Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing the Service Quality Attributes Affecting the Satisfaction of the Northern Railway Passengers: An Empirical Study

The present study aims to assess the intangible attributes of the service that have an impact on customer satisfaction. The Intangible attributes attached to the service, are difficult to determine. The Indian Railway network is one of the largest railway networks in the world. It is spread over 115,000 km having 21,617 passenger trains carrying 23 million passengers every day. In terms of revenue generation, it is a major contributor to the Indian economy but even then, the service level is very poor as compared to the other parts of the world. Due to increased competition in the modes of transportation, the Service attributes of Indian Railway acts as a strong influencer on Passenger Satisfaction. Indian Railways has a huge potential in terms of economic benefits if their service quality is improved. Various studies have tried to identify the important attributes regarding the Service Quality of Indian Railway. The SERVQUAL model provided important insights into the service attributes. The study attempts to identify the gap that exists in the service level, that is, service offered by the Indian Railway and expectation of the customers. In the study, only internal aspects like facilities (attributes) which make the journey comfortable and the absence of these attributes makes the passengers’ journey uncomfortable are included. The result indicates that there exists a considerable gap in Reliability and Assurance dimensions of Railway service quality and the most important factors determining satisfaction of passengers are basic facilities, safety and security, cleanliness and employee behaviour towards passengers.
Characterizing and Distinguishing ‘Innovative Start-ups’ Among Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)

Start-ups are entrepreneurial ventures, having a high risk of failure (Bortolini et al., 2018; Spender et al., 2017). The risk of failures of Start-ups can be minimized if they are characterized well, and the appropriate macro- and micro-level policy interventions can be introduced. Our literature review (LR) on Start-ups reveals that they are addressed by different names, namely, Hi-Tech firms, University spin-offs, Innovative Start-ups (ISs), Lean Start-ups, Silicon Valley Start-ups and New Technology-Based Firms (NTBF). (Tripathi, Seppanen et al., 2018; Silva et al., 2020; Wiesenberg et al., 2020). It is also observed that Start-ups are referred to as small business and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). A systematic literature review (SLR) of Start-ups is presented here and used as the basis for characterizing them. We propose (proposition-1) that these Start-up firms, addressed by different names, as referred above, can be grouped, characterized and identified as ISs. Based on a robust characterization of ISs, this article proposes that ISs are a subset of MSMEs. From a comparative study of ISs and MSME, we propose (proposition-2) a framework that shows MSMEs can be conceptually split into ISs and Conventional MSMEs (C-MSMEs), with an intersection between ISs and C-MSME. This study has also identified four new research areas related to Start-ups and MSMEs. The above characterization and differentiation of ISs from other entrepreneurial ventures will help policymakers, entrepreneurs, and investors to understand ISs and C-MSMEs better and develop suitable policy interventions and risk mitigation strategies.
Comparison of Selectively Polarizable Force Fields for Ion−Water−Peptide Interactions: Ion Translocation in a Gramicidin-like Channel

Previous molecular dynamics simulations have shown that explicit inclusion of electronic polarizability significantly influences correlations in a gramicidin-like channel (ref 1). We now separately consider how water and helix polarization modify structure in the single-file regime of the head-to-head β6. 3 helix. Further, we investigate how internal energy barriers are influenced by polarization. We contrast midmonomer properties for small and large cations (Na+ and Cs+, respectively) and for four polarizability scenarios: all polar groups polarizable; only water polarizable; only helix groups polarizable; and no polar groups polarizable. To ensure comparability, the group dipole moments in nonpolarizable cases are adjusted to mimic either mean electrostatic interaction energetics or mean group dipole moments of the fully polarizable water-filled channel. With a polarizable helix, ion−carbonyl correlations strengthen and ion−water correlations weaken. With polarizable water, the opposite holds. The conse.
Complete heavy metal removal from fly ash by heat treatment : Influence of chlorides on evaporation rates

Thermal treatment is a promising way for the decontamination and inertization of residues from waste incineration. The evaporation of heavy metal compounds thereby is of great significance. It is the goal of this work to identify, by analyzing evaporation rates, the predominant thermochemical reactions of the heavy metals with other constituents of fly ash, with respect to volatilization. To this end, experiments were performed with fly ash from a municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration plant as well as with synthetic powder mixtures in the temperature range of 670−1000 °C. The rates of Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn evaporation can be described accurately by a simple first-order rate law and a rate coefficient which itself follows an exponential temperature dependence analogous to the Arrhenius equation. The degrees (completeness) as well as the rates of evaporation of the heavy metals are markedly influenced by chlorides contained in the fly ash, largely as NaCl. Experiments with model substrates indicate that the.
Structural diversity from co-crystal to 1D coordination polymers of 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid with 4,4′-bipyridine as coligand: structural and computational approach

