Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of alcohol treatments on properties of silk-fibroin-based films for highly optically transparent coating applications

Thin films of silk fibroin were prepared by solvent evaporation from calcium chloride/ethanol aqueous solution. The influence of alcohol treatments on thermal, mechanical and optical properties of silk-fibroin-based film is presented. To understand the conformal structure of the alcohol-treated silk fibroin film, the IR spectral decomposition method is employed. The optical properties especially the optical transparency, haze and fluorescence emission of alcohol-treated silk fibroin film is systematically investigated together with the conformal structure to understand the effect of the fibril such as the beta-sheet influencing the optical properties. Monohydric alcohol treatment increased beta-turn content in the regenerated silk fibroin structure. These affected the amount of light diffusion and scattering within silk-fibroin films. With alcohol-treatment, all the silk-fibroin films exhibit exceptional optical transparency (>90%) with different levels of optical haze (2.56–14.17%). In particular, ethanol-treated silk-fibroin films contain the highest content of beta-turns (22.8%). The ethanol-treated silk-fibroin films displayed a distinct interference of oscillating crests and troughs in the UV-Vis transmittance spectra, thereby showing the lowest optical haze of 2.56%. In contrast, the silk-fibroin films treated with methanol and propanol exhibit the highest (14.17%) and second-highest (10.29%) optical transmittance haze, respectively. The beta-turn content of the silk-fibroin films treated with methanol is the lowest (20.5%). These results show the relationship between the beta-turn content and optical haze properties. The results manifestly provide a method to manufacture exceptional optically transparent silk-fibroin films with adjustable light diffusion and scattering which can be designed to meet specific applications with the potential to provide UV-shielding protection via monohydric alcohol treatment.
Urinary excretion of pseudouridine and purine metabolites in ruminants

Zusammenfassung Die Ausscheidung von Pseudouridin und Purin-Metaboliten uber den Harn beim Wiederkauer In einem ersten Versuch wurde Hefe-RNA bei drei Kuhen uber zwei Tage in Mengen von 0 (Kontrolle), 30, 50 und 70 g d-1 in das Duodenum infundiert. Die Ausscheidung von Pseudouridin wurde durch die Infusion von RNA nicht beeinflust und betrug 19,80, 20,62, 20,32 und 19,71 μmol kg W0.75 d-1 bei der Kontrolle und nach der Infusion von 30, 50 und 70 g d-1 Hefe-RNA. Die durchschnittliche Wiederfindungsrate der infundierten Purine betrug im Harn 87%. In einem zweiten Versuch wurde die Futterungsintensitat variiert. Die Tiere wurden bei Erhaltungsbedarf bzw. bei dem 1,5fachen des Erhaltungsbedarfes gefuttert. Dabei wurden keine signifikanten Unterschiede (P < 0,05) im Korpergewicht und in der Pseudouridin-Ausscheidung uber den Harn beobachtet. Es wurde aber eine Erhohung der mikrobiellen Proteinsynthese und der Ausscheidung von Purinderivaten mit dem Harn festgestellt. In einem dritten Versuch wurde die Ausscheidung von Nukleinsauremetaboliten bei Schafen nach der Versorgung mit 0,5, 1,0 und 2,0fachem Erhaltungsbedarf untersucht. Danach ist die Pseudouridinausscheidung positiv mit dem Korpergewicht korreliert. Die Ausscheidung von Pseudouridin von Rindern und Schafen bei ad libitum-Futterung ist altersabhangig und bei jungen Tieren hoher (32,8 μmol kg W0.75 d-1) als bei alten Tieren (20,4 μmol kg W0,75 d-1). Aus den Untersuchungen kann abgeleitet werden, das das Pseudouridin aus dem Gewebeumsatz von Nukleinsauren stammt.
Validation of Developed Instruments on Study Habits, Creativity, and Self Concept on College Students in Nigeria

