Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers on Hormonal and Reproductive Health in E-Waste-Exposed Population: A Systematic Review

Electronic waste management is a global rising concern that is primarily being handled by informal recycling practices. These release a mix of potentially hazardous chemicals, which is an important public health concern. These chemicals include polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), used as flame retardants in electronic parts, which are persistent in nature and show bioaccumulative characteristics. Although PBDEs are suspected endocrine disruptors, particularly targeting thyroid and reproductive hormone functions, the relationship of PBDEs with these health effects are not well established. We used the Navigation Guide methodology to conduct a systematic review of studies in populations exposed to e-waste to better understand the relationships of these persistent flame retardants with hormonal and reproductive health. We assessed nineteen studies that fit our pre-determined inclusion criteria for risk of bias, indirectness, inconsistency, imprecision, and other criteria that helped rate the overall evidence for its quality and strength of evidence. The studies suggest PBDEs may have an adverse effect on thyroid hormones, reproductive hormones, semen quality, and neonatal health. However, more research is required to establish a relationship of these effects in the e-waste-exposed population. We identified the limitations of the data available and made recommendations for future scientific work.
The Perceived Impact of COVID-19 on Functional Activities Among Canadian Education Workers: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective This cross-sectional study examined the self-perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on 2,378 education workers in Ontario, Canada, during the second wave. Methods We examined six domains of functioning as per the short version of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule-2.0. Participants selected if their functioning had improved, remained unchanged or worsened during the pandemic for each item. Results Educational workers described a general worsening of functional activities since the beginning of the pandemic. Moderate-to-extreme challenges were reported for all six functional domains. These challenges appeared to aggravate functional challenges for workers with disability, as indicated by pre-existing work accommodations. Older participants reported worse mobility than younger participants; however, they appeared to have better coping skills in learning new tasks and maintaining friendships. Women were more likely to report difficulties in maintaining household responsibilities. Conclusions We consider the role of mental health challenges and pre-existing inequality as predictors of pandemic-related difficulties. Recommendations include more longitudinal research in this population and policymakers to incorporate a health promotion lens to support their education workers more proactively.
Surface Ocean Biogeochemistry Regulates the Impact of Anthropogenic Aerosol Fe Deposition on the Cycling of Iron and Iron Isotopes in the North Pacific

Distinctively‐light isotopic signatures associated with Fe released from anthropogenic activity have been used to trace basin‐scale impacts. However, this approach is complicated by the way Fe cycle processes modulate oceanic dissolved Fe (dFe) signatures (δ56Fediss) post deposition. Here we include dust, wildfire, and anthropogenic aerosol Fe deposition in a global ocean biogeochemical model with active Fe isotope cycling, to quantify how anthropogenic Fe impacts surface ocean dFe and δ56Fediss. Using the North Pacific as a natural laboratory, the response of dFe, δ56Fediss, and primary productivity are spatially and seasonally variable and do not simply follow the footprint of atmospheric deposition. Instead, the effect of anthropogenic Fe is regulated by the biogeochemical regime, specifically the degree of Fe limitation and rates of primary production. Overall, we find that while δ56Fediss does trace anthropogenic input, the response is muted by fractionation during phytoplankton uptake, but amplified by other isotopically‐light Fe sources.
Glucosylceramides from Cladosporium and Their Roles in Fungi–Plant Interaction

Cladosporium species are widely distributed filamentous fungi. One of the most important species is C. herbarum, which is related to infections in a variety of plants and of concern in plantations. Fungal cerebrosides, such as glucosylceramide (GlcCer), have been described as playing important roles in fungal growth and pathogenesis, but GlcCer from C. herbarum has not been characterized so far. For this reason, the present study aimed to elucidate the chemical structure of GlcCer from C. herbarum and its role in the interaction with Passiflora edulis. Mass spectrometry characterization of purified GlcCer revealed two major molecular ions, m/z 760 and m/z 774, and it reacts with monoclonal anti-GlcCer antibodies and is exposed on the fungal surface. P. edulis treatment with GlcCer induced increased levels of superoxide as well as the expression of some genes related to plant defense, such as PR3, POD, LOX and PAL. GlcCer also enhanced growth parameters, such as plant height and root weight. All these results suggest that C. herbarum GlcCer can stimulate plant defense mechanisms, which could help plants to face fungal infections.
Language Learning in Modular Set-Up: Challenges and Coping Mechanisms of Secondary Students

