Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interracial Dialogues in Dixie: Expressing Emotions to Promote Racial Reconciliation

Given the legacy of racial injustice and mistrust that continues to plague race relations in the United States, it is important that citizens of different racial backgrounds come together to share their feelings and thoughts about race issues in order to advance racial reconciliation in their own communities. Saunders (1999) asserts that such dialogues can transform interracial relationships that could inspire the larger community to change itself. This study presents the results of nine interracial focus groups from two dialogues on race relations events held in Dothan, Alabama in 2015 and 2016. Our findings illustrate that many Black respondents displayed both anger and sadness as they provided stories of the institutionalized racism (e.g., racial profiling, educational inequality, residential segregation, etc.) as well as the more personalized racism that they had experienced. White respondents too demonstrated anger and sadness when relating their own experiences of strained race relations. This mixed-methods study also employed API analysis to further strengthen our original qualitative exploration of emotions. We argue that interracial dialogues can hold the potential for racial reconciliation as participants’ stories elucidate our most intransient race problems while also highlighting the emotions that connect discussants through the dialogic process.
Anchoring di and tri-metallic nanoparticles on an amorphous functionalized surface for inducing photocatalytic activity

This study aimed at establishing a method for developing a new type of photocatalyst that can interact with visible light to become suitable for taking advantage of visible sunlight that accounts for more than 95% of the sunlight falling on the earth. This was successfully achieved by producing di and tri metal nanoparticles chemically attached to a functionalized amorphous surface, using two different functional groups. This study reports for the first time a very efficient and economical chemical synthesis process for the preparation of well-distributed di- and tri-metallic nanoparticles (Ag–Au, Au–Cu, and Ag–Bi–Cu) chemically decorated on amorphous silica, amine-modified silica (AFS), and mercapto-modified silica (MFS) supports for enhancing the photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). The structural and optical properties of the prepared materials and their catalytic efficiency were examined using multiple characterization analysis techniques. TEM micrographs show 5 to 10 nm metal nanoparticles uniformly distributed on the amorphous silica support. The UV-Vis absorbance analysis shows a considerable plasmonic shift between the samples before and after reduction. These (green) innovative catalysts have superior activity in visible light and offer many advantages such as affordability, recyclability, and ability to work under ambient conditions.
Heterochronic Fecal Microbiota Transfer Reverses Hallmarks of the Aging Murine Gut, Eye and Brain

Altered intestinal microbiota composition in later life is associated with inflammaging and increased susceptibility to age–associated chronic diseases affecting various organs. Here we tested the hypothesis that manipulating the intestinal microbiota influences the development of comorbidities associated with aging, in particular, inflammation affecting intestinal epithelial barrier integrity, the retina, and the brain. Using heterochronic microbiota transplantation to exchange the intestinal microbiota of young (3 month), old (18 month), and aged (24 month) mice, we show that age–associated increases in intestinal barrier permeability, central nervous system (CNS) inflammation, and loss a of key functional retinal protein, are reversed by transfer of young donor microbiota to aged mice, but are accelerated upon transfer of aged donor microbiota into young mice. These findings demonstrate that the aged microbiota composition mediates detrimental changes in the gut–CNS axis, and suggest that microbial modulation may be of therapeutic benefit in later life.
Multiscale analysis framework for the Iowa Water-Energy-Food nexus

