Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Response surface optimisation of extraction of antioxidants from strawberry fruit, and lipid peroxidation inhibitory potential of the fruit extract in cooked chicken patties.

BACKGROUND Strawberries contain high levels of antioxidants and have beneficial effects against oxidative stress-mediated diseases, such as cancer. They contain multiple phenolic compounds, which contribute to their biological properties. Hence, a study was carried out to optimise the extraction of antioxidants and evaluate the antioxidant potential of strawberry fruit extract (SE) in cooked chicken patties during refrigerated storage. The activity of SE was compared with that of butylhydroxytoluene (BHT). RESULTS The effect of solvent type (MeOH and EtOH), concentration (0-70%) of EtOH in the system, temperature (30-60 °C), and time (30-150 min) on DPPH•-scavenging activity of SE was investigated. Response surface methodology was used to estimate the optimum extraction conditions for each parameter. The maximum predicted DPPH• scavenging under the optimised conditions (100% MeOH, 30 °C, 150 min) was 43% at 1 mg SE mL⁻¹. Freshly prepared chicken patties were treated with 5% and 10% SE and 2% BHT, and stored aerobically at 4 °C for 6 days. SE had no influence (P < 0.05) on any of the sensory attributes of the patties. The values of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances reduced significantly (P < 0.05) from 2.47 mg in control patties to 0.312 mg and 0.432 mg malonaldehyde kg⁻¹ sample in 5-SE and 10-SE patties, respectively, on the day 6 of storage. CONCLUSION The optimised model depicted MeOH at 30 °C with an extended time of 150 min as the optimum settings for extraction of compounds from strawberry that had the scavenging activity. The study shows that the extraction of natural antioxidants from strawberry can be improved by optimising several key extraction parameters. SE also acted as an effective antioxidant and suppressed lipid peroxidation in cooked chicken patties.
Work-based higher education programmes in Germany and the US: Comparing multi-actor corporatist governance in higher education

Abstract In both Germany and the United States, employers search for new strategies to recruit and train people in times of a dynamically evolving economy and rising educational expectations on the part of individuals. In this context, we observe the proliferation of work-based higher education programmes in both countries. This development challenges the common classification found in the political economy and educational policy literature that distinguishes between collectively governed dual apprenticeships in Germany and market-driven on-the-job training in the US. The paper proposes an alternative conceptualization that identifies significant similarities in the governance mode of work-based higher education across the two countries. Based on expert interviews and document analysis, the institutional analysis focuses on complex multi-actor governance constellations at the nexus of vocational training and higher education and explores consequences for contemporary policy-making in advanced skill formation.
Overexpression of the Response RegulatorevgA of the Two-Component Signal Transduction System Modulates Multidrug Resistance Conferred by Multidrug Resistance Transporters

ABSTRACT Overexpression of evgA, a response regulator of a two-component system, increased multidrug efflux in Escherichia coli. Since overexpression of the emrKY operon, which is controlled by evgAS, could account only for deoxycholate resistance, the evgAS locus apparently controls expression of at least one other multidrug efflux operon.
Burnout and Psychological Distress Among Pediatric Critical Care Physicians in the United States*

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of physician burnout, psychological distress, and its association with selected personal and practice characteristics among pediatric critical care physicians and to evaluate the relationship between burnout and psychological distress. Design: Cross-sectional, online survey. Setting: Pediatric critical care practices in the United States. Subjects: Pediatric critical care physicians. Interventions: None. Measurement and Main Results: A nonrandom sample of 253 physicians completed an online survey consisting of personal and practice characteristics, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the General Health Questionnaire. Nearly half of the participants (49%; 95% CI, 43–55%; n = 124) scored high burnout in at least one of the three subscales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory and 21% reported severe burnout. The risk of any burnout was about two times more in women physicians (odds ratio, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.2–3.4). Association between other personal or practice characteristics and burnout was not evident in this study, while regular physical exercise appeared to be protective. One third of all participants (30.5%) and 69% of those who experienced severe burnout screened positive for psychological distress. About 90% of the physicians reporting severe burnout have considered leaving their practice. Conclusions: Burnout is high among pediatric critical care physicians in the United States. About two thirds of the physicians with severe burnout met the screening criteria for psychological distress that suggests possible common mental disorders. Significant percentages of physicians experiencing burnout and considering to leave the profession has major implications for the critical care workforce.
An Empirical Analysis on the Influence of China’s Urbanization on Employment Structure

The study subtracts time-series data related to the urbanization level and employment situation in different industries and explores the relationship between China’s employment structure and urbanization process by using correlation analysis, ADF test, co-integration test, and Granger causality analysis. The study finds a long-term equilibrium relationship between China’s urbanization level and employment structure. What’s more, the study also finds that urbanization level is the Granger reason for the change of employment structure, which only works in one way. Furthermore, the study reveals the persistent role of urbanization in promoting the employment structure adjustment.
Information-seeking practices of senior medical students: the impact of an evidence-based medicine training programme.