The urgent need to respond to the Covid crisis has provided the impetus for the implementation of modular distance learning in the Philippines. Hence, this study is one of the very few studies which sought to investigate the modular distance learning in the country, particularly the challenges it brought to the English language learners. Also, this present research aimed to determine the coping mechanisms of students, relevant to the challenges raised. The participants of the study were senior high school students, two males andsixfemales, who were purposely selected to fit into the inclusion criteria. Descriptive qualitative research design was employed and individual in-depth interviews were conducted to gather the data. The responses were transcribed, translated, and analyzed through thematic analysis. With regards the challenges, these themes were created: absence of teacher’s instruction, struggles of self-learning, poor picture quality, limited contents of the module, insufficient allotted time, failure of teachers to respond to inquiries, unstable and limited access to internet, students lack of vocabulary and grammatical knowledge, and less opportunity for correction. The paper ends with the discussion on how the students addressed the challenges of modular distance learning which was also subdivided into themes.
Identification of novel ADP ribosylation sites in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isocitrate lyase by mass spectrometry

Mass spectrometry is a powerful proteomics tool for the identification of therapeutic targets and disease biomarkers on one hand and for characterization of post-translationally modified (PTM) and alternatively spliced protein isoforms on the other. PTMs are the covalent modifications of certain proteins either by the addition of functional groups or by proteolytic cleavage. These modifications result in the structure-function regulations of target proteins and generate protein isoforms which may be associated with a particular disease. The prior knowledge of PTMs in a specific drug target aid in designing novel therapeutics. Isocitrate lyase (ICL) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is one such drug target, which exists in two isoforms - ICL1 (Rv0467) and ICL2 (Rv1915 and Rv1916) and the activity of the former was reported to be regulated by lysine acetylation and succinylation. While reviewing the major PTMs in Mtb, this review also brings up the plausible role of reversible post-translational modifications such as ADP-ribosylation and acetylation Rv1915 and Rv1916 in assisting persistent Mtb to survive and respond to environmental cues respectively.
GAN-BElectra: Enhanced Multi-class Sentiment Analysis with Limited Labeled Data

ABSTRACT Performing sentiment analysis with high accuracy using machine-learning techniques requires a large quantity of training data. However, getting access to such a large quantity of labeled data for specific domains can be expensive and time-consuming. These warrant developing more efficient techniques that can perform sentiment analysis with high accuracy with a few labeled training data. In this paper, we aim to address this problem with our proposed novel sentiment analysis technique, named GAN-BElectra. With rigorous experiments, we demonstrate that GAN-BElectra outperforms its baseline technique in terms of multiclass sentiment analysis accuracy with a few labeled data while maintaining an architecture with reduced complexity compared to its predecessor.
Characteristics and Regulating Roles of Wheat TaHsfA2-13 in Abiotic Stresses

Heat shock transcription factor (Hsf) exists widely in eukaryotes and responds to various abiotic stresses by regulating the expression of downstream transcription factors, functional enzymes, and molecular chaperones. In this study, TaHsfA2-13, a heat shock transcription factor belonging to A2 subclass, was cloned from wheat (Triticum aestivum) and its function was analyzed. TaHsfA2-13 encodes a protein containing 368 amino acids and has the basic characteristics of Hsfs. Multiple sequence alignment analysis showed that TaHsfA2-13 protein had the highest similarity with TdHsfA2c-like protein from Triticum dicoccoides, which reached 100%. The analysis of tissue expression characteristics revealed that TaHsfA2-13 was highly expressed in root, shoot, and leaf during the seedling stage of wheat. The expression of TaHsfA2-13 could be upregulated by heat stress, low temperature, H2O2, mannitol, salinity and multiple phytohormones. The TaHsfA2-13 protein was located in the nucleus under the normal growth conditions and showed a transcriptional activation activity in yeast. Further studies found that overexpression of TaHsfA2-13 in Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 or athsfa2 mutant results in improved tolerance to heat stress, H2O2, SA and mannitol by regulating the expression of multiple heat shock protein (Hsp) genes. In summary, our study identified TaHsfA2-13 from wheat, revealed its regulatory function in varieties of abiotic stresses, and will provide a new target gene to improve stress tolerance for wheat breeding.
Alterations in Skeletal Muscle mRNA Abundance in Response to Ethyl-Cellulose Rumen-Protected Methionine during the Periparturient Period in Dairy Cows