-The role of validating a questionnaire is to ensure that the questionnaires for use in research settings are psychometrically sound, valid and reliable as well as efficient and effective. This article will therefore provide the validation of existing resources on study habits, creativity and self-concept through the use of the Rasch Measurement approach. A pilot study was randomly selected from each of the two Colleges in Zamfara State, with a sample of 180 respondents. The employed Rasch-based Winsteps code produces the required parameter estimate automatically. The results of the reliability coefficients showed the reliability of 0.83, 0.96 and 0.87 items, with 0.96, 0.91 and 0.94 corresponding to Cronbach Alpha. The unidimensional construct of the test measures supported by the raw variance explained by measurements of 48.3 percent, 53.8 percent and 53.0 percent closely match the variance expected. Investigation of the map of the item person revealed that all items fell within the respondents ' ability level. Likewise, fitness indices showed that 5 items were listed to delete items for study habits, and sub-scale creativity reveals that all 23 items in the scale have reasonable fitness while 5 items have poor self-concept sub-scale fitness indices. The results confirm the accuracy of the explanations and inferences of the scores on the objects and subscales of the instruments.
Cognitive and self-care changes in patients with heart failure in the Amazon Region

Heart failure is characterized as the lack of blood pumping capacity performed by the heart, which is considered a public health problem worldwide. Due to HF, the individual can develop clinical aspects that impact cognitive function and, consequently, self-care. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate cognitive changes and self-care in patients affected by HF and compare it with the cognitive and self-care changes of healthy participants. This is a quantitative, epidemiological, cross-sectional case-control study carried out at an institution in the city of Belem, Para, Brazil. The following tests were used for data collection: Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Digit Symbol Substitution Test, European Heart Failure Self-care Behavior Scale (EHFScBS). Data were tabulated in Microsoft Excel 2010 and statistically treated by Epi Info version 3.5. 2 with a 5% significance level and considering a 95% confidence interval in all analyzes. It was observed that patients with HF have slightly better self-care compared to patients without HF with scores obtained by EHFScBS equal to 29.7 ± 6.9 and 31.8 ± 8.2, respectively. Additionally, patients with HF showed impairments in the three cognitive domains, and women with HF demonstrated greater cognitive impairment compared to the other participants. The present study provides data to help build new approaches to interventions by the multidisciplinary team to promote better self-care and avoid cognitive impairments in patients with HF.
Perancangan Sistem Kontrol Level Nonlinier Menggunakan Fuzzy-PID Supervision

Sistem level merupakan sistem yang banyak ditemukan di industri. Sistem ini dapat dikategorikan sebagai sistem nonlinier karena dinamika dan deadtime yang dimilikinya. Salah satu karakteristik dari sistem ini adalah perubahan dinamika ketika set-point yang diberikan berubah. Akibatnya, kontroler PID konvensional dengan parameter tetap tidak mampu mengendalikan sistem ini dengan baik. Perlu dilakukan tuning ulang pada kontroler PID untuk menyesuaikan perubahan dinamika. Dalam paper ini, kami merancang sistem kontrol level menggunakan PID dengan parameter yang disupervisi oleh kontrol fuzzy. Sebagai kontroler utama, PID dirancang menggunakan metode Direct Synthesis (DS) untuk semua titik kerja yang ditentukan. Kontrol fuzzy dirancang berdasarkan nilai-nilai parameter PID yang diperoleh dari perhitungan metode DS. Hasil rancangan disimulasikan menggunakan software MATLAB. Simulasi menunjukkan bahwa sistem kontrol level hasil rancangan mampu mencapai set-point yang diberikan dengan settling time ts (±5%) berkisar antara 4 s.d. 6,5 detik, zero overshoot dan zero offset . Perbandingan dengan sistem kontrol PID konvensional juga menunjukkan hasil yang baik. Sistem kontrol level hasil rancangan rancangan mampu menjamin respon yang memenuhi performa zero overshoot dan zero offset .
An Examination of an Evidence-Based Literacy Program in Rural Georgia

