Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Direct transfer of graphene onto flexible substrates

Significance We investigated a lamination technique for directly transferring graphene onto various flexible substrates, which does not require using polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) as an intermediate transfer membrane. Our studies reveal that the method is most effective on hydrophobic substrates with low glass transition temperature. For substrates like paper or cloth that do not meet these criteria, a polymer such as PMMA can be used as a surface modifier or as an adhesive to ensure successful transfer. Having graphene on substrates such as paper or cloth will open up wide opportunities for ubiquitous or wearable electronics, and we anticipate our work will have significant impact on the research community. In this paper we explore the direct transfer via lamination of chemical vapor deposition graphene onto different flexible substrates. The transfer method investigated here is fast, simple, and does not require an intermediate transfer membrane, such as polymethylmethacrylate, which needs to be removed afterward. Various substrates of general interest in research and industry were studied in this work, including polytetrafluoroethylene filter membranes, PVC, cellulose nitrate/cellulose acetate filter membranes, polycarbonate, paraffin, polyethylene terephthalate, paper, and cloth. By comparing the properties of these substrates, two critical factors to ensure a successful transfer on bare substrates were identified: the substrate’s hydrophobicity and good contact between the substrate and graphene. For substrates that do not satisfy those requirements, polymethylmethacrylate can be used as a surface modifier or glue to ensure successful transfer. Our results can be applied to facilitate current processes and open up directions for applications of chemical vapor deposition graphene on flexible substrates. A broad range of applications can be envisioned, including fabrication of graphene devices for opto/organic electronics, graphene membranes for gas/liquid separation, and ubiquitous electronics with graphene.
Seating positions and children's risk of dying in motor vehicle crashes

Objectives—To determine the effects of seating position, combined with restraint use and airbag status, on children's risk of dying in crashes. Methods—Using 1988–95 data from the United States Fatality Analysis Reporting System, risk of death was compared among front and rear seated passengers aged 12 and younger who were involved in fatal crashes for different categories of restraint use and in vehicles with and without passenger airbags. Results—Restrained children in rear seats had the lowest risk of dying in fatal crashes. Among children seated in the rear, risk of death was reduced 35% in vehicles without any airbags, 31% in vehicles equipped only with driver airbags, and 46% in vehicles with passenger airbags. Both restrained and unrestrained children aged 0–12 were at lower risk of dying in rear seats. Rear seats also afforded additional protection to children aged 5–12 restrained only with lap belts compared with lap/shoulder belted children in front seats. Children were about 10–20% less likely to die in rear center than in rear outboard positions. Conclusions—Parents and others who transport children should be strongly encouraged to place infants and children in rear seats whether or not vehicles have airbags. Existing laws requiring restraint use by children should be strengthened and actively enforced.
Clinical significance of aortic knob width and calcification in unstable angina.

BACKGROUND Chest radiography is a routine examination evaluating those patients with chest pain. There are few data about the correlation between aortic knob width, calcification and coronary atherosclerosis. METHODS AND RESULTS The aortic knob width was measured and the presence of aortic knob calcification was assessed via a chest posteroanterior view in 178 consecutive patients. The aortic knob width and calcification were compared to the risk factor and the extent of coronary artery disease. Patient's age (69.5+/-7.95 vs 61.1+/-10.29 years, p=0.010), the prevalence of hypertension (65.9 vs 46.3%, p=0.024) and diabetes (43.2 vs 26.1%, p=0.033), the level of total cholesterol (196.8+/-63.21 vs 188.6+/-44.45 mg/dl, p=0.049) and the incidence of multi-vessel disease (65.9 vs 38.1%, p<0.001) were higher in patients with aortic knob calcification than in patients without calcification. The aortic knob width and the prevalence of aortic knob calcification were significantly correlated with the severity of coronary artery disease. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that aortic knob calcification and diabetes were independent factors for multi-vessel disease (p=0.018 and p=0.012). CONCLUSIONS The observation of aortic knob on a chest radiograph can provide important predictive information of coronary atherosclerosis.
Pengaruh Dividend Payout Ratio, Risiko Keuangan, Nilai Perusahaan, dan Ukuran Perusahaan terhadap Perataan Laba (Studi pada Perusahaan Manufaktur Sektor Industri Dasar dan Kimia Listing di Bursa Efek Indonesia)