This research explored Iowa’s Water-Energy-Food (WEF) resource system by modeling with Markov random field and analyzing with network analysis. With recognizing the gap between nexus modeling and communication in WEF resource management, the purpose of this research was to close the gap by proposing a framework of modeling and analyzing heterogeneous data in the WEF nexus discipline. The proposed framework aimed to discover interlinkage and characterize structural patterns between domains of Iowa’s WEF resource system. The biophysical and economic data were collected from multiple sources and processed with a standardized data aggregation pipeline. The first objective of this research was focused on the modeling method. The goal for this part of the research is to determine the technique to model Iowa’s WEF resource system. The appropriate technique helps to identify the interlinkages between components with minimal subjectivity and closes the gap of communication via intuitive visualizations. We considered the model by the data availability and the capabilities of modeling and direct visualization at different scale. As a result, we proposed the method of coupling the data aggregation pipeline with the probabilistic graphical model that uses the same scheme to model and visualize a largescale system at different scales. The second objective of this research was focused on the characterization of Iowa’s WEF resource system. The goal for this part of the research is to identify the interlinkages and structural patterns of the system across multiple spatiotemporal scales. The multiscale analysis grasped the characteristics of system at finer levels and connected the understanding of the behaviors of the overall system. Betweenness centrality, associativity coefficient, and degree distribution were applied to investigate the characteristics of the models across different scales.
Evaluation of the Difference between Cirrhotic Patients Receiving Propranolol and Those Receiving Propranolol Plus Losartan in terms of Renal Artery Resistive Index

Introduction: Portal hypertension is one of the main clinical complications of chronic liver diseases. In only 30% of cirrhotic patients who take propranolol, the hepatic venous pressure reduces to under 12 mm/Hg. The results of studies on the efficiency of losartan (an angiotensin II receptor antagonist) in reducing portal hypertension have been controversial so far. Hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) is measured using an invasive method of catheterization. Studies have shown that the measurement of the renal resistive index (RI) by Doppler ultrasonography has a direct relationship with HVPG. The study population included cirrhotic patients who referred to Ali-ibn-Abi Talbe Clinic, Zahedan, Iran. This clinical trial was conducted based on a self-controlled method. Materials and Methods: In total, 30 cirrhotic patients who met the inclusion criteria were selected for the study. The patients were treated with propranolol 10 mg twice a day for one month, and losartan was then added to their medication regimen. The renal RI of patients was measured before and after losartan administration. Results: The mean of renal RI of patients treated with both propranolol and losartan (0.659±0.58) was higher than that of the patients treated with only propranolol (0.635±0.597) (P=0.005). Conclusion: Our results showed that cirrhotic patients who received propranolol had high renal RI before and after receiving losartan. Accordingly, it seems that losartan had no effects on reducing HVPG hypertension in patients taking propranolol.
Season, location and cultivar influence on bioactive compounds of sour cherry fruits

The aim of this study was to determine how different locations, years and cultivars influenced polyphenol and antho - cyanin content in fruits of different sour cherry cultivars ( Prunus cerasus L.). Fruits of five sour cherry cultivars were harvested in two locations (Osijek and Zadar) over three consecutive years (2010, 2011 and 2012). Factorial ANOVA showed that year and location significantly influenced the accumulation of polyphenols and anthocyanins in sour cherry fruits. 2010 was the best year with 9.89 mg/g of polyphenols and 5.08 mg/g of anthocyanins on average. Al - though year and location revealed a strong influence, cultivar is the principal source of variation, as it is proved by the polyphenol content in the range from 5.89 to 10.78 mg/g and the anthocyanin content in the range from 3.15 to 4.76 mg/g. Cv. Maraska appears to be the most significant source of bioactive compounds, while cvs. Heimanns Konservenweichel and Rexelle gave very similar but significantly lower contents of polyphenols and anthocyanins than cv. Maraska. Cv. Oblacinska had significantly the lowest contents of investigated bioactive compounds.
Chinese Community under the Soekarno Era in Indonesia

