Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Bioactive Polypyrrole/Polydopamine Nanowire Coating with Enhanced Osteogenic Differentiation Ability with Electrical Stimulation

Polypyrrole (PPy) is a promising conducting polymer in bone regeneration; however, due to the biological inertia of the PPy surface, it has poor cell affinity and bioactivity. Based on the excellent adhesion capacity, biocompatibility, and bioactivity of polydopamine (PDA), the PDA is used as a functional coating in tissue repair and regeneration. Herein, we used a two-step method to construct a functional conductive coating of polypyrrole/polydopamine (PPy/PDA) nanocomposite for bone regeneration. PPy nanowires (NWs) are used as the morphologic support layer, and a layer of highly bioactive PDA is introduced on the surface of PPy NWs by solution oxidation. By controlling the depositing time of PDA within 5 h, the damage of nano morphology and conductivity of the PPy NWs caused by the coverage of PDA deposition layer can be effectively avoided, and the thin PDA layer also significantly improve the hydrophilicity, adhesion, and biological activity of PPy NWs coating. The PPy/PDA NWs coating performs better biocombaitibility and bioactivity than pure PPy NWs and PDA, and has benefits for the adhesion, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells cultured on the surface. In addition, PPy/PDA NWs can significantly promote the osteogenesis of MC3T3-E1 in combination with micro galvanostatic electrical stimulation (ES).
High-quality genome assembly, annotation and evolutionary analysis of the mungbean (Vigna radiata) genome

Mungbean (Vigna radiata [L.]) is an important economic crop grown in South, and East Asia. The low contiguity of the current assembly of V. radiata genome has limited its application. Here, we report a high-quality chromosome-scale assembled genome of V. radiata to facilitate the investigation of its genome characteristics and evolution. By combination of Nanopore long reads, Illumina short reads and Hi-C data, we generated a high-quality genome assembly of V. radiata, with 473.67 megabases assembled into 11 chromosomes with contig N50 and scaffold N50 of 11.3 and 42.4 megabases, respectively. A total of 52.8% of the genome was annotated as repetitive sequences, among which LTRs (long terminal repeats) were predominant (33.9%). The genome of V. radiata was predicted to contain 33,924 genes, 32,470 (95.7%) of which could be functionally annotated. Evolutionary analysis revealed an estimated divergence time of V. radiata from its close relative V. angularis of ~11.66 million years ago. In addition, 277 V. radiata specific gene families, 18 positively selected genes were detected and functionally annotated. This high-quality mungbean genome will provide valuable resources for further genetic analysis and crop improvement of mungbean and other legume species.
Influence of residual stresses of sputtered thin film electrodes for dielectric elastomer applications

: This paper focuses on the electromechanical properties of novel sub-micron compliant metallic thin film electrodes for dielectric elastomer membranes. Electrodes with thicknesses within the range of 10–20 nm and different residual stress states are explored. Both pure nickel films and sandwiches of nickel (Ni) and carbon (C) are deposited by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering onto pre-stretched silicone elastomer membranes. Both 37.5% biaxial pre-stretch and 57.5% uniaxial pre-stretch under pure shear condition (PSC) are considered in the conducted investigation. After the coating process is completed, the elastomer is allowed to relax. In the contracted configuration, it exhibits a wrinkled surface. After this state is reached, the electromechanical characterization is performed. All types of films reveal a low initial resistance (around 100 Ω /square). Depending on the kind of pre-stretch and the electrode material, a strain of 100% without any major degradation is achieved. It is also shown how the residual stress of the layers can be influenced by suitable sputtering parameters. As a result, low residual film stress significantly improves the electromechanical properties of PSC pre-stretched elastomers, but have only a minor influence on the biaxially pre-stretched ones, regarding the Ni and the Ni + C thin films. This phenomenon is directly connected to the failure mechanisms observed on the two types of pre-stretched membranes. With reversed layer order, i.e., C + Ni electrodes, the residual stress state of Ni does not influence the electromechanical properties for both the biaxially pre-stretched and the PSC pre-stretched coated membranes. The results are of fundamental importance for understanding the role of residual stresses for the creation of electromechanically stable and highly conductive electrode films, to be used in dielectric elastomer (DE) applications.
Domesticating dating apps: Non-single Chinese gay men’s dating app use and negotiations of relational boundaries

Dating app use is prevalent among non-single Chinese gay men. Applying domestication theory, this study explores how dating apps can be accepted in gay romantic relationships. The author argues that the domestication of technological artifacts unfolds on four dimensions: the practical, the symbolic, the cognitive, and the relational. Findings show that dating apps serve a dual role: a pool of sexual or romantic alternatives and a channel to the gay community. Although the former constitutes a threat to monogamy, the latter leaves room for a couple’s negotiation for acceptable but restricted uses. This negotiation is in tandem with the negotiation of relational boundaries, which leads to either the reinforcement of monogamy or the embrace of non-monogamy. Meanwhile, one can perceive dating apps to be as unremarkable as other social media platforms. This is achieved through a cognitive process where gay men learn to debunk the arbitrary association between dating apps and infidelity. Monogamous or not, they put faith in user agency, not perceiving dating apps as a real threat to romantic relationships.
The analysis of field evaporation data from field-ion microscope experiments

