Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Flexible RAN: Combining Dynamic Baseband Split Selection and Reconfigurable Optical Transport to Optimize RAN Performance

The introduction of functional splits in C-RANs brings a tradeoff between radio performance and transport capacity. Higher-layer splits relax transport capacity requirements, whereas radio performance is not guaranteed. Lower-layer splits are beneficial for the radio performance, but they may require a more expensive and high capacity transport network. Facing the challenge of how to deploy 5G RANs in the short-term future, network operators need to find the best functional split options able to accommodate radio performance requirements without incurring excessive transport network costs. This article presents an architecture referred to as F-RAN able to choose the most appropriate split option while considering time-varying radio performance and the availability of transport resources. F-RAN can accommodate these needs by means of an SDNbased orchestration layer and a programmable optical transport network. The performance of F-RAN is benchmarked against a conventional C-RAN architecture in terms of the number of wavelengths and transponders to be deployed. Simulation results confirm the overall benefits of F-RAN in terms of better utilization of transport resources.
Alignment of Software Development Life Cycle and Product Life Cycle (Lesson Learned from BBM Fall Down)

Blackberry Messenger (BBM) has already announced its shutdown on May 31, 2019. With their massive growth in 2014, BBM slowly decreased the number of users due to their competitor’s growth, such as WhatsApp and Telegram. In the marketing life cycle, when a product already reaches its maturity level, it will enter a decline gate, which means that if a product wants longer existence in the market, it should prevent that decline level, or it will be gone just like BBM. While the product life cycle is related to marketing strategy (in this case BBM is a software product), the software development life cycle (SDLC) is related to information system design and analysis. Thus, this research tries to align both of life cycle and find out which step or level that should be anticipated by the board of director or project manager in software development. The result of this research finally declared that the mature stage should be aligned with the test and operation stage. It also stated that there are some suggestions on avoiding the decline stage, such as implementing change management, take customers’ suggestions and critics seriously for future development and execute strategy into action immediately. Thus, it can delay or even avoid software products entering the decline stage just like the lesson learned from BBM fall down. Keywords: product life cycle, software development life cycle, mature stage, BBM
Distance from the Forest Edge Influences Soil Fungal Communities Colonizing a Reclaimed Soil Borrow Site in Boreal Mixedwood Forest

Soil fungi are important components of boreal forest ecosystems; for example, saprotrophic fungi regulate nutrient cycling, and mycorrhizal species facilitate nutrient uptake by plants. This study aimed to assess soil fungal communities in a reclaimed area and an adjacent natural mixedwood forest and to identify the distribution of taxa available for seedling colonization. Soil fungal microbiomes were assessed along three transects (from 10 m inside the interior of the undisturbed forest to 40 m inside the reclaimed area) and in the roots of small aspen within the natural forest. Using high-throughput deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequencing of internal transcribed spacer amplicons, a total of 2796 unique fungal taxa were detected across fine roots, forest floor, and mineral soils collected along the transects, whereas 166 taxa were detected in the aspen roots from the natural forest. Within the interior of the forest, ectomycorrhizal fungi were more common, whereas in the reclaimed areas, arbuscular mycorrhizae and saprophytes were more common. This survey showed that natural areas of adjacent undisturbed forest can act as a source of ectomycorrhizal fungi for dispersal into reclaimed areas. Notably, soil fungal taxa colonizing the root systems of small aspen included species that are specifically associated with soils from the undisturbed forest (primarily ectomycorrhizae) or the reclaimed clearing (saprotrophs and plant pathogens).
Identification and characterization of new plant microRNAs using EST analysis