Abstract: This study aims to analyze the life of Chinese people in Indonesia during the Soekarno government and analyze the governmentâ€™s treatment of Chinese people in the Soekarno era. This study used a historical method approach with a limited history across the 1930s period, from 1941 to 1958, from 1959 to 1966. The method used is as follows: data collection in the form of literature studies relevant to the subject matter discussed, source criticism to find out the relevant elements through the incorporation of information obtained through the source, and compilation i.e., writing historical facts. Political and economic perceptions influenced Chinese ethnic communities in Indonesia during colonial, the old order, and the new times. Chinese society received many sanctions from the Soekarno government because of communist ideology, which was a threat to the government. The existence of ethnocentric during the old order so that Chinese people cannot be received well. Â Abstrak: Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis kehidupan masyarakat Tionghoa di Indonesia pada masa pemerintahan Soekarno dan menganalisis perlakuan pemerintah terhadap orang Tionghoa pada masa pemerintahan Soekarno. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan metode sejarah dengan sejarah terbatas pada periode tahun 1930-an, dari tahun 1941 hingga 1958, dari tahun 1959 hingga tahun 1966. Metode yang digunakan adalah sebagai berikut: pengumpulan data berupa studi pustaka yang relevan dengan materi pelajaran yang dibahas, kritik sumber untuk mengetahui unsur-unsur yang relevan melalui penggabungan informasi yang diperoleh melalui sumber, dan kompilasi yaitu, menulis fakta sejarah. Persepsi politik dan ekonomi mempengaruhi komunitas etnis Tionghoa di Indonesia pada masa penjajahan, Soekarno, dan Orde Baru. Masyarakat Tionghoa banyak mendapat sanksi dari pemerintah Soekarno karena ideologi komunis yang menjadi ancaman bagi pemerintah. Adanya etnosentris pada masa Soekarno sehingga masyarakat Tionghoa tidak bisa diterima dengan baik. Â
Pengembangan Media Pembelajaran Faktorisasi Prima Berbasis Android di Kelas IV Sekolah Dasar

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah mengembangkan media pembelajaran faktorisasi prima berbasis android serta menguji keefektifannya. Penelitian ini pendekatan penelitian dan pengembangan ( Research and Development ). Prosedur penelitian dan pengembangan mengacu pada model pengembangan Borg & Gall yang dikombinasikan dengan metode Software Development Life Cycle . Teknik pengumpulan data menggunakan observasi, angket, wawancara, dokumentasi dan tes. Sedangkan teknik analisis data menggunakan analisis deskriptif kualitatif dan kuantitatif. Hasil penelitian media pembelajaran yang dikembangkan adalah media pembelajaran faktorisasi prima berbasis android dengan tampilan berupa visual, gambar, suara dan video. Tampilan dalam media faktorisasi prima berbasis android adalah ikon, pembuka / layar utama, materi, penjelas, latihan dan ulangan.
Integrated inversion-feedforward and PID-based-sliding-mode-control for piezoelectric actuators

Hysteresis is an important nonlinear effect exhibited by the piezoelectric actuators (PEA) and its control has been drawing considerable attention. This paper presents the development of a novel control scheme for the PEA, by integrating the inversion feedforward control and proportional-integral-derivative (PID)-based sliding mode control (SMC). The resultant scheme allows for the compensation for the nonlinear hysteresis, meanwhile eliminating the chattering problem and achieving the zero steady state error. To verify its effectiveness, experiments were performed on a commercially-available PEA, as compared to the use of PID-based SMC alone. It shows that by integrating the inversion feedforward control, the hysteresis of the piezoelectric actuator can be compensated more effectively and thus a better tracking performance can be achieved.
ASPEK HUKUM PEMBERHENTIAN PEGAWAU NEGERI SIPIL BERDASARKAN PERATURAN PEMERINTAH NOMOR 30 TAHUN 2019 TENTANG PENILAIAN KINERJA PEGAWAI NEGERI SIPIL