A small rural school district in the southwestern part of the United States required teachers to provide highly effective literacy instruction by implementing an evidence-based reading program called Journeys. With consistently low reading achievement, it was unclear whether teachers were implementing Journeys as prescribed. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore teacher implementation of the Journeys program for students at an elementary school in the district. The theoretical framework used to guide the study was Clay’s emergent literacy theory. The conceptual framework included five strands of the Journeys reading curriculum, which was derived from Clay’s theory. A modified formative program evaluation case study was conducted. Nine teachers who had taught reading and two administrators who supervised reading teachers were purposefully selected for semi-structured interviews. Coding and analysis of interview data indicated that more than half of the teachers were not implementing Journeys with fidelity. Themes that emerged from the interviews were; inconsistent understanding of evidence-based literacy instruction, lack of collaborative planning, teacher’s use of an alternate phonics-based resource, focus on technology integration, lack of teacher buy-in, and lack of teacher training in implementation of the Journeys program. Based on findings, a 3-day professional development training was developed to provide training in implementing Journeys’ underlying evidence-based strategies. In regard to social change, the study findings could assist school leaders in determining guidelines for the implementation of evidence-based reading curricula. The study findings could assist school leaders and teachers in effective implementation of Journeys and providing quality literacy instruction to enhance student learning in the district. Keywords: Journeys, evidence-based reading, fidelity, reading achievement, reading levels DOI : 10.7176/JEP/11-2-09 Publication date: January 31 st 2020
Quantitative analysis of taxane drug target engagement of microtubules in circulating tumor cells from metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer patients treated with CRXL301, a nanoparticle of docetaxel

Aim: We reviewed the radiographic response of three patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer treated with CRXL301, a docetaxel nanoparticle. For these three patients, we isolated and analyzed circulating tumor cells (CTCs) to explore microtubule (MT) drug-target engagement (MT-DTE) as a biomarker of response to treatment. MT-DTE was based on a quantitative assessment of the MT cytoskeleton in CTCs from pre- and post-treatment patient samples as a potential read-out of CRXL301 activity. Methods: We isolated CTCs using negative CD45+ depletion and subjected them to multiplex confocal microscopy using our established protocol. CTCs were identified as CD45-/CK+/DAPI+ cells and MT-DTE was determined using our developed imaging algorithm. We quantified MT bundling in CTCs across multiple time points, from baseline to on-treatment to disease progression. Here, we describe the longitudinal analysis of MT-DTE in CTCs from patients treated with CRXL301 and its correlation with response to treatment. Results: We collected CTCs at seven time points from three metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer patients. Clinical response was evaluated by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) v.1. 1 criteria in those patients with measurable disease. Of the three patients enrolled, one experienced partial response (-50%) to CRXL301 and two patients were unevaluable given bone only disease. Notably, however, these two patients showed stable disease clinically based on bone scans. MT-DTE across all time points revealed that, early time points within four and 24 h of drug administration exhibited the highest levels of drug engagement (MT-DTE) as compared to baseline. However, these early time points did not correlate with clinical response. We observed that the CTCs collected one week after the first or second dose of CRXL301 treatment in the responding patient had numerically higher levels of MT-DTE as compared to the other two patients. Conclusion: Taxane on-target activity can be detected and analyzed quantitatively in CTCs by tubulin immunofluorescence. Early time points, within 24 h of drug administration, showed high levels of DTE but did not correlate with clinical response. MT-DTE in CTCs collected after one week on treatment correlated best with treatment response. The clinical utility of the 1-week CTC DTE should be tested and validated in future clinical trials involving taxanes.
Fabrication and Characterization of Aluminum Nitride Nanoparticles by RF Magnetron Sputtering and Inert Gas Condensation Technique

Aluminum nitride nanoparticles (AlN-NPs) were fabricated by a RF magnetron sputtering and inert gas condensation technique. By keeping the source parameters and sputtering time of 4 h fixed, it was possible to produce AlN-NPs with a size in the range of 2–3 nm. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-visible absorption were used to characterize the obtained AlN-NPs. AFM topography images showed quazi-sphere nanoparticles with a size ranging from 2 to 3 nm. The XRD measurements confirmed the hexagonal wurtzite structure of AlN nanoparticles. Furthermore, the optical band gap was determined by the UV-visible absorption spectroscopy. The Raman spectroscopy results showed vibration transverse-optical modes A1(TO), E1(TO), as well as longitudinal-optical modes E1(LO), A1(LO).
Inspired or Inhibited? Choreographers’ Views on How Classical Ballet Training Shaped Their Creativity