Abstract The co-crystal 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid (2,6-NDCA) and 4,4′-bipyridine (4,4′-bipy) I and metal (Li+) complex of 2,6-NDCA with 4,4′-bipy i.e. {[Li(2,6-NDC)0.5. (H2O)2] n . 4,4′-bipy} II (2,6-NDC = 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxyle) have been characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, IR spectra, elemental, and TGA analyses. The co-crystals are stabilized by strong H-bonding between acid–base units whereas the Li+ ion based mixed complex is stabilized by both coordination and H-bonding interactions. During investigation of strong or weak intermolecular interactions, X-ray diffraction analysis and Hirshfeld surface analysis gave rise to comparable results but in the Hirshfeld surface analysis, two-third times more close contacts were observed. Thermogravimetry shows that the complex is stable up to 200 °C after the removal of coordinated water molecules. To get some insights in the chemical reactivity indices, the HOMO-LUMO gap, chemical potential, chemical hardness, and electrophilicity indices for both systems (in gas phase) have been analyzed on the basis of theoretical investigations along with their molecular electrostatic potential surfaces and the total electron density plots; I has been found to be more stable than II which appears to be because of the strong H-bonding interaction(s). The fingerprint plots demonstrate that these weak nonbonding interactions are important for stabilizing the crystal packing. Graphical Abstract
Electrical transport properties of MoO3 thin films prepared by laser assisted evaporation

In the present paper the growth of MoO3 thin films on common glass substrates are described. The films were prepared by evaporation of a MoO3 target with a CO2 laser (10.6 μm), operating in the continuous wave mode. The effect of substrate temperature on the crystallographic structure and electrical properties of MoO3 thin films was studied. The chemical composition of the different species formed on the films surface was obtained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and the crystalline structure was studied with X-ray diffraction (XRD). The electrical conductivity of the films was determined using the standard four-points method. Conductivity of the films varied from de 10–9 to 10–5 (Ωcm)–1 in the 300-600 K temperature range. Arrhenius-type plots for the electrical conductivity indicate the presence of at least two different conduction mechanisms. The I-V characteristic curve shows an ohmic behavior only in the 4.5-60 V range. Outside this interval the I-V curve has a behavior described by a power law. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Biased Influences of Low Tumor Purity on Mutation Detection in Cancer

The non-cancerous components in tumor tissues, e.g., infiltrating stromal cells and immune cells, dilute tumor purity and might confound genomic mutation profile analyses and the identification of pathological biomarkers. It is necessary to systematically evaluate the influence of tumor purity. Here, using public gastric cancer samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we firstly showed that numbers of mutation, separately called by four algorithms, were significant positively correlated with tumor purities (all p < 0.05, Spearman rank correlation). Similar results were also observed in other nine cancers from TCGA. Notably, the result was further confirmed by six in-house samples from two gastric cancer patients and five in-house samples from two colorectal cancer patients with different tumor purities. Furthermore, the metastasis mechanism of gastric cancer may be incorrectly characterized as numbers of mutation and tumor purities of 248 lymph node metastatic (N + M0) samples were both significantly lower than those of 121 non-metastatic (N0M0) samples (p < 0.05, Wilcoxon rank-sum test). Similar phenomena were also observed that tumor purities could confound the analysis of histological subtypes of cancer and the identification of microsatellite instability status (MSI) in both gastric and colon cancer. Finally, we suggested that the higher tumor purity, such as above 70%, rather than 60%, could be better to meet the requirement of mutation calling. In conclusion, the influence of tumor purity on the genomic mutation profile and pathological analyses should be fully considered in the further study.
Prospects of Improving Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Potato: Lessons From Transgenics to Genome Editing Strategies in Plants

Feeding the world population increasing from current 7.7 to 9.7 billion by 2050 is a big challenge (United Nations, 2019). This is further serious in developing countries where degradation of soil health, increasing fertilizers cost and reducing cultivable lands are the major constraints (St Clair and Lynch, 2010). Presently, 119.41 million tons of nitrogen (N) fertilizers are applied worldwide in crops to achieve desirable yield (FAO, 2018). Plant N uptake, transport, utilization/assimilation and remobilization are controlled by a complex network of genes involved in these biological processes. Significant research advancements have been made in nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in plants like Arabidopsis, rice, maize and wheat (Li et al., 2017), and physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying N pathways have been elucidated in plants (Kant et al., 2011). Although, many studies have been undertaken in different N regimes and candidate genes have been identified for increasing NUE but success in achieving N-use efficient genotypes is limited due to its complex genetics and genotype by environment interaction (Baligar et al., 2001). Interestingly, a considerable number of transgenic plants with increased NUE have been developed in cereals (Li et al., 2020). Notably, progress in CRISPR/Cas9 [clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated nuclease 9] genome editing combined with base-editing technology provides a great opportunity for enhancing NUE in plants (Khatodia et al., 2016; Li et al., 2018). Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the fourth most important food crop of the world after rice, wheat and maize. Potato is an N fertilizer intensive crop that requires 180–240 kg N/ha fertilizers to produce high tuber yield (35–45 t/ha); of total applied N, plants acquire only 40–50% and remaining N is lost in environment (Trehan and Singh, 2013). Owing to the adverse impacts and high production cost caused by excess N fertilizers application, improving NUE of plant is an environmental-friendly approach to achieve sustainable crop yield (Fageria et al., 2008). This opinion article highlights prospects for improving NUE in potato based on the lessons learnt from the transgenics to the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing research in plants.
Topography and Traits Modulate Tree Performance and Drought Response in a Tropical Forest