ABSTRACTPerformance appraisal of civil servants as stipulated in article 77 number (6) of Law Number 5 of 2014 concerning State Civil Apparatus, this article states that a civil servant whose performance evaluation is not in accordance with the established targets is subject to sanctions in the form of administrative sanctions until dismissal. Basically, the performance of civil servants is the result and assessment of work carried out by civil servants in quality and quantity that has been achieved by a civil servant in carrying out the duties, authorities, obligations and responsibilities that have been given. This changes the paradigm that has been formed so far that being a civil servant is impossible to be dismissed, and a civil servant is not an office employee who is assessed based on performance appraisal, from that background we formulate the issue What is the legis ratio of dismissal of civil servants based on performance appraisal in PP Number 30 of 2019 concerning work evaluation? and What are the legal implications of the dismissal of civil servants based on performance appraisal in PP Number 30 of 2019 concerning Performance Appraisal.Keywords: Assessment, Performance, Civil Servants ABSTRAKPenilaian kinerja PNS diatur pasal 77 angka (6) Undang-Undang Nomor 5 Tahun 2014 tentang Aparatur Sipil Negara menyebutkan bahwa seorang PNS yang penilaian kinerjanya tidak sesuai target yang telah ditetapkan maka dikenakan sanksi berupa sanksi administratif hingga pemberhentian. Pada dasarnya kinerja PNS merupakan hasil dan penilaian kerja yang dilakukan oleh PNS secara kualitas dan kuantitas yang telah dicapai oleh seseorang PNS dalam melaksanakan tugas, kewenangan, kewajiban dan tanggung jawab yang telah diberikan. Hal ini merubah paradigma yang selama ini telah terbentuk bahwa menjadi seorang PNS mustahil untuk dapat diberhentikan, dan seorang PNS bukanlah seorang pegawai kantoran yang dinilai berdasarkan penilaian kinerja, dari latar belakang itulah maka kami merumuskan masalah Apa ratio legis dari pemberhentian PNS berdasarkan penilaian kinerja dalam PP Nomor 30 Tahun 2019 tentang Penilaian Kerja? Serta Apa implikasi hukum dari pemberhentian PNS berdasarkan penilaian kinerja dalam PP Nomor 30 Tahun 2019 tentang Penilaian Kinerja.Kata kunci: Penilaian, Kinerja, Pegawai Negeri Sipil
Handwritten Character Recognition Based on Improved Convolutional Neural Network

Because of the characteristics of high redundancy, high parallelism and nonlinearity in the handwritten character recognition model, the convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are becoming the first choice to solve these complex problems. The complexity, the types of characters, the character similarity of the handwritten character dataset, and the choice of optimizers all have a great impact on the network model, resulting in low accuracy, high loss, and other problems. In view of the existence of these problems, an improved LeNet-5 model is proposed. Through increasing its convolutional layers and fully connected layers, higher quality features can be extracted. Secondly, a more complex dataset called EMNIST is selected and many experiments are carried out. After many experiments, the Adam optimization algorithm is finally chosen to optimize the network model. Then, for processing character similarity problems on the pre-processed EMNIST dataset, the dataset is divided into different parts and to be processed. A better-divided result is selected after the comparative experiments. Finally, the high accuracy recognition of handwritten characters is achieved. The experimental results show that the recognition accuracy of the handwritten characters reached at 88% in the test set, and the loss is low.
Molecular docking studies of benzothiazinone derivatives in the search for new tuberculostatic agents

Despite the efforts to reduce the rate of infection, the resurgence of Tuberculosis, accompanied by strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, calls attention to the search for new drugs that can bypass resistance mechanisms. Among the strategies for the development of antitubercular lead compounds, benzothiazinones (BTZ) are included, with highly selective mechanism of action of DprE1 flavoenzyme. We studied four compounds in the antituberculosis activity (IC50 values between 0.029 - 0.060 μg/ml). These derivatives were subjected to energy minimization and Molecular Docking calculations in the software Molegro Virtual Docker, from which the binding free energy calculations showed that the suggested compounds had better binding affinity with DprE1 when compared to PBTZ169, a crystallized inhibitor of DprE1. Our results showed that the compounds showed similar crucial binding interactions between the compounds, which may determine that there was molecular rearrangement within the active site itself. Thus, our studies evidenced the probable interactions that favor the activity of the derivatives, as well as other interactions of the compounds with other residues not reported in the literature, and these may act as lead compounds in the development of new antituberculosis drugs.
Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs) on the Geographic, Socio-economic, and Public Policy Periphery: A Critical Case Study of Blocked Mobility in the City of San Diego, California