ABSTRACT Classical ballet training has been criticized for prioritizing technical excellence over creativity, despite 21st century dancers needing to be strong in both aspects. The aim of this study was to investigate professional choreographers’ views on (a) how ballet training inspired vs. inhibited their creativity and (b) potential gender differences in this regard. Eight choreographers (50% female) participated in semi-structured interviews, with transcripts analyzed using thematic analysis. The key theme was created from accounts of how ballet training impacted on interviewees’ Intrinsic motivation to create, fed into by experiences of Autonomy, Variety and Opportunities. Experiences of significant autonomy thwarting were considered to have inhibited creativity; this was one of several areas of gender difference, and a reason for participants to pursue choreography rather than stay employed as dancers. In following the emergent Recommendations for schools, it is possible that Intrinsic motivation to create could be better nurtured in ballet training.
Decrease of human pancreatic cancer cell tumorigenicity by α1,3galactosyltransferase gene transfer

The enzyme α1,3galactosyltransferase synthesizes the αGal epitope, a carbohydrate structure (Galα1,3Galβ1,4GlcNAc‐R), on glycoconjugates in lower mammals. The enzyme is absent in humans but large amounts of natural antibodies that recognize αGal epitopes are present in human serum. It is likely that these antibodies contribute to the host defense and participate in the hyperacute rejection of xenograft. Previous studies indicated that the glycosyltransferase gene transfer into tumoral cells can modify the structure of glycoconjugates at the cell surface and, as a consequence, modulates the metastatic and tumorigenic behaviors of these cells. The aim of our study was to determine whether the expression of αGal epitope can modify the tumorigenicity of human pancreatic cancer cells. The expression of αGal epitopes in the human pancreatic cancer cell lines BxPC‐3 and Panc‐1 was obtained by selecting stable cell clones transfected with murine α1,3galactosyltransferase gene. The expression of the enzyme activity in BxPC‐3 and Panc‐1 cells resulted in the formation at the cell surface of αGal epitopes that are recognized by human anti‐αGal antibodies. αGal epitope expression at the surface of pancreatic cancer cells was associated with the fixation of complement 1q to human anti‐αGal antibodies. The αGal epitope expression also resulted in a delay in the tumoral development of BxPC‐3 and Panc‐1 cells in vivo after xenograft transplantation of nude mice. In addition to the impairment of the metastatic potential of murine tumor cell lines and the activation of immune response, our study provides evidence that the cell surface expression of αGal epitopes also modulates the tumorigenic behavior of human pancreatic cancer cells. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An Intelligent Dynamic Offloading From Cloud to Edge for Smart IoT Systems With Big Data

Intelligent networking and big data analytics are two important pillars for the operation of systems. Edge computing is frequently used in smart IoT systems, particularly in those which cannot be served efficiently through cloud computing due to the limitations in bandwidth, latency and Internet connectivity. However, applications always generate a large amount of data, which are pre-programmed and predefined to run on the cloud or edge platform and can't be changed at run time. The applications may gain better performance if they synergistically run on the cloud and edge platform. In this study, a novel algorithm called Dynamic Switching Algorithm is proposed to ensure intelligent dynamics where all tasks are either offloaded on cloud or edge according to the system's real-time conditions. We further divide applications into four types based on their real-time requirements. Each type of application is set to a reasonable latency to make sure the system to have less processing time. The results demonstrate that our method outperforms two state-of-the-art methods, decreasing both the average delay and energy consumption of offloading by 8.17%~66.90% and 3.76%~78.60% respectively. The experimental evaluations show that the performance of the proposed method could effectively offload tasks in smart IoT systems.
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF IMPLEMENTING "HEART-LUNG MACHINE SORIN C5" SOFTWARE PRODUCT IN THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS OF MEDICAL UNIVERSITY

