assim como a mais antiga. Para a locomocao nas pescarias, as canoas semichata equipadas com motor de potencia 30HP sao mais utilizadas. Foram identificados 22 rios utilizados pela pesca esportiva, para captura preferencial da especie Cichla temensis. A analise da populacao mostrou que o tamanho total medio dos tucunares tende a diminuir com o aumento da intensidade de pesca. No Modelo Linear Generalizado realizado para pesca comercial, foi possivel notar que todas as variaveis preditoras mostram exercer influencia negativa sobre o comprimento total medio, peso medio e rendimento das pescarias, enquanto no MLG da pesca esportiva apenas o numero de pescador mostrou exercer tal influencia. O modelo de simulacao previu que quando a mortalidade por pesca for igual a mortalidade natural, pode ocorrer uma reducao de 19,75 - 88,47% no numero de trofeus que entram na populacao. Ate baixas explotacoes causariam o declinio de trofeus. Os resultados aqui apresentados podem ser utilizados para a gestao mista entre as atividades de pesca comercial e esportiva no medio Rio Negro, uma vez que sao conhecidos aspectos que fornecem informacoes sobre abrangencia de atuacao, especie alvo e status do estoque.
Multidimensional Poverty in Informal Settlements in Windhoek, Namibia, and Orange Farm, South Africa

The goal of the study was to explore and compare the multidimensional nature of poverty in informal settlements in Windhoek, Namibia, and Orange Farm, South Africa. The study employed a mixed methods research design that used a collective case study and a cross-sectional survey for the qualitative and quantitative study phases. Findings indicate that poverty in informal settlements is a multilayered phenomenon that has interrelated social, economic, and environmental dimensions. What differs across countries is the level of government commitment through constitutional mandates and policies to mitigate the impact of poverty by rendering basic services and implementing housing schemes and anti-poverty programs such as social grants. Political will is key to finding people-centered solutions. Social and environmental justice campaigns that advocate and lobby governments for accountability in implementing national development plans and social welfare policy commitments are needed.