Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quenching of Er(III) luminescence by ligand C–H vibrations: Implications for the use of erbium complexes in telecommunications

The authors have quantified the quenching of the luminescence lifetime of Er3+ ions in organic complexes due to the presence of CH vibrational oscillators as a function of their distance from the ion. They have shown that any hydrogen atoms within a sphere of at least 20A from an erbium ion will cause sufficient quenching to prohibit its use in telecommunications applications.
Safety and efficacy of programmed cell death‐1 antibody SHR‐1210 combined with concurrent chemoradiotherapy to treat locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a study protocol for an exploratory single‐arm phase Ib trial

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the most common pathological pattern in China, with poor prognosis due to its early and frequent metastasis. Definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy is the standard treatment for inoperable locally advanced ESCC. Studies have shown promising efficacy of immune‐checkpoint inhibitors in ESCC. This study explores the safety and efficacy of immunotherapy combined with definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced ESCC.
Satisfaction with social services in Spain: What weighs more for users of immigrant origin?

Since the beginning of this century, Spain has become a host country for immigrants. In many cases, due to their living conditions, they are under pressure to demand different services and programs that are crucial for their social integration. This work is basically aimed at analyzing the immigrants’ satisfaction with social services. This article proposes an explanatory model of these users’ satisfaction with social services. The proposed model reports five significant factors, although the results obtained indicate that the three main factors influencing the satisfaction of users with social services are responsibility, assurance, and empathy. Satisfaction differences were also found according to users’ gender and place of residence.
Benevolence in New-age Businesses of Developing Economies: Some Conclusions from The Information Technology Companies/Sector of India

The article evaluates how knowledge workers in new-age businesses in developing economies conceptualize and practise acts of individual social responsibility (ISR) vis-à-vis the corporate social responsibility (CSR) endeavours of the companies for which they work. The study aims to differentiate between the values that drive ISR and CSR in such organizations. On one hand, the study targets young information technology professionals between the ages of 25 and 35 years exploring the individual motivations for socially responsible behaviour, and it looks at CSR managers responsible for strategizing and implementing CSR portfolio, representing the organizational imperatives of CSR behaviour and practice on the other. The study concludes with a conceptualization of how the convergence or otherwise of motivations between ISR and CSR in such organizations are defined and what are their determinants, with the derivative managerial implications for firms in developing economies in the context of managing the relatively younger workforce’s participation in their CSR efforts.
Who Moves to Music? Empathic Concern Predicts Spontaneous Movement Responses to Rhythm and Music

Moving to music is a universal human phenomenon, and previous studies have shown that people move to music even when they try to stand still. However, are there individual differences when it comes to how much people spontaneously respond to music with body movement? This article reports on a motion capture study in which 34 participants were asked to stand in a neutral position while listening to short excerpts of rhythmic stimuli and electronic dance music. We explore whether personality and empathy measures, as well as different aspects of music-related behaviour and preferences, can predict the amount of spontaneous movement of the participants. Individual differences were measured using a set of questionnaires: Big Five Inventory, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire. Liking ratings for the stimuli were also collected. The regression analyses show that Empathic Concern is a significant predictor of the observed spontaneous movement. We also found a relationship between empathy and the participants’ self-reported tendency to move to music.
The WeReha Project for an Innovative Home-Based Exercise Training in Chronic Stroke Patients: A Clinical Study

Background: Telerehabilitation (TR) in chronic stroke patients has emerged as a promising modality to deliver rehabilitative treatment-at-home. The primary objective of our methodical clinical study was to determine the efficacy of a novel rehabilitative device in terms of recovery of function in daily activities and patient satisfaction and acceptance of the medical device provided. Methods: A 12-week physiotherapy program (balance exercises, upper and lower limb exercises with specific motor tasks using a biofeedback system and exergaming) was administered using the WeReha device. Twenty-five (N = 25) chronic stroke outpatients were enrolled, and the data of 22 patients was analyzed. Clinical data and functional parameters were collected by Berg Balance scale (BBS), Barthel Index (BI), Fugl-Meyer scale (FM), Modified Rankin scale (mRS), and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) questionnaire at baseline (T0), after treatment (T1), and at the 12-week follow-up (T2). Statistical tests were used to detect significant differences (P < .05), and Cohen’s (Co) value was calculated. Results: BI scores improved significantly after treatment (P = .036; Co 0.776, medium), as well as BBS scores (P = .008; Co 1.260, high). The results in FM scale (P = .003) and mRS scores (P = .047) were significant post treatment. Follow-up scores remained stable across all scales, except the BI. The A and C sub-scales of the TAM correlated significantly to only a T2 to T1 difference for BI scores with P = . 021 and P = . 042. Conclusion: Currently, the WeReha program is not the conventional therapy for stroke patients, but it could be an integrative telerehabilitative resource for such patients as a conventional exercise program-at-home. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03964662.
HPC Cloud for Scientific and Business Applications