Simple Summary Improvements in performance around parturition by feeding ethyl-cellulose rumen-protected methionine (RPM) have been reported. Hepatic and adipose gene transcription effects have been a key focus of studies dealing with RPM. It is unknown, however, if RPM alters the abundance of genes associated with nutrient metabolism and biochemical pathways in skeletal muscle. This tissue also experiences dynamic biological changes around parturition. The objective was to use skeletal muscle biopsies from cows fed a control or RPM-supplemented diet around parturition to investigate alterations in mRNA abundance. Compared with controls, feeding RPM led to overall upregulation of genes associated with amino acid transport, carnitine transport, β-oxidation, vitamin transport, mTOR pathway, insulin signaling, antioxidant response, CDP-Choline pathway, and arginine metabolism. Thus, besides positive effects at the level of performance, RPM can help skeletal muscle maintain homeostasis around parturition partly through alterations in mRNA abundance. Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the effect of feeding ethyl cellulose rumen-protected methionine (RPM) on skeletal muscle mRNA abundance during the periparturient period. Sixty multiparous Holstein cows were used in a block design and assigned to either a control or RPM diet. The RPM was supplied from −28 to 60 days in milk (DIM) at a rate of 0.09% (prepartum) or 0.10% (postpartum) of dry matter (DM), ensuring a Lys:Met in the metabolizable protein of ~2.8:1. Muscle biopsies were collected at −21, 1, and 21 DIM. Thirty-five target genes associated with nutrient metabolism and biochemical pathways were measured via RT-qPCR. The mRNA abundance of genes associated with amino acid (AA) transport (SLC7A8, SLC43A2), carnitine transport (SLC22A5), insulin signaling (IRS1), and antioxidant response (NFE2L2) had diet × time effect (p < 0.05) due to greater abundance in RPM versus CON cows, especially at 1 and 21 DIM. Members of the AA transport (SLC7A8, SLC25A29, SCL38A9), fatty acid β-oxidation (ACADVL), vitamin transport (SLC5A6, SLC19A2), mTOR pathway (AKT1 and mTOR), antioxidant response (KEAP1, CUL3), CDP-Choline pathway and arginine metabolism had overall greater abundance (p < 0.05) in RPM versus CON cows. Overall, data indicate that RPM can alter nutrient metabolism in the skeletal muscle around parturition partly through alterations in mRNA abundance.
The Affimation of “idaman jelita” Character to Form Students Economics Literacy

This study aims to analyze the effect of affirmation of the Universitas Negeri Surabaya (UNESA) values, called by “idaman jelita” character both directly and indirectly on self-efficacy, academic cheating and student economic literacy. This is explanatory research with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Warppls approach. The population and sample in this study are 254 students of UNESA, Department of Economic Education, Faculty of Economics. The sampling technique used was a saturated sample. Data collection techniques using interviews and questionnaires.The results show that academic cheating committed by students has no effect on their economic literacy, and vice versa, when students do not commit fraud in academic activities, it does not have a significant effect on economic literacy. This study was conducted on college students who have different characteristics with lower education levels. For the future research conduct re-examining using high school students as participants to confirm the findings to be generalized.
Big Data Visualization: A Survey

Due to the rapid development in our world today, multiple data sources from various sources such as sensors, the internet of things, healthcare data, etc., have been increased. So, it is necessary to analyze these data to obtain valuable data and visualize it with visualization tools. Big data visualization plays an essential role in today's world for decision-makers. This paper surveys big data concepts, big data visualization concepts, and big data visualization tools and techniques. Moreover, this paper presents an up-to-date comprehensive comparison among numerous big data visualization tools based on the characteristics and criteria of each visualization tool.
Influence of Social Anxiety and Peer Acceptance on Adolescents’ Social Adjustment in Nigerian Secondary Schools

This study examines the influence of social anxiety and peer acceptance on adolescents’ social adjustment among secondary school students in Ikorodu, Lagos, Nigeria. To carry out the study, four hypotheses were formulated and tested. A descriptive survey research design was adopted in the study. The sample of the study consisted of 350 students comprising 175 males and 175 females selected through stratified random sampling. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. The hypotheses formulated in this study were tested with t-test statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the study showed a significant influence of social anxiety on adolescents’ social adjustment, a significant influence of peer acceptance on adolescents’ social adjustment, a significant gender difference in the extent of social anxiety among adolescents, and a significant gender difference in the extent of peer acceptance among adolescents. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that school authorities provide a learning environment that eliminates the potential for occurrences of social anxiety. Adolescents should be encouraged to avoid following peers or friends who have negative attitude or influence. Rather, they should follow only those who can influence them positively.
Politicizing Poland’s Public Service Media: The Analysis of Wiadomości News Program

This study explores the tensions between the mission and pluralism of the media versus the participation of the public service media (PSM) in government propaganda in Poland. We present the results of the hybrid qualitative-quantitative content analysis of the propaganda techniques used in Wiadomości – the main public TVP1 news program. Two weekly blocks of news were analyzed. The first was randomly selected from 2015-2020. The second was subsequently chosen for the same seven days, two years later. We assumed that this chronological difference would reveal changes in narration and propaganda used in the news. The analysis refers to the mission of PSM, as defined by the law in the Broadcasting Act (1992). The changes that occurred after 2015 were also the result of new legal regulations and personnel changes. The conclusions confirm that the news from the PSM is controlled and manipulated by the government.
Using Chinese Coal Gangue as an Ecological Aggregate and Its Modification: A Review