A method for measuring the field evaporation parameter Q0'/kT is presented, based on the determination of the rate of field evaporation in a field-ion microscope as a function of tip size and tip voltage. For tungsten field evaporated at 87°K a value Q0'/kT = 470 ± 100 was obtained from a series of voltage increment experiments at constant tip size. Field evaporation data can also be combined with field-ion image analysis to give information about the tip shape which is inherently more accurate than can be obtained from field-ion image analysis alone.
Cortical circuit dysfunction in a mouse model of alpha-synucleinopathy in vivo

Abstract Considerable fluctuations in cognitive performance and eventual dementia are an important characteristic of alpha-synucleinopathies, such as Parkinson’s disease and Lewy Body dementia and are linked to cortical dysfunction. The presence of misfolded and aggregated alpha-synuclein in the cerebral cortex of patients has been suggested to play a crucial role in this process. However, the consequences of a-synuclein accumulation on the function of cortical networks at cellular resolution in vivo are largely unknown. Here, we induced robust a-synuclein pathology in the cerebral cortex using the striatal seeding model in wild-type mice. Nine months after a single intrastriatal injection of a-synuclein preformed fibrils, we observed profound alterations of the function of layer 2/3 cortical neurons in somatosensory cortex by in vivo two-photon calcium imaging in awake mice. We detected increased spontaneous activity levels, an enhanced response to whisking and increased synchrony. Stereological analyses revealed a reduction in glutamic acid decarboxylase 67-positive inhibitory neurons in the somatosensory cortex of mice injected with preformed fibrils. Importantly, these findings point to a disturbed excitation/inhibition balance as a relevant driver of circuit dysfunction, potentially underlying cognitive changes in alpha-synucleinopathies.
The Critical Role of Teacher Emotional Support for Latinx Students

Background/Context The relationship between perceived discrimination and students’ academic outcomes is well established, showing the negative effects of experiences of discrimination. Although much attention has focused on how to temper these effects for students, few studies have focused on the potential role that teachers can play in lessening the effects of discrimination on student outcomes. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study In this study, we look at the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender by examining at how Latinx male and female high school students’ academic outcomes, such as grade point average, are impacted by their perceived level of discrimination and teacher support. Research Design Using an intersectional framework, this study uses data from 783 Latinx adolescents (Mage = 16.01 years) in the United States. Specifically, we examine the moderating role of perceived teacher support on the relationship between students’ discrimination and their academic performance using a moderated factor analysis approach. Findings/Results Results indicate that the items that measure perceived discrimination and teacher support do not function in the same way for Latinx male and female adolescents and that emotional teacher support buffers the negative relationship between discrimination and academic performance for Latinx males. Conclusions/Recommendations We argue the need to construct measures and approach interventions in the areas of discrimination and teacher support that would allow us to better identify how to support Latinx adolescents in the most effective ways.
Automated Amharic Hate Speech Posts and Comments Detection Model Using Recurrent Neural Network

During the last few years, social activities over the internet especially on social media platforms increased drastically, but unfortunately, social networks have also become the place for hate speech proliferation by which most people’s social lives are disturbed because of hate speech posts and conflicts triggered by those posts. Studies confirm that online hate speech has different offline consequences. Even though there are a lot of researches on automated hate speech detection most of them are for other language and there is a scarcity of labeled data to apply automated analysis and detection methods on Amharic dataset. Therefore the research on automatic detection of hate speech posts attracted our attention. As a solution to those problems, this research aimed to prepare a labeled huge Amharic dataset by collecting posts and comments from selected Facebook pages of activists that participated actively. Those Facebook data sets are labeled manually as hate and free based on the guidelines given from researcher and pre-processed by applying data cleaning and normalization techniques. In this research the recurrent neural network models for automated hate speech posts detection from Amharic posts on Facebook is developed by using Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) with word n-grams for feature extraction and word2vec to represent each unique word by vector representation. The experiment conducted on those two models by using 80% of the data set for training and 10% for validation to train the model and to select the best hyper-parameters combination for automated hate speech posts detection. The remaining 10% of the dataset used for testing the model after training. As a result LSTM based RNN of Batch size 128, and learning rate 0.001 with RMSProp optimizer and 0.5 dropout achieves an accuracy of 97.9% to detect posts as hate speech or free by training with 100 epochs. Which is assured by testing the models using models performance test and inference on user-generated data.
Time delay compensation for nonlinear processes