High performance computing (HPC) clouds are becoming an alternative to on-premise clusters for executing scientific applications and business analytics services. Most research efforts in HPC cloud aim to understand the cost benefit of moving resource-intensive applications from on-premise environments to public cloud platforms. Industry trends show that hybrid environments are the natural path to get the best of the on-premise and cloud resources—steady (and sensitive) workloads can run on on-premise resources and peak demand can leverage remote resources in a pay-as-you-go manner. Nevertheless, there are plenty of questions to be answered in HPC cloud, which range from how to extract the best performance of an unknown underlying platform to what services are essential to make its usage easier. Moreover, the discussion on the right pricing and contractual models to fit small and large users is relevant for the sustainability of HPC clouds. This article brings a survey and taxonomy of efforts in HPC cloud and a vision on what we believe is ahead of us, including a set of research challenges that, once tackled, can help advance businesses and scientific discoveries. This becomes particularly relevant due to the fast increasing wave of new HPC applications coming from big data and artificial intelligence.
Current Medicines for Malaria Including Resistance Issues

Malaria is an old disease and continues to be a major health problem in many countries. In spite of decrement in morbidity and mortality due to malaria, the transmission is still active throughout the world. Hence, appropriate treatment is needed to handle malaria in addition to preventive measures. However, unavailability of new drugs and the occurrence of resistant Plasmodium strains toward many conventional antimalarial drugs including artemisinins are the major obstacles in combating malaria infection. Thus, experts from all directions of our planet are in search of novel compounds, and many new chemical entities, such as artefenomel, ferroquine, KAE609, KAF156, DSM265, methylene blue, MMV39048, DDD107498, SJ733, and MMV253, have been under drug development process. While many agents are in the pipeline, most of them are not able to kill both gametocytes and hypnozoites.
Editorial

„Themost profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it. ” [7] Digitalization – the weaving of computer technology into everyday life – determines today’s reality. Terms such as Tangible Interfaces, Tangible Surfaces or Embodied Interaction refer to an aspect of this development in which virtual and physical realities combine and merge in a novel way. Tangible Interaction (in German: Be-greifbare Interaktion) takes place at the overlap of the physical and the digital world, and increasingly gains significance for application fields such as education and assistive living. Researchers, designers, engineers, and artists have been exploring this topic for many years now, and investigated theoretical foundations, working prototypes or high fidelity applications for end users that make the digital world perceivable through physical objects. This approach is characterized by interaction paradigms which go beyond the desktop and graphical user interfaces.We are humans living in physicalworld and contemporary technologies can support us with applications and devices that go beyond just a two-dimensional small-scale screen interface. Ishii and Ullmer describe the fundamental concept as follows: “Tangible Bits allows users to ‘grasp & manipulate’ bits in the center of users’ attention by coupling the bits with everyday physical objects and architectural surfaces. Tangible Bits also enables users to be aware of background bits at the periphery of human perception using ambient display media such as light, sound, airflow, and water movement in an augmented space” [3]. Being guided by the concept of tangible interaction with digital media means exploring the tangible and ex-
Intraoperative Ultrasound an Economical Tool for Neurosurgeons: A Single-Center Experience

Background: Over the past decade, the use of intraoperative image guidance in neurosurgery has gradually gained in importance. Apart from some sophisticated and very expensive techniques, intraoperative ultrasound (IOUS) is a simple and economical technique that allows the surgeon to localize deep-seated lesions under a real-time ultrasonic image display without dissection. The purpose of this study was to present our own preliminary experiences in various (n=1250) neurosurgical procedures carried out at our tertiary care centre in a developing country. Materials and Methods: A Prospective study was carried out in our department of neurosurgery at Grant Medical College and Sir J J Group of hospitals from January 2010 to May 2019. IOUS was used during various elective neurosurgical procedures done during this period as given in table no below. A total of 1250 patients, 850 supratentorial lesion, 290 infratentorial lesion and 110 spinal lesion, were included in this study. All studies were performed using an ultrasound machine with variable 3.5~7.5 MHz sector transducers. The echogenicity and pathomorphology between IOUS and computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (CT/MRI) of various disease entities were compared. Results: Intracranial structures could be well demonstrated by ultrasound once the skull was opened. Most of the intracranial lesions were hyperechoic, except those with a cystic component. IOUS was more sensitive in demonstrating non-enhanced solid lesions and lesions with a cystic component than was preoperative CT/MRI. The border between the tumor and healthy brain was better delineated on IOUS in all cases aiding in tumor resection. Conclusions: High-resolution real-time IOUS is a convenient and user-friendly method for identifying, localizing, and characterizing the pathological focus during an operation. Such information is very important and can enhance surgical results.
Comparative Evaluation of Serum Tumor Necrosis Factor α in Health and Chronic Periodontitis: A Case–Control Study