The purpose of this research is to analyze and test the influence; The effect of dividend payout ratio on income smoothing action, financial risk to profit smoothing action, company value to earnings smoothing action, and firm size to earnings smoothing action. This research was conducted at manufacturing company of basic and chemical industry sector which listed in Bursa Efek Indonesia in period 2013-2015 by using purposive sampling. Simultaneously Dividend Payout Ratio, Company Risk, Company Value, and Company Size have significant effect to income smoothing action, with F significance value equal to 0,015 (<0,05) and R2 coefficient of determination equal to 34,7% or in other words equal to 65 , 3% influenced by other variables not described in this study. Keywords: Dividend Payout Ratio, Purpose Sampling, Flattening Earnings.
Extraction of RNA from Cheese without Prior Separation of Microbial Cells

ABSTRACT In situ gene expression studies are promising approaches for improving our understanding of the cheese microbial flora. This requires efficient RNA extraction methods, but studies of cheeses are scarce. The objective of the present study was to determine whether RNA samples compatible with quantitative mRNA transcript analyses can be obtained without separating the cells from the cheese matrix. In the method that we describe, the cellular processes are stopped at the very beginning of the procedure. When cheeses were produced with Lactococcus lactis LD61 as the only starter microorganism, the integrity of the purified RNA was good, even for 2-week-old cheeses that had been incubated at 30°C. In addition, the RNA samples did not contain any traces of RNases, and the amount of genomic DNA was negligible. A good level of reproducibility could also be achieved. When real-time reverse transcription-PCR analyses were normalized to the total RNA concentration, the amounts of 16S and 23S rRNA transcripts were constant during the 2-week incubation period, whereas the amount of tuf mRNA transcripts decreased substantially. RNA samples obtained using the method described in this study were compared to samples obtained using the method described by Ulvé et al. (J. Appl. Microbiol., in press), which is based on separation of the cells from the cheese matrix. For most of the 29 genes investigated, the transcript abundance was the same for both types of samples. Differences were observed mainly for genes whose expression has previously been shown to be modified by heat, acid, or osmotic stresses, such as busAA and glnQ.
Effects of the putative polyamine antagonists diethylenetriamine and 1,10-diaminodecane on N-methyl-D-aspartic acid-stimulated [3H]norepinephrine release from rat hippocampal slices.

N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA, 500 microM) stimulated the net release of [3H]norepinephrine from rat hippocampal slices. The putative polyamine inverse agonist 1,10-diaminodecane (DA10) dose-dependently inhibited NMDA-stimulated release with a calculated IC50 value of 33 microM. The putative polyamine competitive antagonist diethylenetriamine (DET) partially inhibited (maximum effect 40%) NMDA-stimulated release at 1 mM which was the highest concentration tested. DET (1 mM) but not DA10 also partially inhibited potassium-stimulated release of norepinephrine from hippocampal slices. Neither DET or DA10 significantly altered the nonstimulated basal efflux of neurotransmitter. The inhibition of NMDA-stimulated release produced by 100 microM DA10 or 1 mM DET was not attenuated by addition of the polyamines spermine or spermidine up to 1 mM. In addition, the IC50 value for DA10-induced inhibition of NMDA-stimulated neurotransmitter release was not altered by the addition of DET (100-1000 microM). The combination of the glycine antagonist 7-chlorokynurenic acid (3 microM) and DA10 (100 microM) inhibited NMDA-stimulated release by approximately 70%. The addition of the glycine agonist D-serine (3-100 microM) partially attenuated the inhibition produced by these two compounds. No further enhancement was observed when D-serine was added in the presence of spermine or spermidine. Finally, the NMDA open channel blocker (+)-5-methyl-10,11- dihydro-5H-dibenzo[1,d]cyclo-hepten-5,10-imine maleate dose-dependently inhibited NMDA-stimulated release with an IC50 value of 25 nM. The inhibitory potency of (+)-5-methyl-10,11- dihydro-5H-dibenzo[1,d]cyclo-hepten-5,10-imine maleate was not significantly altered by the presence of either DET (100 microM) or DA10 (30 or 100 microM). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Synthesis of twin alginate microparticles via microfluidic emulsification and sorting