Seventy-five previously known plant microRNAs (miRNAs) were classified into 14 families according to their gene sequence identity. A total of 18,694 plant expressed sequence tags (EST) were found in the GenBank EST databases by comparing all previously known Arabidopsis miRNAs to GenBank's plant EST databases with BLAST algorithms. After removing the EST sequences with high numbers (more than 2) of mismatched nucleotides, a total of 812 EST contigs were identified. After predicting and scoring the RNA secondary structure of the 812 EST sequences using mFold software, 338 new potential miRNAs were identified in 60 plant species, miRNAs are widespread. Some microRNAs may highly conserve in the plant kingdom, and they may have the same ancestor in very early evolution. There is no nucleotide substitution in most miRNAs among many plant species. Some of the new identified potential miRNAs may be induced and regulated by environmental biotic and abiotic stresses. Some may be preferentially expressed in specific tissues, and are regulated by developmental switching. These findings suggest that EST analysis is a good alternative strategy for identifying new miRNA candidates, their targets, and other genes. A large number of miRNAs exist in different plant species and play important roles in plant developmental switching and plant responses to environmental abiotic and biotic stresses as well as signal transduction. Environmental stresses and developmental switching may be the signals for synthesis and regulation of miRNAs in plants. A model for miRNA induction and expression, and gene regulation by miRNA is hypothesized.
Action Research as a Meta-Methodology in the Management Field

Although it was first developed in the field of psychology, action research is a methodology of growing importance in business and management contexts. In this research article, we focus on a significant aspect of action research: the variety of methodologies that can be used jointly in an action research study and its relationships. More specifically, the aim of this study is to underscore the definition of action research as a meta-methodology that encompasses different ways of carrying out empirical research. To this end, we perform a meta-analysis of articles discussing empirical research that used an action research methodology. The meta-analysis is based on a systematic review of articles published between 2000 and 2018. The main findings suggest that action research may be regarded as a multidisciplinary method and that it can be implemented jointly with other methodologies; not just qualitative methods but also quantitative research. Consequently, action research may now be defined as a meta-methodology or an umbrella process. In this way, action research is a tool whose implementation ought to be promoted in the business/management field as a way of enhancing relevant, rigorous empirical studies and serving as a framework reference in projects based on research and practice contribution as well as active collaboration between researchers and practitioners.
The College Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (CASES); An Indonesian Validation to Measure the Self-Efficacy of Students

Abstract : This study examines the inventory properties of the Indonesian version of The College Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (CASES) which is originally Western, and was developed by Owen, S. V. , & Froman, R. D. in 1988 to determine the level of student self-efficacy. The multi-stage random sampling method was used with 342 students as participants in Indonesia. Furthermore, the validity was analyzed using Cronbach’s alpha item analysis that shows the coefficient of α > . 3, and the data showed that 33 items of Indonesian CASES were valid. In addition, as regards reliability, Cronbach’s alpha was also used for the analysis, and the result shows that reliability coefficient of the Indonesian version of CASES was . 931. Furthermore, it was concluded that the validity of CASES was satisfying to measure students’ self-efficacy, and the construct of Indonesian CASES can be helpful and applicable in understanding student self-efficacy and ready to be used in subsequent researches. Abstrak : Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melakukan validasi CASES versi bahasa Indonesia yang awalnya berasal dari barat, inventori ini dikembangkan oleh Owen, S. V. , & Froman, R. D. pada tahun 1988 untuk mengukur tingkat efikasi diri siswa. Metode pengambilan sampel yang digunakan adalah multi-stage random sampling dengan 342 siswa di Indonesia. Selanjutnya, validitas dianalisis menggunakan analisis butir Alpha Cronbach yang menunjukkan koefisien α > 0,3, dan data menunjukkan bahwa 33 butir CASES versi Bahasa Indonesia valid. Selain itu, dalam analisis reliabilitas, Alpha Cronbach juga digunakan, dan hasilnya menunjukkan bahwa koefisien reliabilitas CASES versi Bahasa Indonesia adalah 0,931. Dengan demikian, disimpulkan bahwa CASES valid dan reliabel dalam mengukur efikasi diri siswa, dan konstruk CASES versi Bahasa Indonesia dapat diaplikasikan dalam mengukur efikasi diri siswa serta siap digunakan dalam penelitian selanjutnya.
Investigation of Secondary Metabolites of North Sea Bacteria: Fermentation, Isolation, Structure Elucidation and Bioactivity