This article examines the geographic and socio-economic distribution of housing choice vouchers (HCVs) in the city of San Diego, California. It focuses on how the concentration of HCVs on geographic, socio-economic, and public policy peripheries forms a nexus that limits housing options for low-income residents. The analysis is based on a unique database that combines three datasets. One includes data for 13,973 individual HCV recipients measuring head of household characteristics (race, Hispanic ethnicity, gender, and age) and housing unit characteristics (unit size, rents, public subsidy levels). Another data set includes population and housing characteristics at the ZIP code level from the American Community Survey (ACS). The third data set includes small area fair market rents (SAFMRs) for ZIP codes and fair market rents (FMRs) for metropolitan San Diego. Data are displayed using GIS and analyzed using logistic hierarchical regression models. The results indicated that the public housing authority (PHA) that administers HCVs in the city of San Diego implemented the HCV program in a manner that reinforced the concentration of program participants in low-income areas and impeded moves to higher opportunity areas. The results expand our understanding of how geography, socio-economics, and public policy shape the production and reproduction of the periphery.
Software Implementation of Gesture Recognition Algorithm Using Computer Vision

This paper examines the main methods and principles of image formation, display of the sign language recognition algorithm using computer vision to improve communication between people with hearing and speech impairments. This algorithm allows to effectively recognize gestures and display information in the form of labels. A system that includes the main modules for implementing this algorithm has been designed. The modules include the implementation of perception, transformation and image processing, the creation of a neural network using artificial intelligence tools to train a model for predicting input gesture labels. The aim of this work is to create a full-fledged program for implementing a real-time gesture recognition algorithm using computer vision and machine learning.
Emerging trends in telecollaboration and virtual exchange: a bibliometric study

ABSTRACT As physical mobility finds itself impeded by the COVID-19 crisis, the world witnesses the potential of technology for connecting students who are physically distanced inside and cross-borders. In such scenarios, telecollaboration and virtual exchange have gained increased attention as powerful pedagogical strategies to allow for the continuity of intercultural exchanges and understanding the trends of this growing field can be of high significance to practitioners when planning future related initiatives. Although telecollaboration and virtual exchange are not new phenomena, to the best of our knowledge, a thorough bibliometric study of the area, considering the characteristics of its publications and its scientific community, has not yet been developed. This study carried out a bibliometric analysis of the telecollaboration and virtual exchange research field using a set of 254 articles from the Web of Science and Scopus databases with the objective of characterising the area as well as identifying research tendencies. In particular, this study uses four analytical scientometric tools: co-citation, co-authorship, keywords co-occurrence analysis and identification of research trends. This study identified emerging and declining themes in the field of telecollaboration and virtual exchange, confirming that the practice is increasingly adopting diverse formats and cutting across different knowledge fields. In addition, results showed that international collaboration so far involves few countries and there is much space to widen co-authorship networks to enhance intercultural exchanges. The review also explores the benefits and drawbacks of the technological tools adopted in the studies from our sample database.
Two new species of terrestrial-breeding frogs (Anura: Brachycephaloidea) from Cordillera de Colán, Peru

ABSTRACT We describe two new species of terrestrial-breeding frogs from the Cordillera de Colán, in northeastern Peru. We used Parsimony and Maximum Likelihood approaches to infer a molecular phylogeny on a dataset composed of 75 terminals, including three terminals representing the new species, and 4202 bp of concatenated mtDNA and nuDNA fragments. Our phylogenetic analyses support the placement of the two new species in Lynchius and Oreobates, respectively. The new species of Lynchius occurs in two localities from 1,977 to 2,006 m a.s. l. , and is characterized by having a dorsum covered by conical tubercles and a brown dorsal coloration lacking a pattern of blotches on the hidden surfaces of flanks and hindlimbs. The new species of Oreobates is only known from one location at 2608 m a.s. l. and is characterized by the absence of axillary and inguinal glands, and the presence of white or cream blotches on the dark brown hidden surfaces of the body.