Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic and physiological mechanisms of freezing tolerance in locally adapted populations of a winter annual

Premise of the study Despite myriad examples of local adaptation, the phenotypes and genetic variants underlying such adaptive differentiation are seldom known. Recent work on freezing tolerance and local adaptation in ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana from Sweden and Italy provides the essential foundation for uncovering the genotype-phenotype-fitness map for an adaptive response to a key environmental stress. Methods Here we examine the consequences of a naturally occurring loss of function (LOF) mutation in an Italian allele of the gene that encodes the transcription factor CBF2, which underlies a major freezing tolerance locus. We used four lines with a Swedish genetic background, each containing a LOF CBF2 allele. Two lines had introgression segments containing of the Italian CBF2 allele, and two were created using CRISPR-Cas9. We used a growth chamber experiment to quantify freezing tolerance and gene expression both before and after cold acclimation. Key results Freezing tolerance was greater in the Swedish (72%) compared to the Italian (11%) ecotype, and all four experimental CBF2 LOF lines had reduced freezing tolerance compared to the Swedish ecotype. Differential expression analyses identified ten genes for which all CBF2 LOF lines and the IT ecotype showed similar patterns of reduced cold responsive expression compared to the SW ecotype. Conclusions We identified ten genes that are at least partially regulated by CBF2 that may contribute to the differences in cold acclimated freezing tolerance between the Italian and Swedish ecotypes. These results provide novel insight into the molecular and physiological mechanisms connecting a naturally occurring sequence polymorphism to an adaptive response to freezing conditions.
Listen to the music: the emotive strength of music on musicians and non-musicians

The aim of this study is to consider the role of music theory and performance proficiency in eliciting emotions by listening to music. A related aim is to consider how age, personality, musical preference and mood predicts the level of musical emotion felt by the listener. Ninetythree participants listened to 8 film excerpts and rated the emotional response elicited by the music excepts. Linear regression tests revealed that music theory and performance proficiency, as separate variables, predict the level of emotion felt by the listener. Further multiple regression tests indicate that music theory proficiency is a stronger predictor of musical emotion than musical performance proficiency. Linear regression tests also suggested that participants with introverted personalities have a musical preference for music of an intense in nature, like heavy metal and punk.
Community Attachment Formation and Its Influence on Sustainable Participation in a Digitalized Community: Focusing on Content and Social Capital of an Online Community

Individuals’ lives and behaviors progressively change as information technology evolves. Through the rapid growth of information technology, individuals can access abundant information and virtual networks and create online communities for information and knowledge exchange and other intellectual pursuits. Some of the most important aspects of community success involve the engagement, participation, and active discussion of and among community members. This study focuses on the user-generated content (UGC) community and explores the mechanism for formation of community attachment from the perspective of the content capital and social capital of community members. In addition, this study demonstrates the moderating effect of membership duration on the mechanism of community attachment formation. Finally, this study reveals that the attachment formed with content and social capital can affect the decision to either continue to participate in a current UGC service site, or move to an alternative site.
Prevalence of depression and burden among informal caregivers of people with dementia and the effectiveness of mindfulness and acceptance based interventions at reducing these: two meta-analyses

The primary aims of this thesis were to examine the prevalence of depression and burden among informal caregivers of people with dementia (PwD) and the effectiveness of mindfulness and acceptance based interventions (MABIs) at reducing these difficulties. The thesis consists of a meta-analysis on the prevalence of depression and burden among informal caregivers of PwD, a bridging chapter detailing the rationale behind the second meta-analysis set within the context of the first, a meta-analysis on the effectiveness of MABIs on depressive symptoms and burden among informal caregivers of PwD, an additional methodology chapter on the random-effects model, and an overall discussion and critical appraisal. The first meta-analysis identified 43 studies, examining a total of 16 911 participants. The adjusted pooled prevalence of depression was 31.2% (95% CI 27.7% to 35.0%) and burden was 49.3% (95% CI 37.2% to 61.5%). The second meta-analysis included 12 studies, providing data on 321 caregivers. MABIs proved largely and moderately effective at reducing depressive symptoms and burden among informal caregivers of PwD, respectively. There was, however, significant heterogeneity amongst almost all effect estimates reported. The first meta-analysis found the prevalence of depression differed according to the instrument used and the continent in which the study was conducted. The second meta-analysis was unable to explain the observed heterogeneity of effect sizes. Many of the included studies in the first and second meta-analysis were rated as having a ‘high risk’ of bias. The impact of heterogeneity and study quality is critically explored. The thesis indicates that there is a great need within this population for interventions that are effective at reducing burden and depressive symptoms, with MABIs appearing acceptable and beneficial. However, further higher quality research is needed to improve the robustness of the evidence bases and enable a meta-analysis to thoroughly examine and quantify moderator variables.
Energy Transduction between Membranes