CONTEXT The practice of Evidence-based Medicine (EBM) involves physicians regularly accessing and appraising clinical information. Few prior studies have assessed the information-seeking behaviours of medical undergraduates. At the International Medical University (IMU), Malaysia, senior medical students receive clinically-integrated EBM training to facilitate their future practice of EBM. OBJECTIVES We assessed whether EBM training in the final six months of medical training changes our students' information-seeking practices and their confidence in understanding and appraising clinical evidence. METHODS Between September 2005 and February 2006, self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 65 senior medical students at the beginning and again at the end of their clerkship training during which there was a clinically-integrated EBM curriculum. The questionnaires covered the topics of their preferred sources of clinical information, online search frequencies, estimated time to retrieve an abstract, and their understanding and confidence in their critical appraisal skills. FINDINGS Sixty-four (98%) students completed the initial survey and 63 (97%) completed the follow-up survey. The majority indicated that they preferred to first consult another individual (colleagues, lecturers, hospital staff) for their clinical queries (60.9% in the initial survey and 61.9% in the follow-up survey), with no change in their overall preference following the EBM curriculum six months later (p=0.144). There were significant increases in search activities following the curriculum, for example, students who searched PubMed or Medline for more than three times per week increased from 9.7% to 31.7% (p < 0.001). Students reported that they more often accessed single journals than databases. Despite significant improvements in students' reported understanding of journals and their confidence in critical appraisal (p < 0.001), there was no improvement in reported search speed, with 48.4% in the initial survey and 49.2% in the follow-up survey reporting to take 30 minutes or less to trace an abstract of interest (p=0.979). CONCLUSIONS Our EBM training, offered within a supportive curriculum, increased our students' confidence and activity related to EBM, but failed to change students' reported information-seeking behaviours. Other factors influencing medical students' information-seeking practice need to be explored.
A Wearable Self-Injection-Locked Sensor With Active Integrated Antenna and Differentiator-Based Envelope Detector for Vital-Sign Detection From Chest Wall and Wrist

This paper presents a new wearable self-injection-locked sensor with a self-oscillating active integrated antenna (AIA) and a differentiator-based envelope detector for detecting vital signs from the chest wall and the wrist. The AIA is designed to radiate the electromagnetic signal and sense the scattered-back signal, which is phase modulated by the physiological movement of the human chest and wrist. The received self-injection signal from the subject under test locks the AIA and simultaneously introduces a variation in the output magnitude (amplitude modulation) and a shift in the oscillation frequency (frequency modulation). In other words, the output signal of the AIA is a frequency-modulated carrier with an amplitude-varying envelope. To acquire the vital signs from the modulated signal, an envelope detector is integrated with a microwave differentiator to form a differentiator-based envelope detector, which demodulates signal. The heartbeat and wrist pulse rates measured by the proposed sensor agree well with the results acquired by a finger pulse oximeter. Since the proposed demodulator has a simple architecture, it has a potential to be integrated with the AIA in a multilayered printed-circuit board for the realization of a compact wearable self-injection-locked radar sensor.
A Hyper-Redundant Robot Development for Tokamak Inspection

Hyper-redundant manipulators are an alternative to serial manipulators that can be used for inspection and maintenance in constrained location. They are highly suitable for inspections in tokamak environment, where the robotic systems need to have multiple degrees of freedom, light weight, fast deployment and retrieval mechanism and high dexterity. In this paper, the design concept and control mechanism of a 3 link tendon driven hyper-redundant inspection system is presented. The paper details the structural design, kinematic modelling, control algorithm development and practical implementation of the hyper-redundant robot with experiments. The prototype developed is used for evaluating the control mechanism and provide a proof of concept.
Urotensin‐II receptor peptide agonists