In this work 39 bacterial strains from the North Sea were submitted to the chemical and biological screening and due to the results four strains were examined thoroughly for interesting secondary metabolites. Various biotechnical methods were used to promote the yields of secondary metabolites up to 6 mg/L. This resulted in the chromatographic isolation of tropodithietic acid (11) and other eight new natural products (12, 34, 35, 36, 37, 44, 46, 51). The biological activities of them were tested against bacteria, fungi, different tumour cell lines, saline shrimps, nematode and ion channel. 11 showed inhibition activities in all assays except for the ion channel. In total 24 structures were elucidated with spectroscopic methods and X-ray analysis. In addition one bacterial strain (H260) was cultured with OSMAC method to activate its biosynthetic ability of producing peptides. Four of diketopiperazines (54 - 57) and their isomers were identified with HPLC-ESIMS-MS. The primary assignment of a bioactive peptide has proved the result of the NRPS-screening that this strain contains NRPS.
A two step purification strategy for Chikungunya virions purification using sucrose buoyant density gradient separation.

An improved method for purifying Chikungunya virus from cell culture supernatant of infected African Green Monkey Kidney cells is described. It employs a combination of polyethylene glycol precipitation and sucrose gradient ultracentrifugation. The infected cell culture su- pernatant was precipitated using polyethylene glycol and concentrated virus was banded at the interface of 20-60% (w/v) discontinuous su- crose gradient using rate zonal ultra centrifugation. Using a combination of SDS-PAGE and western blotting techniques, Chikungunya virus structural proteins were detected only in the fractions collected from the interface. The authenticity of the purified Chikungunya virions was further confirmed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and transmission electron microscopic study. The developed method has immense application and is useful in making large quantity of purified Chikungunya virus for its characterization, virus morphological study and purification of Chikungunya virus like particles expressed from heterologous system.
Use of Apps to Promote Childhood Vaccination: Systematic Review

Background Vaccination is a critical step in reducing child mortality; however, vaccination rates have declined in many countries in recent years. This decrease has been associated with an increase in the outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases. The potential for leveraging mobile platforms to promote vaccination coverage has been investigated in the development of numerous mobile apps. Although many are available for public use, there is little robust evaluation of these apps. Objective This systematic review aimed to assess the effectiveness of apps supporting childhood vaccinations in improving vaccination uptake, knowledge, and decision making as well as the usability and user perceptions of these apps. Methods PubMed, Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) databases were systematically searched for studies published between 2008 and 2019 that evaluated childhood vaccination apps. Two authors screened and selected studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were extracted and analyzed, and the studies were assessed for risk of bias. Results A total of 28 studies evaluating 25 apps met the inclusion criteria and were included in this analysis. Overall, 9 studies assessed vaccination uptake, of which 4 reported significant benefits (P<.001 or P=.03) of the implementation of the app. Similarly, 4 studies indicated a significant (P≤.054) impact on knowledge and on vaccination decision making. Patient perceptions, usability, and acceptability were generally positive. The quality of the included studies was found to be moderate to poor, with many aspects of the methodology being unclear. Conclusions There is little evidence to support the use of childhood vaccination apps to improve vaccination uptake, knowledge, or decision making. Further research is required to understand the dichotomous effects of vaccination-related information provision and the evaluation of these apps in larger, more robust studies. The methodology of studies must be reported more comprehensively to accurately assess the effectiveness of childhood vaccination apps and the risk of bias of studies. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) RR2-10.2196/16929
Coccidia of Gerbils from Mongolia