Based on the microfluidic emulsification process, the regular and stable formation of parent and satellite droplets can be achieved. The purpose of this study is to accurately separate the satellite (smaller) droplets from their parent (larger) droplets to obtain twin monodispersed microparticles by a bi-T-junction hybrid microchannels design controlling both emulsification and separation. Results show that both of the collected larger and smaller droplets are highly monodispersed (RSD ≪ 2% and 6%, respectively), and featured with high reproducibility as well. This microfluidic device was also employed to present a facile one-step synthetic approach for the preparation of twin monodispersed alginate microparticles The proposed microfluidic chip is capable of generating relatively uniform twin microparticles with well controllable sizes, and it has the characteristics of a simple, low cost, and high throughput process. In the future this apparatus can be further applied to manufacture various twin monodispersed composite micro-vehicles to act as a smart drug delivery system.
European policy failure during the refugee crisis : partial empowerment, reluctant agents, a cacophony of voices, and unilateral action

How can we explain the EU’s policy failure during the refugee crisis? In this contribution, I argue that EU policy failure was a function of four causal mechanisms. First, a complex delegation design with partial empowerment of supranational institutions on migration and asylum policy issues hindered an effective response and strengthened disintegration dynamics. Second, a reluctant European Commission was unable to provide leadership during the refugee crisis. Third, Member States’ inability to speak with a single voice negatively impacted their external and internal effectiveness and reinforced disintegration dynamics. Finally, this cacophony of voices led to unilateral action eroding the authority of the Commission and explains EU policy failure during the refugee crisis. The findings of this paper suggest that the mantra that the EU undergoes many crises but always emerges stronger has lost plausibility.
Melatonin Relieves the Neural Oxidative Burden that Contributes to Dementias

Abstract: This report summarizes some of the many publications that document the beneficial actions of melatonin within the central nervous system. Of particular interest are the multiple functions of melatonin and its metabolites as ubiquitously acting direct free radical scavengers and indirect antioxidants. The fact that melatonin and the metabolic progeny that are formed when it scavenges toxic reactants are all effective in neutralizing destructive molecules greatly increases the efficacy of melatonin as a protection against by‐products of oxygen and nitrogen that normally mutilate essential molecules. Of the large number of situations in which oxidative stress may be the cause of disease processes or debilitating conditions, the current review examines melatonin's protection within the central nervous system, particularly in experimental ischemia/reperfusion (stroke) injury, Alzheimer's disease, and parkinsonism. In each of these conditions, melatonin has been found to provide significant neural protection against both the morphophysiological damage and the biobehavioral consequences of these infirmities. The report concludes with the suggestion that melatonin, alone or in combination with other antioxidants, be considered for routine usage to potentially combat some of the neural ravages of aging.
Cardiovascular Response to 8-Hydroxy-2-(di-n-Propylamino) Tetralin (8-OH-DPAT) in the Rat: Site of Action and Pharmacological Analysis