A new time delay compensation strategy for nonlinear processes is developed and evaluated. Simulation results for a continuous stirred tank reactor demonstrate that the globally linearizing control (GLC) compensation technique can yield poor performance in the presence of unmeasured disturbances and/or plant/model mismatch. A theoretical analysis of a discrete-time version of the GLC predictor indicates that the poor regulatory performance is attributable to ineffective use of the process state variables, which are assumed to be measured. A new discrete-time prediction strategy is developed which provides improved predictions, yet maintains the desirable characteristics of the GLC approach. A continuous-time version of the predictor is combined with an input-output linearizing controller to yield the new time delay compensation strategy. The proposed scheme is computationally efficient and not restricted to open-loop stable processes. Simulation results for the reactor example demonstrate the superior performance and robustness of the proposed compensation strategy as compared to the GLC approach
RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR EXPATRIATE MANAGER’S ACTIONS

Purpose: This paper examines the philosophy behind multinational companies’ global knowledge flows, highlighting links between external actors’ knowledge and expatriate managers’ actions. Applying philosophical pragmatism as a theoretical background, expatriate managers’ perception of external actors’ knowledge is presented as a tool enabling successful knowledge transfer. Design/methodology/approach: Data obtained via a survey on a sample of expatriate managers in Croatia is used. Using a partial least square structural equation modeling method, the correlations between external actors’ impact and subsidiary investment and headquarter benefits are explored. Findings and implications: Expatriate managers believe that headquarters benefit from a stronger impact of external actors on subsidiaries and an increase in subsidiaries’ internal investment. Our findings direct managers towards the harmonization of their priorities, highlighting the importance of interand intraorganizational agreements, suggesting that financial means should be directed towards widening internal knowledge bases and exploiting the potential of external knowledge. Limitations: Expats relevance perception priorities may be disrupted when headquarters impose performance evaluation criteria. This paper is also subject to expatriate managers’ experience limitations, which decreases their likelihood of recognizing relevant knowledge. Originality/value: Focusing on the psychology of expatriate managers, this paper introduces philosophical pragmatism as a theoretical framework underpinning successful knowledge transfer actions. Originating from pragmatism, successful actions are made through a manager’s perception of relevant knowledge. Expatriate managers’
Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte Ratio and Platelet-to-lymphocyte Ratio Correlations with C-reactive Protein and Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate in Traumatic Brain Injury

BACKGROUND: Immune system and inflammatory response play an essential role in the development of secondary brain injury (SBI) after traumatic brain injury (TBI). An inflammatory biomarker that can reflect the SBI severity is needed to increase the effectivity of TBI management and prevent morbidity and mortality post-TBI. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), which are more affordable than C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), theoretically have the potential to be used as a marker of the SBI severity. However, NLR and PLR in daily medical practice are not yet fully utilized. AIM: The aim of the study was to correlate NLR and PLR with CRP and ESR as a marker of SBI severity post-TBI. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Sanglah Hospital Denpasar from January to April 2020. Patients diagnosed with TBI were included in this study by consecutive sampling. The blood samples were taken at 24-h post-TBI to obtain the NLR, PLR, CRP, and ESR results. Spearman’s correlation test was conducted to determine the correlation between NLR and PLR with CRP and ESR. RESULTS: Eighty-five patients were included in data analysis. Median ± (interquartile range) of the NLR, PLR, CRP, and ESR were 7.60 ± (6.83), 145.58 ± (76.95), 60.83 ± (66.3), and 12.50 ± (13.85) consecutively. NLR and PLR had a significant positive correlation with CRP (r = 0.472, **p < 0.01; r = 0.283, **p < 0.01 consecutively). But, NLR and PLR were not correlated with ESR. CONCLUSION: NLR and PLR can become a useful and more affordable marker for reflecting the SBI severity in acute TBI.
CagA sequence differences and proteome profiles between East Asian and Western H. pylori strains

Background The cytotoxin-associated gene A protein (CagA), an effector protein of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), was the first identified bacterium oncoprotein. Based on its sequence characteristics, H. pylori has been classified into East Asian and Western strains. We hypothesized that the differences in structure of CagA and proteomic profiles between East Asian and Western H. pylori strains are the primary cause of the differential clinical outcomes of H. pylori infection. Results In this study, we isolated 27 H. pylori strains from gastric mucosa of Chinese patients with gastric diseases and revealed that the Western CagA has more variation in its EPIYA motifs than East Asian CagA. This result was further confirmed via analyzing the CagA sequences of 150 H. pylori strains from GenBank. More importantly, we detected the deletion or partial deletion of 13 amino acids in CagA in all East Asian strains but not in Western strains. iTRAQ -based proteomic analysis showed that the CagA protein related to cytotoxicity was highly expressed in Western strains, while urease-associated proteins UreA and UreH, flagellin related proteins FlaA, FlgE and FlhA, and cell division proteins FtsZ and FtsI were highly expressed in East Asian strains. These proteins were associated with the colonization, motility, and viability potential of H. pylori in the human stomach and were clustered into an interaction network. Conclusions This study provides significant, unreported differential sequences of CagA and proteomic profiles between East Asian and Western H. pylori, which maybe serves as promising new targets to ascertain the pathogenesis of H. pylori.
Involuntary Markers of Saliency and Surprise Revealed by Oculomotor Inhibition in Response to Auditory Sequences