TonB, a cytoplasmic membrane protein, couples cytoplasmic membrane protonmotive force to active transport across the outer membrane of Escherichia coli. In vivo cross-linking studies were initiated to analyze TonB interactions with other cell envelope proteins. Four TonB-specific cross-linked complexes were detected with apparent molecular masses of 196, 77, 69, and 43.6 kDa. The 196-kDa complex was shown to contain both TonB and FepA, the outer membrane receptor for the siderophore enterochelin. The 196-kDa complex is absent in strains missing either TonB or FepA and can be detected by either TonBspecific or FepA-specific monoclonal antibodies. This is the first direct in vivo evidence that TonB can span the periplasmic space to interact physically with outer membrane receptors. Consistent with that observation, the outer membrane protease OmpT was shown to play a role in TonB turnover, both in the presence and absence of ExbB. We had previously shown that the absence of ExbB results in the rapid degradation of TonB. The absence of OmpT could be used to stabilize TonB in an exbB::TnlO strain such that steady state levels of TonB protein are identical to a wild-type strain. Under those conditions, the absence of ExbB results in greatly reduced TonB activity, indicating that ExbB plays a direct role in energy transduction and probably secondarily protects TonB protein from proteolysis. The 69-kDa complex was absent in an exbB::TnlO strain, suggesting either that ExbB is in the complex with TonB or that ExbB is required to form the 69-kDa complex. A tole nonsense mutation had no effect on the cross-linking profile observed, confirming that its participation in TonB-dependent phenomena is minor and most likely the result of evolutionary cross-talk.
Comparison of aortic pressures and aortic elastic properties between patients with end-stage renal disease and healthy controls

Background Current evidence indicates that vascular calcification plays an essential role in the development of cardiovascular diseases in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Arterial stiffness is a marker of increased cardiovascular risk in various populations. The aim of this study is to evaluate the elastic properties of ascending aorta in patients with ESRD. Methods This single-center study enrolled 96 patients (45 females, age: 57.2 ± 12.8 years) with ESRD and 96 healthy controls (52 females, age: 55.3 ± 10.1 years). Aortic pressures and aortic elastic parameters including aortic strain, aortic distensibility, aortic stiffness index, and aortic compliance were calculated using accepted formulae. Results The hemodynamic parameters including aortic pulse pressure, aortic mean pressure, aortic fractional pulse pressure, and aortic pulsatility index were significantly higher in patients with ESRD. Systolic and diastolic aortic diameters were similar between the groups. However, pulsatile aortic diameter change, aortic strain, aortic distensibility, and aortic compliance were significantly lower, whereas aortic stiffness index was significantly higher in ESRD group. Conclusions The results demonstrated that a significant difference was present in terms of aortic blood pressures between patients with ESRD and controls. In addition, the elastic properties of ascending aorta were decreased in patients with ESRD.
A phase I/II study of pemetrexed with sirolimus in advanced, previously treated non-small cell lung cancer.

Background Single-agent pemetrexed is a treatment for recurrent non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that provides limited benefit. Preclinical studies showed promising synergistic effects when the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor sirolimus was added to pemetrexed. Methods This was a single-institution phase I/II study of pemetrexed in combination with sirolimus. The primary endpoint for the phase I was to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and safety of the combination. The primary endpoint for the phase II portion was to determine the overall response rate at the MTD. Key eligibility criteria included recurrent, metastatic NSCLC, ECOG performance status of 0-2, and adequate organ function. Sirolimus was administered orally daily after an initial loading dose, and pemetrexed was given intravenously on day 1 of every 21-day cycle. Results Forty-two patients with recurrent, metastatic NSCLC were enrolled, 22 in phase I and 20 in phase II. The MTD was pemetrexed 500 mg/m2 every 3 weeks, and sirolimus 10 mg on day 1, and 3 mg daily thereafter. Treatment-related adverse events (AEs) occurred in 38 (90.5%) patients. The most common grade 3-4 treatment-related AEs were lymphopenia (31%) and hypophosphatemia (19%). Two treatment-related deaths occurred due to febrile neutropenia and infection, respectively. Among 27 total patients treated at the MTD, 6 (22.2%) had a partial response (PR), 12 (44.4%) had stable disease (SD) and 5 (18.5%) had progressive disease. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 18.4 weeks (95% CI: 7.0-29.4). Conclusions The combination of pemetrexed and sirolimus is active in heavily-pretreated NSCLC (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00923273).
Multi-objective Job Shop Scheduling Using Pre-emptive Constraint Procedure