In this study, gerbils collected in the Mongolia over the summers of 2009-2012 were examined for coccidia. In total, 171 gerbils of three species from 22 localities were examined for coccidia. Coccidian oocysts were identified from 21 gerbils, but those found in 1 of those gerbils were probably pseudoparasites of the host from which they were recovered. From the remaining 20 gerbils, 7 morphotypes of Eimeria and 1 morphotype of Isospora were identified. Four of the 7 morphotypes of Eimeria were attributed to new species which were described in this study. In addition, 10 previously described species of Eimeria were recommended to be considered junior synonyms or species inquirendae. Phylogenetic analyses of the species of Eimeria identified in this study based on 9 continuous and 12 categorical morphological characters were then performed. The anaylsis which produced the highest consistency index (CI = 0.6667, excluding uninformative characters) used all data with unweighted character states and produced 3 equally parsimonious trees. However, the tree score distribution for this analysis was only weakly skewed right with a g1 value of −0.25439, indicating a lack of phylogenetic information. The analysis which produced the most strongly right skewed tree score distribution (g1 = −0.4950) used only categorical data with characters weighted inversely to the number of states and produced seven equally parsimonious trees. In order to predict the spatial distribution of Eimeria spp. occurring in gerbils in Mongolia and identify any apparent ecological trends, ecological niche models (ENM's) were produced using both GARP and Maxent, and chi-squared tests were performed to identify correlations between infection with species of Eimeria or Isospora and host species, sex, infection with helminths, and year and month of capture. ENM's produced with GARP predicted that Eimeria spp. occur in 28.63% of Mongolia, while the model produced with Maxent predicted the Eimeria spp. occur in 28.70% of Mongolia. The environmental variables with the greatest percent contribution to the ENM predicting the distribution of Eimeria spp. created with Maxent were Normalized Differential Vegitative Index (NDVI), mean precipitation of the driest month, and aspect. The only significant (α=0.10) correlation found using a chi-squared test was that between host species and infection by Eimeria spp. (p=.07); oocysts of Eimeria spp. were recovered from 5% of hosts of Meriones meridianus and 14% of hosts of Meriones unguiculatus. The additions and revisions to the taxonomy of the coccidia of gerbils in this study contribute to the …
TGF-β2 Reduces Demyelination, Virus Antigen Expression, and Macrophage Recruitment in a Viral Model of Multiple Sclerosis1

TGF-β2 is a potent immunoregulatory mediator that influences B cell, T cell, and macrophage function. To test whether this cytokine alters pathology in a model of virus-induced demyelinating disease, we treated SJL/J mice with TGF-β2 either before or after infection with Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis virus. Treatment continued three times weekly through day 35 postinfection. TGF-β2 administration resulted in significantly smaller lesions and fewer virus Ag-positive cells in the spinal cords of infected SJL/J mice. Mice treated with TGF-β2 had similar levels of virus-specific IgG as infected, control-treated mice. TGF-β2 administration significantly increased the level of non-virus-specific activated CTLs, but had no effect on virus-specific CTLs. TUNEL revealed a decrease in the number of apoptotic nuclei in the spinal cord white matter of mice treated in vivo with TGF-β2. Immunostaining with an Ab to F4/80 revealed that TGF-β2-treated mice had significantly fewer F4/80-positive cells in the white matter of the spinal cord as compared with infected control-treated mice. These data suggest that TGF-β2 may control virus-induced demyelination via an immunomodulatory mechanism that reduces macrophage infiltration.
Genetic diversity and relationships of selected Polygonum species using RAPD analysis.

The genetic diversity of the selected Polygonum species namely P. chinense L. , P. molle D. Don , P. glabrum Willd . , P. barbatum L . , P. fagopyrum Moench . P.hydropiper, P.nepalances, was analyzed using RAPD markers.
Differentiation and Development of Fungiform Papillae in Buffalo Tongue

The study was conducted on tongues of 36 buffalo foetii. The fungiform papillae were observed as semicircular dome shaped eminences, formed as a result of epithelial thickening at 10.7 cm CVR length. Taste buds comprising of neuroepithelial, sustentacular and basal cells were detected on the apical surface of fungiform papillae present on the torus area at 45.0 cm CVR length (175 days). It was concluded from the study that the development of fungiform papillae and taste buds proceed caudo-cranially.
The Structural Biology and Critical Evaluation of Bacterial Proteases as Targets in New Drug Design