Urotensin II (U‐II) has been known for over 30 years as an important teleost fish hormone, but only recently has it been recognized as the endogenous ligand of a new human G‐protein‐coupled receptor (GPCR) homologous to the GPR14 orphan receptor from rat. Human U‐II was found to be a potent vasoconstrictor, widely distributed in human tissues, possibly contributing to several human cardiovascular diseases. It thus has become a major target of medicinal chemistry research. The common structural feature of U‐II peptides from different species is the C‐terminal portion, characterized by the disulfide bridged cyclic hexapeptide Cys‐Phe‐Trp‐Lys‐Tyr‐Cys. The few structure–activity relationship studies reported to date attributed a critical role to this portion, with the Trp‐Lys‐Tyr motif appearing as the key determinant of U‐II bioactivity. Consequently, this shorter cyclic peptide was used as a template for the development of several synthetic analogues, among which a superagonist, termed P5U: H‐Asp‐cyclo(Pen‐Phe‐Trp‐Lys‐Tyr‐Cys)‐Val‐OH. Conformational studies confirmed the important role of hU‐II C‐terminal cyclic portion, enabling the development of 3D pharmacophore models. These findings should lead to the design of new, potent and selective analogues, acting as agonist or antagonist at the human U‐II receptor, finally contributing to a deeper comprehension of the (patho)physiological significance of this peptide. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Med Res Rev, 24, No. 5, 577–588, 2004
Measuring social protection for long-term care

This report presents the first international quantification and comparison of levels of social protection for long-term care (LTC) in 14 OECD and EU countries. Focusing on five scenarios with different LTC needs and services, it quantifies the cost of care; the level of coverage provided by social protection systems; the out-of-pocket costs that people are left facing; and whether these costs are affordable. The cost of care varies widely between countries but it is always high relative to typical incomes, meaning that LTC is often unaffordable in the absence of social protection. All countries studied have some form of social protection for LTC, but even where coverage is comprehensive, people pay some of the cost out of pocket. Coverage for home care for moderate or severe needs is often insufficient, leaving people with large out-of-pocket costs. In contrast, all countries studied ensure that institutional care is affordable. Unless family and friends can provide informal care, many people will be unable to afford LTC in their own home, leaving them with unmet needs or at risk of early institutionalisation. Benefits are usually means-tested to provide more support to those less able to afford to contribute, but it is still those with lowest incomes that are most likely to face unaffordable costs. Some countries provide financial support to informal carers, but this rarely comes close to compensating them for the time they spend providing LTC. When designing social protection systems for LTC, countries need to look systematically at the level of protection provided to people in different scenarios. Many countries aim to support people with LTC needs to remain in their own home for longer, but the results presented here suggest that gaps in social protection make this unaffordable for people with low income. Addressing these gaps should be a priority for future reforms.
Biometric verification using thermal images of palm-dorsa vein patterns

A novel approach to personal verification using the thermal images of palm-dorsa vein patterns is presented in this paper. The characteristics of the proposed method are that no prior knowledge about the objects is necessary and the parameters can be set automatically. In our work, an infrared (IR) camera is adopted as the input device to capture the thermal images of the palm-dorsa. In the proposed approach, two of the finger webs are automatically selected as the datum points to define the region of interest (ROI) on the thermal images. Within each ROI, feature points of the vein patterns (FPVPs) are extracted by modifying the basic tool of watershed transformation based on the properties of thermal images. According to the heat conduction law (the Fourier law), multiple features can be extracted from each FPVP for verification. Multiresolution representations of images with FPVPs are obtained using multiple multiresolution filters (MRFs) that extract the dominant points by filtering miscellaneous features for each FPVP. A hierarchical integrating function is then applied to integrate multiple features and multiresolution representations. The former is integrated by an inter-to-intra personal variation ratio and the latter is integrated by a positive Boolean function. We also introduce a logical and reasonable method to select a trained threshold for verification. Experiments were conducted using the thermal images of palm-dorsas and the results are satisfactory with an acceptable accuracy rate (FRR:2.3% and FAR:2.3%). The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed approach is valid and effective for vein-pattern verification.
Development of direct methods of calculation of energy factors of nonsinusoidal current networks

In the first part of the article the procedure of geometrization of results of the differential equations algebraization is constructed, which is used in direct methods of calculation of energy factors of nonlinear consumers. It is established, that the algebraic equations for square-law norms of decisions of the differential equations of n th order are the equations ellipsoid the n+1 order. In the second part of article on the basis of direct methods the analytical method of calculation of degree of distortion of the general current of a network is developed by separate nonlinear consumers. The method can be used both for calculation and for measurement. Today no national and international standards on quality of a current of consumers of these factors are considered.
Cogging torque and operation torque ripple reduction of interior permanent magnet synchronous machines by using asymmetric flux-barriers