Our eyes move constantly but are often inhibited momentarily in response to external stimuli. The properties of this Oculomotor-Inhibition (OMI) depend on stimulus saliency, anticipation, and attention. Previous studies have shown prolonged saccadic inhibition for auditory oddballs; however, they required active counting of the oddballs. Here we investigated whether the OMI response to auditory deviants can provide a quantitative measure of deviance strength (auditory pitch difference) and studied its dependence on the Inter-Trial Interval (ITI). Participants fixated on a central fixation stimulus and passively listened to repeated short sequences of pure tones that contained a deviant tone either regularly or with 20% probability (the Oddball paradigm). They did not perform any task or requested to attend to a specific stimulus. As in previous studies, the results showed prolonged microsaccade inhibition and increased pupil dilation following the rare deviant tone. Moreover, the inhibition onset latency was shorter in proportion to the pitch deviance (the saliency effect), and the release was significantly longer for rare deviants (the surprise effect) as long as the ITI was short (<2.5s). Longer ITIs induced higher microsaccade and blink rates together with smaller pupil dilation, indicating a reduction of alertness. Taken together, these results suggest that OMI provides involuntary markers of saliency and surprise, which can be obtained without the participant’s response.
Dihydropyrano[2,3-c]pyrazole-induced apoptosis in lung cancer cells is associated with ROS generation and activation of p38/JNK pathway

Purpose: To investigate the effect of 2,4-dihydropyrano[2,3-c]pyrazole (DHPP) on lung cancer cells, and the associated mechanism.Methods: The effect of DHPP on cell proliferation was measured using sulphorhodamine B (SRB) assay. Apoptosis of cells was determined using Olympus IX71 inverted microscope connected to FITC and rhodamine filters.Results: DHPP significantly suppressed the proliferation of A549 and H1299 cells at doses of 0.5-8.0 μM, but did not affect normal cells (MRC5 and BEAS-2B). In DHPP-treated A549 and H1299 cells, caspase-3 activity was markedly enhanced. At 24 h of treatment with 8.0 μM DUPP, apoptosis in A549 and H1299 cells was increased to 67.89 and 61.35 %, respectively. Phosphorylation levels of JNK-1/2 and p38 in DHPP-treated A549 and H1299 cells were markedly enhanced. The p-ERK-1/2 expressions in DHPP-treated A549 and H1299 cells were suppressed significantly at 24 h. In DHPP-treated A549 and H1299 cells, DCF-fluorescence was increased 10 folds and 8.5 folds, respectively. Pretreatment with FeTMPyP, an antioxidant, effectively alleviated DHPP-induced increase in expressions of p-p38 and p-JNK, and suppression of expression of p-ERK-1/2. In FeTMPyP-pre-treated cells, the DHPPinduced increase in caspase-3 activity was markedly reduced.Conclusion: DHPP selectively inhibits lung cancer cell growth via oxidative stress which subsequently causes cell apoptosis. Moreover, it activates caspase-3 protein and p38/JNK signaling, with simultaneous inactivation of ERK-1/2. Therefore, DHPP has a potential to be developed for the treatment of lung cancer. However; more studies are required to confirm these findings. Keywords: Lung cancer, Anti-oxidant, Apoptosis, Caspase-3, Chemotherapy
Effect of Customer Value and Satisfaction on Customer Loyalty: Evidence on Indonesian Islamic Bank

Given the importance of perceived value and high satisfaction for companies in creating loyalty to achieve their goals and to empirically prove testing, the researchers formulated the problem in research specifically: (1) Does perceived value have an influence on customer loyalty, (2) Does satisfaction affect customer loyalty? This study uses a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach which is carried out through AMOS software. This research was conducted by utilizing community surveys with online questionnaire. The Sample of this research is 150 respondents, majority of respondents came from the provinces of Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta. Based on the results of the analysis show: customer value has a positive effect on customer satisfaction (CR = 2.492, P = 0.019, H1 supported), customer value has a positive effect on customer loyalty (CR = 2.53, P = 0.026, H2 supported), customer satisfaction has a positive effect on customer loyalty (C.R. = 3.521, P = 0.000, H3 supported). Satisfaction are in a position to create a positive response to the creation of services for consumers, furthermore perceived value plays an important role in representing various client needs and company satisfaction, in the right preferences .