Background: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), a ” major inflammatory cytokine,” not only plays an important role in periodontal destruction but also is extremely toxic to the host. Till date, there are not many studies comparing the levels of TNF-α in serum and its relationship to periodontal disease. Aim: Our study aimed to compare the serum TNF-α among the two study groups, namely, healthy controls and chronic periodontitis patients and establish a correlation between serum TNF-α and various clinical parameters. Hence, an attempt is made to estimate the level of TNF-α in serum, its relationship to periodontal disease and to explore the possibility of using the level of TNF-α in serum as a biochemical ” marker” of periodontal disease. Materials and Methods: Forty individuals participated in the study and were grouped into two subgroups. Group A – 20 systemically and periodontally healthy controls. Group B – twenty patients with generalized chronic periodontitis. The serum samples were assayed for TNF-α levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Results: The mean serum TNF-α cytokines for Group B Generalized chronic periodontitis (GCP) was 2.977 ± 1.011, and Group A (healthy) was 0.867 ± 0.865. The range of serum TNF-α was from (0.867 to 2.977). Serum TNF-α cytokines had highly significant correlation with all clinical parameters (plaque index, probing pocket depth, clinical attachment loss, and gingival index) among all study participants (P = 0.001). Conclusion: These observations suggest a positive association between periodontal disease and increased levels of TNF-α in serum. It can be concluded that there is a prospect of using the estimation of TNF-α in serum as a ” marker” of periodontal disease in future. However, it remains a possibility that the absence or low levels of TNF-α in serum might indicate a stable lesion and elevated levels might indicate an active site but only longitudinal studies taking into account, the disease ” activity” and ” inactivity” could suggest the possibility of using TNF-α in serum as an ” Indicator” of periodontal disease.
Effects of Activation on the Surface Properties of Silica-Supported Cobalt Catalysts

Drying and calcining effects on 16-19 wt% Co/SiO2 Fischer-Tropsch (FT) catalysts, prepared by impregnation with cobalt nitrate, have been examined using ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) surface analysis and conventional catalyst characterization techniques. Drying in air at 110°C or under vacuum at 100°C and then calcining in air at 400°C causes large Co3O4 particles to form, which easily reduce under hydrogen at 300°C. In contrast, dried samples annealed under UHV prior to calcining exhibit dramatically different characteristics. The decomposition of cobalt nitrate during drying initiates the formation of a surface cobalt silicate. Prolonged air drying eventually converts the surface silicate into Co3O4, while vacuum drying disperses the nitrate precursor on the support, forming cobalt silicate islands. Annealing air-dried samples in UHV stabilizes the surface silicate against reduction or oxidation through the migration of Co2+ ions into the support to form a well-ordered bulk cobalt silicate. Annealing of vacuum-dried samples to 200°C in UHV produces a continuous, conductive surface silicate that sinters upon heating to temperatures above 250°C. Analysis of species generated during the decomposition of the Co(NO3)(2) · 6H2O precursor indicates that the concentration of gas phase NOx near the surface determines the nature of the cobalt surface phase. The formation of an intermediate surface cobalt silicate under specific activation conditions maximizes the amount of reducible cobalt surface area available for FT reactions.
The distribution of hard rods on a line of finite length

We obtain the grand potential and the associated distribution functions for a system of hard rods on a line of finite length. These functions are shown to be related to those of a semi-infinite system bounded by one hard wall. It follows that the contact values of the density and distribution functions at the walls of the finite system are related to those at the wall of the semi-infinite system, and that the force on the walls is the density at contact. We obtain also the density and distribution functions for a system with repeating boundary conditions, which are also expressible in terms of those of the finite and semi-infinite systems.
A New Route toward ZnO Hollow Spheres by a Base-Erosion Mechanism

In this paper, thermal treatment of Zn(NH3)42+ precursor in ethanol solvent leading to the formation of the ZnO hollow spheres is reported. It was demonstrated that the pH value of the initial mixture and the volume ratio of the ethanol with the solution plays the key function in the formation of hollow spheres. Transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy images showed that hollow spheres of ∼600 nm in diameter were built by ZnO nanorods. On the basis of experimental results, a possible formation mechanism in the growth processes is discussed.
Comparison of tensile and tear strength of three silicone materials for maxillofacial prosthesis in Indian climatic condition