This paper presents three configurations of flux-barriers in a V-shaped interior permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) to reduce cogging torque and operation torque ripple. While maintaining the average electromagnetic torque, torque performances in dual rotation directions are analyzed with finite element method (FEM), showing that one of the configurations can achieve good performance in dual rotation directions while the other two are suitable for one rotation direction only. Furthermore, frozen permeability method (FPM) is employed to compare the influence on PM torque and reluctance torque, and comes to a conclusion that two configurations have little impact on the reluctance torque while the other can enhance the reluctance torque slightly.
A 97.0% maximum efficiency, fast response, low voltage ripple KY boost converter for photovoltaic application

This project designed and implemented a high-performance DC-DC KY boost converter for photovoltaic application. Targeting at the growing solar energy market, the proposed PV generation system is used to directly transfer the power from PV panel to AC power grid. The system adopted a topology of DC-DC converter called KY converter to step up DC voltage to a suitable level. Its characteristics include high efficiency, fast transient response, and small output voltage ripple, in comparison with the traditional DC-DC boost topologies. With feedback control circuits with digital signal processor (DSP), system can adjust the output level immediately. After the correctness of the system, the design was verified by simulation for both continuous conduction mode (CCM) and discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) of KY boost converter; experiments for CCM was conducted, which showed a peak efficiency of 97.0% in 1.2kW load condition, with 0.5% low voltage ripple and transient response time within 25ms.
Vestigial Tooth Anatomy and Tusk Nomenclature for Monodon Monoceros

Narwhal tusks, although well described and characterized within publications, are clouded by contradictory references, which refer to them as both incisors and canines. Vestigial teeth are briefly mentioned in the scientific literature with limited descriptions and no image renderings. This study first examines narwhal maxillary osteoanatomy to determine whether the erupted tusks are best described as incisiform or caniniform teeth. The study also offers evidence to support the evolutionary obsolescence of the vestigial teeth through anatomic, morphologic, and histologic descriptions. Examination of 131 skull samples, including 110 museum skull specimens and 21 harvested skulls, revealed the erupted tusks surrounded by maxillary bone over the entire length of their bone socket insertion, and are thus more accurately termed caniniform or canine teeth. The anatomy, morphology, and development of vestigial teeth in five skull samples are more fully described and documented. Vestigial tooth samples included 14 embedded pairs or individual teeth that were partially exposed or removed from the maxillary bone. Their location was posterior, ventral, and lateral to the tusks, although male vestigial teeth often exfoliate in the mouth lodging between the palatal tissue and underlying maxillary bone. Their myriad morphologies, sizes, and eruption patterns suggest that these teeth are no longer guided by function but rather by random germ cell differentiation and may eventually cease expression entirely. The conclusions reached are that the narwhal tusks are the expression of canine teeth and that vestigial teeth have no apparent functional characteristics and are following a pattern consistent with evolutionary obsolescence. Anat Rec, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Cluster of tweet users based on optimal set

Over the years or even decades, researchers are dealing with the problem of duplicate clusters or overlapping clusters in a cluster set. Clusters overlap within each other just as in the case of social networking groups, or grouping movies by genre. In this paper, hierarchical form of clustering is used to cluster user based on interaction which creates numerous clusters with different sizes at different hierarchical level. In doing so, many overlapping clusters are generated but duplicates are not removed. Duplicity possesses a challenge for differentiation. Our work here is two fold. Firstly, to cluster users with different hierarchical levels to generate sets of clusters by level and secondly, to find among the different cluster sets the optimal one by simply using mean and standard deviation. The sense of optimality is different for different requirements. Our work shows that we can have a choice of picking the optimal set by requirement.
Matching-Area-Based Seam Carving for Video Retargeting

This paper presents a video retargeting method considering both spatial and temporal coherence for resizing videos. Our algorithm is based on a novel matching-area-based temporal energy adjustment that allows per-frame seam carving to remove the optimal pixels to achieve spatially and temporally continuous resized videos. The temporal energy adjustment allows the seam to track the object it previously carved, and avoid carving the seam on different objects in two consecutive frames to achieve both spatial and temporal coherence. Our method outperforms other state-of-the-art retargeting systems, as demonstrated in the results and widely supported by the conducted user study.
Effects of adenosine on ischaemia–reperfusion injury associated with rat pancreas transplantation

During cold preservation, cellular consumption of adenosine triphosphate leads to the accumulation of nucleotides and nucleosides. The precise role of adenosine in modulating the inflammatory response of cold‐preserved pancreas after reperfusion remains to be elucidated. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of adenosine on the inflammatory response associated with the process of ischaemia–reperfusion in rat pancreas transplantation.