Summary: The cardiovascular response to 8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino) tetralin (8-OH-DPAT), a selective putative 5-HT1A receptor agonist, has been investigated in the rat. Comparisons were made with clonidine, a centrally acting hypotensive agent with negligible affinity for 5-HT receptors. In conscious, spontaneously hypertensive (SH) rats, 8-OH-DPAT caused dose-related and sustained falls in blood pressure and heart rate that were unaffected by depletion of brain 5-HT by p-chlorophenylalanine. 8-OH-DPAT caused hypotension and bradycardia in anesthetized normotensive rats. In pithed rats, 8-OH-DPAT neither lowered blood pressure nor affected the cardiovascular response to spinal sympathetic stimulation or to phenylephrine. The response to 8-OH-DPAT was blocked selectively by intracisternal injection of 8-methoxy-2-(N-2-chloroethyl-N-n propyl) amino tetralin (8-MeO-CIEPAT), a putative irreversible 5-HT1A receptor antagonist, and was abolished in animals whose central monoamine transmitter stores were depleted selectively by combined treatment with dl-α-monofluoromethyl-dopa and dopamine. The cardiovascular response to 8-OH-DPAT was inhibited selectively by metergoline, methiothepin, and 8-MeO-CIEPAT; it was nonselectively inhibited by (±)-pindolol, (±)-cyanopindolol, buspirone, yohimbine, idazoxan, and WY 26392; and was unaffected by prazosin and cis-flupenthixol. These results establish that the cardiovascular response to 8-OH-DPAT in the rat is centrally mediated and point to the putative 5-HT1A receptor as the key site involved. An indirect link involving a catecholaminergic mechanism is suggested by the fact that α2-adrenoceptor antagonists are also inhibitory despite 8-OH-DPAT having no direct agonist effects at α2-adrenoceptors per se.
Nighttime Sleep Duration and Externalizing Behaviors of Preschool Children

Objective: To examine how many hours preschool children in the United States sleep at night and to test the hypothesis that children with shorter nighttime sleep duration are more likely to exhibit externalizing behaviors. Methods: The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort is a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study that followed children born in 2001 through kindergarten. This cross-sectional study examines the preschool wave (n = ∼8950). We estimated nighttime sleep duration from parent's reports of their 4-year-old child's typical weekday bed and wake times. Parents rated their child on 6 different externalizing behaviors (overactivity, anger, aggression, impulsivity, tantrums, and annoying behaviors) on a scale from 1 through 5 using the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scale—second edition. Multivariable regression analyses were used to examine the association between sleep duration and behavior scores and to control for possible confounders. Results: Results are weighted to total United States population, ∼3,895,100 children born in 2001. Mean sleep duration was 10.47 hours. Mean bedtime was 8:39 PM and wake time was 7:13 AM. The adjusted odds ratios for children sleeping <9.44 hours (1 standard deviation below the mean) versus those sleeping ≥9.44 hours for 6 different externalizing behavior outcomes were as follows: overactivity = 1.30 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03–1.65); anger = 1.40 (95% CI, 1.15–1.71); aggression = 1.81 (95% CI, 1.36–2.41); impulsivity = 1.44 (95% CI, 1.12–1.86); tantrums = 1.46 (95% CI, 1.16–1.85); and annoying behaviors = 1.40 (95% CI, 0.97–1.87). Conclusion: Shorter nighttime sleep duration in preschool children is associated with higher likelihood of externalizing behavioral symptoms based on parental report.
Spectrum aggregation strategy in multi-user cooperative relay networks

In order to meet the increasing demands of high-speed and high-quality data service, cooperative relay and spectrum aggregation technologies have attracted much attention due to their efficiency in improving spectrum utilization. Combing cooperative relay and spectrum aggregation technologies, this paper focuses on multi-user and multi-relay scenario on the condition of ensuring the user channel capacity to maximize the network throughput. At first, according to the estimated value of throughput, each relay select a source node to service, and then based on the common idle spectrum of source and relay nodes, we adopted the greedy algorithm to obtain a optimal spectrum aggregation strategy. The simulation results show that the proposed strategy has improved the network throughput greatly, and the parameters such as the spectrum number have a large effect on the efficiency.
wblA, a pleiotropic regulatory gene modulating morphogenesis and daptomycin production in Streptomyces roseosporus