Bacteria produce a range of proteolytic enzymes, for which a number human equivalent or structurally similar examples exist and the primary focus of this study was to analyse the published literature to find proteolytic enzymes, specifically endoproteses and to examine the similarity in the substrates that they act on so as to predict a suitable structural motif which can be used as the basis for preparation of useful prodrug carriers against diseases caused by specific bacteria like Salmonella. Also, the similarities between the bacterial proteases and the action of human matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), together with the MMP-like activity of bacterial endoproteases to activate human MMPs, were also analysed. This information was used to try to identify substrates on which the MMPs and bacterial proteases act, to aid the design of oligopeptide prodrug carriers to treat cancer and its metastatic spread. MMPs are greatly involved in cancer growth and progression, a few MMPs and certain proteases share a similar type of activity in degrading the extra cellular matrix (ECM) and substrates including gelatin. Our primary targets of study were to identify the proteases and MMPs that facilitate the migration of bacteria and growth of tumour cells respectively. The study was thus a two-way approach to study the substrate specificity of both bacterial proteases and MMPs, thereby to help in characterisation of their substrates. Various bioinformatics tools were used in the characterisation of the proteases and substrates as well as in the identification of possible binding sites and conserved regions in a range of candidate proteins. Central to this project was the salmonella derived PgtE surface protease that has been shown recently to act upon the pro-forms of human MMP-9.
A Role For Lipid Rafts In Egfr Tki Resistance In Breast Cancer

A ROLE FOR LIPID RAFTS IN EGFR TKI RESISTANCE IN BREAST CANCER by MARY ELIZABETH IRWIN December 2010 Advisor: Julie Boerner, PhD Major: Pharmacology Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Breast cancer can be divided into genetic sub-types including luminal, HER2+, and basaltype. With the introduction of targeted therapies against estrogen receptor and HER2 receptor mortality rates of American women with breast cancer have declined. Unfortunately, basal-type breast cancers, which have the worst clinical outcome, do not express estrogen receptor or HER2, and as such, have no targeted therapeutic option. The epidermal growth factor receptor is an attractive target for therapeutics in basal-type breast cancer, as it is over-expressed in 60% of these cases. Also, over-expression of EGFR correlates with poor patient prognosis. Unfortunately, inhibitors of EGFR have shown little clinical efficacy in basal-type breast cancers. We have utilized basal-type breast cancer cell lines to determine a potential mechanism of resistance to EGFR-targeted small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Specifically, we have shown that EGFR localizes to discrete membrane microdomains (lipid rafts) in cell lines that are resistant to EGFR TKIinduced growth inhibition. Depletion of lipid rafts via cholesterol reduction results in sensitivity of EGFR TKI resistant breast cancer cell lines to the EGFR TKI gefitinib. 243 Importantly, the effects of cholesterol lowering drugs and EGFR TKI in combination were synergistic. We have shown that the non-receptor tyrosine kinase c-Src, which is co-overexpressed with EGFR in a subset of breast tumors, also localizes to lipid rafts in the SUM159 breast cancer cell line. In this model system, c-Src kinase inhibition results in synergistically decreased cell viability in combination with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibition. c-Src kinase inhibition and cholesterol depletion are additive, results that suggest these two inhibitors work within the same pathway. Indeed, treatment with either cholesterol lowering drugs or c-Src kinase inhibitors results in decreased EGFR-kinase independent Akt phosphorylation. Thus, lipid rafts may provide a platform whereby EGFR and c-Src interact to promote Akt signaling in the absence of EGFR kinase activity. These results suggest, for the first time, that lipid rafts are involved in EGFR-kinase independent signaling, and that depletion of these rafts may work in combination with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibition to decrease breast cancer cell growth.
PLC-HMI BASED SIMULATION of PV CELL and ARRAY BEHAVIOR

Abstract This paper presents the PLC-HMI based simulation of electrical-based PV cell/array model in laboratory platform to give the opportunity to students and users who haven't clear knowledge to study PV cell and array behavior with respect to change of environment conditions and electrical parameters. This simulation process covers the cell models under ideal and non-ideal ones. In non-ideal one, the series resistance and the shunt resistance are covered.