The article is devoted to the research of the effectiveness of formation of students’ experimental competencies in hydrodynamics and hemodynamics at a medical university using the software "Heart-lung machine SORIN C5" [1]. On the basis of analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature, the professional experimental competencies of medical students are singled out and the role of virtual laboratory works in the development of students’ professional experimental competencies in higher medical education institutions is determined. The authors consider the use of information resources in the educational process on the example of the software product "Laboratory work "Study of the hemodynamics fundamentals using the apparatus "Heart-lung machine SORIN C5", which is an integral part of the discipline "Medical and Biological Physics". The paper describes the main structural elements and implementation of respective scenarios in the virtual laboratory work on hydrodynamics and hemodynamics. The article presents statistical check of the effectiveness of formation of students’ experimental competencies in hydrodynamics and hemodynamics based on the use of Student's t-test. The authors analyze the results of the conducted experiment and show that visualization, the use of web resources in physics and virtual laboratory work contribute to the formation of the logical and epistemological structure of the teaching material and the strengthening of the role of fundamental generalizations of concepts and theories. It is proved that the difference in the knowledge acquisition coefficients in the experimental and control groups is significant and depends not on random samples, but on the difference in the formation of the material structure and teaching methods in medical and biological physics. It has been established that the system of virtual laboratory works contributes to students’ training in general scientific methods of action, forms the proper professional, technological and experimental competence.
Life satisfaction in Brazil: an exploration of theoretical correlates and age, period and cohort variations using the World Values Survey (1991-2014)

This paper discusses some of the factors associated with life satisfaction in Brazil using four waves of the World Values Survey (1991 to 2014). Some results already described in the literature were confirmed, as we found that individuals who were married, employed, more religious, in better health, with greater freedom/control over their lives and who had a better financial situation were more satisfied with life, regardless of the time period. The variables for age and cohort showed non-significant associations with life satisfaction when aspects that theoretically correlated with life satisfaction were controlled in the analysis. When the different cohorts were analyzed separately, the results suggest that life satisfaction might be related to the conjectural and historical factors represented by period effects.
A Comparison of Some Species‐Individuals Diversity Indices Applied to Samples of Field Insects

A comparison was made of several cumulative species/cumulative individuals indices using a statistical distribution corresponding to the species of insects in a sample from the herb stratum of a lespedeza field. Criteria used in comparison were that the indices be intensive for a given universe regardless of sample size and that the indices differentiate between universes having different numbers of species for a given number of individuals. Species/log individuals, species–1/natural log of individuals, log species/log individuals, and species/square root of individuals were examined. Only the index of species/square root of individual met both of the criteria.
QSAR Models for Prediction of Glycogen Synthase Kinase‐3β Inhibitory Activity of Indirubin Derivatives

Glycogen Synthase (GS) Kinase-3 (GSK-3), a serine/threonine kinase, isolated and purified as an enzyme capable of phosphorylating and inactivating the enzyme GS is a fascinating enzyme with diverse biological actions in intracellular signaling pathways. A large body of evidence supports speculation that pharmacological inhibitors of GSK-3 could be used to treat several disorders including Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, bipolar affective disorder, diabetes, various types of cancer, and diseases caused by unicellular parasites that express GSK-3 homologues. In the present work, we have carried out a Quantitative Structure–Activity Relationship (QSAR) study on indirubin derivatives reported as potent GSK-3β inhibitors using molecular descriptors calculated by CODESSA and Molconn-Z. Also a novel Three-Dimensional QSAR (3D-QSAR) study based on the principle of the alignment of pharmacophoric features by PHASE module of Schrodinger suite has been carried out on the same set of inhibitors. Statistically significant 2-D (R2=0.93) and 3-D (R2=0.97) QSAR models were generated using 36 molecules in the training set. The predictive ability of both models was determined using a randomly chosen test set of eight molecules which gave predictive correlation coefficients () of 0.6 and 0.91, respectively for 2-D and 3-D models, indicating good predictive power. The cocrystallographic data of GSK-3β with indirubin-3′-monoxime ligand allowed us to compare the PHASE pharmacophore model with experimental intermolecular interactions. The results of PHASE pharmacophore hypothesis AADDRR correspond very closely to the interactions recorded in the active site of the ligand bound complex. This relation between the crystallographic data and pharmacophore hypothesis allowed us to confirm the preferential binding mode of indirubins inside the active site. These studies showed that 3D-QSAR model is a better predictive model for the indirubins compared to 2D-QSAR model.