The wblA gene, encoding a homologue of the WhiB family protein, was identified in the sequenced genome of daptomycin producer Streptomyces roseosporus. To explore the function of wblA, we construct wblA disruption strains, complemented strains and overexpression strains to test whether it can affect the production of secondary metabolites and morphogenesis.
Students, Mobile Devices and Classrooms: A comparison of US and Arab Undergraduate Students in a Middle Eastern University

The use of mobile devices in the university classroom is not limited to Western cultures. Rather universities in the Middle East, particularly in the Gulf Cooperation Countries face similar problems regarding smartphone usage in classrooms. This study utilizes Tindell and Bohlander’s (2012) survey to compare results regarding cell phones and text messaging in a small private US university to those in a Middle Eastern University located in a GCC country. The authors surveyed 300 randomly selected undergraduate students representing 26 majors located in seven different colleges to gain an understanding of their cell phones use in university classrooms. Comparison with US students demonstrates these students share a great deal of similarities although several findings indicate differences. To address the similarities and difference, the authors discuss globalization and relevant issues regarding the role culture plays in the use of this technology.
The Multitude of Econometric Tests: Forecasting the Dutsch Guilder

This paper studies a diversity of exchange rate models, applies both parametric and nonparametric techniques to them, and examines said models’ collective predictive performance. We shall choose the forecasting predictor with the smallest root mean square forecast error (RMSE); the empirical evidence for a better type of exchange rate model is in equation (34), although none of our evidence gives an optimal forecast. At the end, these models’ error correction versions will be fit so that plausible long-run elasticities can be imposed on each model’s fundamental variables.
Characteristics of participants in peripartum interventional research

Abstract Objective: To identify characteristics of pregnant women potentially influencing the decision to participate in peripartum interventional research. Methods: Women screened as eligible to participate in two prospective interventional trials conducted in the labor and delivery unit at a single center were included. Characteristics of eligible women were compared based on their decision whether to participate or not. The best predictors of research participation were identified using multivariable logistic regression analyses. Results: Of the 605 subjects who screened as eligible to participate, 363 (60%) agreed to participate and 242 (40%) declined. Women using a private obstetric provider or who had prior obstetrical complications were less likely to participate [aOR 0.6 (95% CI: 0.4–0.8)] and [aOR 0.6 (95% CI: 0.4–0.9)], respectively. A history of a mental health condition and a higher body mass index (BMI) were marginally more likely to participate [aOR 1.5 (95% CI: 1.0–2.3)] and [aOR 1.03 (95% CI: 1.0–1.1)], respectively. Overall logistic regression model R2 was 0.23. Conclusions: There are differences between eligible subjects who decide to participate or not participate in prospective peripartum interventional research. There is a need to better understand non-participation in order to improve recruitment of representative populations that allow more generalizable research results.
Raising the Curtain in People Management by Exploring How Sustainable HRM Translates to Practice: The Case of Lithuanian Organizations

Arguing for the necessity to re-think human resource management (HRM), as human resources are becoming scarce, HRM practices themselves can be even harmful for employees, and the mainstream HRM is more interested not in the employee well-being, but in the search for the link between HRM and performance, the paper introduces sustainable HRM as an alternative approach to people management. Sustainable HRM is seen as a design option, which allows one to maintain, renew and restore human resources. Although previous works have broadened the understanding of the meaning given to sustainable HRM and its core characteristics, research into how sustainable HRM translates into practice is still lacking. Thus, the purpose of the paper is to reveal the practices through which 11 characteristics of sustainable HRM are expressed in real people management in organizations. In doing this, qualitative data were collected from Lithuanian organizations using semi-structured interviews with 19 human resource (HR) managers. The research indicated a variety of applied practices, which differ by maturity. Care of employees, profitability, external partnership, fairness and equality, and employee development were revealed as the characteristics of sustainable HRM most explicitly expressed through HRM practices. Nonetheless, the organizations need more heterogeneous HRM activities, which simultaneously consider the economy, environment, society, and human aspects.