In this paper, a multi-objective job shop scheduling through the pre-emptive constraint procedure has been formulated to optimize makespan, total earliness and total tardiness. The effectiveness of the model is studied through eighteen 3J*3M and three 10J*10M problems. The model is solved using Mosel language with Xpress software.
Computational thinking - a guide for teachers

This guide seeks to help develop a shared understanding of the teaching of computational thinking in schools. It presents a conceptual framework of computational thinking, describes pedagogic approaches for teaching and offers guides for assessment. It is complementary to the two CAS guides published in November 2013 (Primary) and June 2014 (Secondary) in supporting the implementation of the new National Curriculum and embraces the CAS Barefoot and CAS QuickStart Computing descriptions of computational thinking. Computational thinking lies at the heart of the computing curriculum but it also supports learning and thinking in other areas of the curriculum.
Diversity and the role of yeast in spontaneous cocoa bean fermentation from Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

Jamili, Yanti NA, Susilowati PE. 2016. Diversity and the role of yeast in spontaneous cocoa bean fermentation fromÂ Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 17: 90-95. Yeast is one of the microbial group which is role in the process of cocoaÂ spontaneously fermentation. The objective of this study was to determinate and to know the diversity of yeast that role on cocoa beanÂ fermentation. Yeast was isolated by pour plate method from cocoa bean that was naturally fermented by a cocoa farmer in KolakaÂ District, Southeast Sulawesi using yeast mannitol agar (YMA) media. Yeast was characterized and identified using phenotypic characters based on numeric-phenetic analysis. Yeast isolates applied to cocoa bean to determine its role in cocoa bean fermentation. The result was obtained seven isolates the dominant yeast during cocoa bean fermentation in Kolaka District, Southeast Sulawesi. The result of numerical-phenetic analysis based on phenotypic characters to seven yeast isolates showed that 1 isolates (Klk1) identical withÂ Candida krusei. Three isolates (Klk4, Klk5 and Klk7)Â identical with Candida tropicalis, one isolate (Klk2) identical withÂ Saccharomycopsis fibuligera, one isolate (Klk3)Â identical with Kloeckera sp. and one isolate (Klk6) identical with Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The result also showed that fermentation of cocoa with seeding of yeast inoculums served to increase the quality of cocoa beans than spontaneous fermentation. Therefore, the seven yeast isolates potentially be used as an inoculum to improve the cocoa quality.
The capabilities of secondary school teachers to provide financial education

This study examines the capabilities of in-service secondary school teachers to provide financial education. Data were gathered from online surveys, which were spread among 300 teachers in the Flemish region of Belgium. We distinguish between perceived and actual capabilities. Our results reveal that only one third of teachers consider themselves sufficiently competent to provide financial education. Actual capabilities are assessed using a broad measure of financial literacy, which takes into account teachers’ financial knowledge, financial behaviour and financial attitudes. Our results indicate that only approximately half of teachers score sufficiently on financial knowledge and only a third attains the preferred minimum score for financial attitudes. In addition, our heterogeneity analysis shows differences in scores related to teacher characteristics such as gender, teaching discipline and teaching experience. The large share of teachers not reaching the threshold indicating adequate capabilities for providing financial education raises concern, as teacher quality is an important factor contributing to the effectiveness of financial education. Teacher professional development can play a crucial role here.
Cross-border destination marketing of attractions between borders: the case of Victoria Falls