Coal gangue is a kind of industrial solid waste with serious ecological and environmental implications. Producing concrete with coal gangue aggregate is one of the green sustainable development requirements. This paper reviews the properties and preparation methods of Chinese gangue aggregate, studies the influence of gangue aggregate on concrete properties and the prediction model of gangue concrete, and summarizes the influence of modified materials on gangue concrete. The studies analyzed in this review show that different treatments influence the performance of coal gangue aggregate concrete. With the increase in the replacement ratio of coal gangue aggregate in concrete, the concrete workability and mechanical performance are reduced. Furthermore, the pore structure changes lead to decreased porosity, greatly affecting the durability. Coal gangue is not recommended for producing high-grade concretes. Nevertheless, pore structure can be improved by adding mineral admixtures, fibers, and admixtures to the coal gangue concrete. Hence, the working properties, mechanical properties, and durability of the concrete can be improved effectively, ensuring that coal gangue concrete meets engineering design requirements. Adding modified materials to coal gangue concrete is a viable future development direction.
Experimental Investigation of Contact Heat Transfer at High Pressures

- Besides the mechanical description of technical systems, a thermal modelling is frequently required. In this context, contact heat transfer coefficients are essential boundary conditions for the thermal simulation of technical systems consisting of several individual components. This parameter is mainly influenced by the surface structure and roughness of the contact partners as well as the applied contact pressure. However, although the influencing parameters are well known, an analytical determination is quite difficult. Therefore, an experimental quantification is mandatory. So far, experiments in literature have primarily focused on the investigation of contact heat transfers at moderate loads up to 100 MPa. Nevertheless, there are some applications where solids are in contact at very high pressure and resulting heat transfer between them plays an essential role, such as the interface between the tool and the workpiece during machining. The aim of this work is to present a novel experimental methodology to determine contact heat transfers at high loads. In this approach, infrared thermography is used to measure the temperature data, which is consequently used to solve an inverse problem using the conjugate gradient method, which provides the corresponding contact heat transfer coefficients. Furthermore, first experimental results for a load-dependent heat transfer for loads between 200 and 1200 MPa are presented and occurring effects are discussed.
Experimental Analysis and CFD Modelling of the Flow Conditions inside an Air-Core-Liquid-Ring Atomizer

- The Air-Core-Liquid-Ring (ACLR) atomization is an innovative internal-mixing pneumatic atomization technique, suitable for energy-efficient spray drying because of its ability to handle highly viscous liquid feeds with high solid contents. However, pneumatic atomizers such as the ACLR can suffer from unstable internal flow conditions, which may lead to a wide variation in the droplet diameter obtained. Therefore, the internal flow conditions of an ACLR-atomizer prototype needed to be studied and comprehended. With that in mind, a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was developed, and tested with experimental data collected for different gas pressures and liquid feed viscosities. A mesh independence study, as well as some testing of Physics models were performed. A mixed polyhedral – prismatic mesh was generated, and the k-ω SST model was selected as it showed a good balance between representation of the turbulence in the system and computational effort. The predicted average lamella thickness is similar with experimental results, with an average 10 % error, but the thickness variations observed in the experiments dampen quickly over time in the simulations. This is not the case in the experiments with the higher viscous maltodextrin solution. Therefore, further model refining has still to be done. Nonetheless, the flow behaves as expected in the CFD simulation with changes in pressure and liquid viscosity. This opens up the possibilities of doing more in-detail CFD studies of the effect of liquid feed properties and geometrical variations of the nozzle.
Instability of g-mode oscillations in white dwarf stars

A white dwarf model with M = 6 solar masses, Te = 12,000 K, and L = 1.2 x 10 to the 31st erg/sec provided by Cox has been tested for linear stability of radial oscillations. The radial mode instability first reported for this model by Cox, et al. (1979) has been confirmed. The growth rates obtained are comparable to the rates found by Cox. A sequence of l = 2 g-modes has also been found to be unstable. The e-folding times range from around 10 to the 11th periods for a 137 second mode (1 radial node) to less than 100 periods for a 629 second mode (17 nodes). It is likely that the latter rate is too high because the eigenfunction has been forced to vanish at the non-zero inner radius of the model, at which the Brunt-Vaisala frequency is barely less than the mode frequency.