Aims: The aim of the study was to evaluate and compare physical properties such as tensile strength and tear strength of three commonly used silicone maxillofacial materials in Indian climatic condition. Settings and Design: An in vitro study was conducted to compare the tensile and tear strength using a universal testing machine with 100 N load at a speed of 20 mm/min. Specimens were prepared from three commercially available silicones, i.e., medical grade silicone (control group), prosthetic grade silicone (test Group 1), and a locally available medical grade silicone (test Group 2). One-way analysis of variance was carried out to test any significant difference between the mean values of tensile and tear strength between the tested materials. Post hoc test of Tukey was used to find which of the two groups' means shows a significant difference. Results: Prosthetic grade silicone showed the highest tensile strength with a P< 0.001* among the two tested materials. Tear strength and mean elongation was highest in control showing statistically significant results (<0.001*). Locally available medical grade silicone showed the least favorable properties among all the tested materials, though tensile strength was within acceptable range. Conclusions: Tensile strength of prosthetic silicone was highest followed by medical grade, whereas tear strength and elongation were maximum in medical grade silicone. Locally available medical grade silicone showed the least favorable properties.
Classification of German Court Rulings: Detecting the Area of Law

This paper investigates on the feasibility of automatically detecting the legal area of court rulings. Hereby, we establish the hypothesis that the allocation to a ﬁeld of law is often ambiguous and errors occur in that process as a result. A dataset constituting over 9.000 labelled court rulings was used in order to train different machine learning (ML) classiﬁers. Additionally, we applied rule-based approaches utilizing domain knowledge of legal experts. Our models outperformed the rule-based approaches signiﬁcantly. Hence, we could show that the performance of ML models are less prone to errors than the manual assignment of legal experts.
MicroRNA-128 suppresses colorectal cancer cell proliferation through targeting LRP6

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most commonly cancer worldwide and many studies demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in the tumorigenesis and development of CRC. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression level and biological functions of miR-128 in CRC. Methods: The expression level of miR-128 in 30 CRC specimens and 5 CRC cell lines was detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Cell proliferation was assessed by CCK-8 assay. Flow cytometry was performed to analyze the cell apoptosis and cell cycle distribution. Moreover, luciferase reporter assay was conducted to explore the potential target of miR-128 in CRC cells. Results: MiR-128 was significantly down-regulated in CRC specimens as well as in CRC cell lines. Overexpression of miR-128 in SW480 cells transfected with miR-128 mimics could suppress CRC cell proliferation and induces cell cycle arrest and cell apoptosis. In addition, we found that LRP6 was a direct and functional target of miR-128. In keeping with the effect induced by overexpression of miR-128, knockdown of LRP6 inhibited CRC cell proliferation. Conclusion: Our study indicated that miR-128 could suppress CRC cell proliferation through targeting LRP6. MiR-128 might act as a potential therapeutic target for CRC treatment in the future.
ON VARIABILITY ANALYSIS OF EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHM-BASED ESTIMATION

: A theoretical framework to analyze variability of parametric estimates obtained via Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) is proposed. The nature of EAs, in fact, introduces a further source of variability, due to stochastic elements of the procedure. A simulation study employing Genetic Algorithms and Differential Evolution is also conducted in order to make comments on the effect of these stochastic elements on variability.
Contrast and dyes

South Afr J Anaesth Analg 2020; 26(6)Supplement http://www.sajaa. co.za Southern African Journal of Anaesthesia and Analgesia. 2020;26(6 Suppl 3):S12-16 https://doi.org/10.36303/SAJAA.2020. 26.6. S3.2529 Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License [CC BY-NC 3.0] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0 South Afr J Anaesth Analg ISSN 2220-1181 EISSN 2220-1173 © 2020 The Author(s)
The physiology of ketosis and the ketogenic diet

South Afr J Anaesth Analg 2020; 26(6)Supplement http://www.sajaa. co.za Southern African Journal of Anaesthesia and Analgesia. 2020;26(6 Suppl 3):S94-97 https://doi.org/10.36303/SAJAA.2020. 26.6. S3.2547 Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License [CC BY-NC 3.0] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0 South Afr J Anaesth Analg ISSN 2220-1181 EISSN 2220-1173 © 2020 The Author(s)
An Experimental Investigation of Health Insurance Policy and Behavior

We introduce a new experimental approach to measuring the effects of health insurance policy alternatives on behavior and health outcomes over the life course. Cash-motivated subjects are placed in a virtual environment where they earn income and allocate it across multi-period lives. We compare behavior across age, income and insurance plans—one priced according to an individual’s expected cost and the other uniformly priced through employer-implemented cost sharing. We find that 1) subjects in the employer-implemented plan purchased insurance at higher rates; 2) the employer-based plan reduced differences due to income and age; 3) subjects in the actuarial plan engaged in more health-promoting behaviors, but still below optimal levels, and did save at the level required, so did realize the full benefits of the plan. Subjects had more difficulty optimizing choices in the Actuarial treatment, because it required more long term planning and evaluating benefits that compounded over time. Contrary, to model predictions, the actuarial priced insurance plan did not increase utility relative to the employer-based plan.