PurposeThe success of tourism destinations is in many cases measured from a competitive advantage perspective, not from a collaborative advantage perspective, which limits the possibilities of destination marketing in a collaborative cross-border context. Currently, the marketing efforts of Victoria Falls are highly fragmented as each country promotes the attraction separately. The purpose of this paper is to explore the cross-border destination marketing possibilities and realities of Victoria Falls from a demand and supply side perspective.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative approach was applied in this study, with two separate surveys being conducted. Data for the demand side were collected by means of a questionnaire that was distributed by fieldworkers, while data for the supply side were collected online. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, factor analyses and one-way analysis of variance.FindingsFive specific tourist motivations for visiting Victoria Falls were identified using demand data, of which sightseeing and destination attributes were the most important. Significant differences were found for tourists’ cross-border experiences using different border access points. Using supply data, challenges and opportunities of cross-border marketing were analysed. The most important opportunity was identified as cooperation, while the key challenges were economic and policy related. It is important to see the bigger picture and how cooperation can benefit both countries, which is unfortunately not currently the case for Zambia and Zimbabwe.Practical implicationsThere is a need for tourism destinations to shift from competition-based strategies to collaboration-based strategies in order to be successful. Cross-border marketing requires that each country understands tourists’ motivations and experiences. For Zambia and Zimbabwe to increase their tourist arrivals, income and investment opportunities, both countries must move away from isolating their marketing efforts of Victoria Falls. It is important to look beyond the individual benefits for each country and focus on the combined benefits. The challenges identified in this study must be addressed if Zambia and Zimbabwe’s cross-border marketing of Victoria Falls is to be effective. The integration of demand and supply views is thus critical for cross-border marketing to be effective and successful.Originality/valueResearch on cross-border destination marketing of shared border attractions is limited. With regard to Victoria Falls, such research has never been explored in an academic context. This study has value for destination marketers of Zambia and Zimbabwe, especially for attractions that are shared between their borders such as Victoria Falls and Kariba Dam. Additionally, the study has implications for attractions that are shared across the borders of southern African countries like Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique, as well as other attractions shared between borders in the global context.
Prevalence of Rheumatoid Arthritis patients in Adults: A Hospital Based Study

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease characterized by a symmetrical inflammation of the synovium, resulting in tenderness and destruction of bone and cartilage in various joints, particularly the smaller joints of the hands and feet. Although the cause of RA is unknown, autoimmunity plays a pivotal role in its chronicity and progression. RA affects approximately 1.0% of the general population, women more often than men, and the inflammatory burden of the disease results in functional disability. Methods: Forty patients were included in this study. The case control study was carried out in the Department of Orthopaedics, Geetanjali Medical college and Hospital, Udaipur. Duration of this study was six month. Results: In the present study, forty patients were included, out of which 15% male and 85% female. From the forty patients most of the people were belongs to 41-50 age group followed by 51-60 (27.5%) ,35-40 (25%) ,61-65(17.5%). Elevated ESR were in the 52.5% of group, rest of the people were normal. Same as in case of CRP positive found in the 52.5% & 47.5% were negative. Conclusion: The prevalence in RA group quite high as compared to general population.
Cold vs. warm water route – sources for the upper limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation revisited in a high-resolution ocean model

Abstract. The northward flow of the upper limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is fed by waters entering the South Atlantic from the Indian Ocean mainly via the Agulhas Current (AC) system and by waters entering from the Pacific through Drake Passage (DP), commonly referred to as the “warm” and “cold” water routes, respectively. However, there is no final consensus on the relative importance of these two routes for the upper limb's volume transport and thermohaline properties. In this study we revisited the AC and DP contributions by performing Lagrangian analyses between the two source regions and the North Brazil Current (NBC) at 6∘ S in a realistically forced high-resolution (1∕20∘) ocean model. Our results agree with the prevailing conception that the AC contribution is the major source for the upper limb transport of the AMOC in the tropical South Atlantic. However, they also suggest a non-negligible DP contribution of around 40 %, which is substantially higher than estimates from previous Lagrangian studies with coarser-resolution models but now better matches estimates from Lagrangian observations. Moreover, idealized analyses of decadal changes in the DP and AC contributions indicate that the ongoing increase in Agulhas leakage indeed may have induced an increase in the AC contribution to the upper limb of the AMOC in the tropics, while the DP contribution decreased. In terms of thermohaline properties, our study highlights the fact that the AC and DP contributions cannot be unambiguously distinguished by their temperature, as the commonly adopted terminology may imply, but rather by their salinity when entering the South Atlantic. During their transit towards the NBC the bulk of DP waters experiences a net density loss through a net warming, whereas the bulk of AC waters experiences a slight net density gain through a net increase in salinity. Notably, these density changes are nearly completely captured by Lagrangian particle trajectories that reach the surface mixed layer at least once during their transit, which amount to 66 % and 49 % for DP and AC waters, respectively. This implies that more than half of the water masses supplying the upper limb of the AMOC are actually formed within the South Atlantic and do not get their characteristic properties in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.