Predicting drought responses of individual trees in tropical forests remains challenging, in part because trees experience drought differently depending on their position in spatially heterogeneous environments. Specifically, topography and the competitive environment can influence the severity of water stress experienced by individual trees, leading to individual-level variation in drought impacts. A drought in 2015 in Puerto Rico provided the opportunity to assess how drought response varies with topography and neighborhood crowding in a tropical forest. In this study, we integrated 3 years of annual census data from the El Yunque Chronosequence plots with measurements of functional traits and LiDAR-derived metrics of microsite topography. We fit hierarchical Bayesian models to examine how drought, microtopography, and neighborhood crowding influence individual tree growth and survival, and the role functional traits play in mediating species’ responses to these drivers. We found that while growth was lower during the drought year, drought had no effect on survival, suggesting that these forests are fairly resilient to a single-year drought. However, growth response to drought, as well as average growth and survival, varied with topography: tree growth in valley-like microsites was more negatively affected by drought, and survival was lower on steeper slopes while growth was higher in valleys. Neighborhood crowding reduced growth and increased survival, but these effects did not vary between drought/non-drought years. Functional traits provided some insight into mechanisms by which drought and topography affected growth and survival. For example, trees with high specific leaf area grew more slowly on steeper slopes, and high wood density trees were less sensitive to drought. However, the relationships between functional traits and response to drought and topography were weak overall. Species sorting across microtopography may drive observed relationships between average performance, drought response, and topography. Our results suggest that understanding species’ responses to drought requires consideration of the microenvironments in which they grow. Complex interactions between regional climate, topography, and traits underlie individual and species variation in drought response.
A Review of the Antimalarial, Antitrypanosomal, and Antileishmanial Activities of Natural Compounds Isolated From Nigerian Flora

The West African country Nigeria features highly diverse vegetation and climatic conditions that range from rain forest bordering the Atlantic Ocean in the South to the Desert (Sahara) at the Northern extreme. Based on data from the World Conservation Monitoring Center of the United Nations Environmental Protection, Nigeria, with ~5,000 documented vascular plants, ranks amongst the top 50 countries in terms of biodiversity. Such a rich biodiversity implies that the country is rich in diverse secondary metabolites—natural products/unique chemicals produced by the plant kingdom to confer selective advantages to them. Like many tropical countries, Nigeria is also endemic to numerous infectious diseases particularly those caused by parasitic pathogens. These phytochemicals have been exploited for the treatment of diseases and as a result, a new branch of chemistry, natural product chemistry, has evolved, to try to reproduce and improve the therapeutic qualities of particular phytochemicals. In this review, we have compiled a compendium of natural products, isolated from Nigerian flora, that have been reported to be effective against certain protozoan parasites with the aim that it will stimulate interests for further investigations, and give impetus to the development of the natural products into registered drugs. In total 93 structurally characterized natural compounds have been identified with various levels of anti-parasite activity mainly from Nigerian plants. The synthesis protocol and molecular target for some of these natural anti-parasite agents have been established. For instance, the anti-plasmodial compound fagaronine (7), a benzophenanthridine alkaloid from Fagara zanthoxyloides has been successfully synthesized in the laboratory, and the anti-trypanosomal compound azaanthraquinone (55) elicits its effect by inhibiting mitochondrial electron transfer in trypanosomes. This review also discusses the barriers to developing approved drugs from phytochemicals, and the steps that should be taken in order to accelerate the development of new antiparasitics from the highlighted compounds.
Network Diffusion Modeling Explains Longitudinal Tau PET Data

Alzheimer's disease is associated with the cerebral accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles of hyperphosphorylated tau protein. The progressive occurrence of tau aggregates in different brain regions is closely related to neurodegeneration and cognitive impairment. However, our current understanding of tau propagation relies almost exclusively on postmortem histopathology, and the precise propagation dynamics of misfolded tau in the living brain remain poorly understood. Here we combine longitudinal positron emission tomography and dynamic network modeling to test the hypothesis that misfolded tau propagates preferably along neuronal connections. We follow 46 subjects for three or four annual positron emission tomography scans and compare their pathological tau profiles against brain network models of intracellular and extracellular spreading. For each subject, we identify a personalized set of model parameters that characterizes the individual progression of pathological tau. Across all subjects, the mean protein production rate was 0.21 ± 0.15 and the intracellular diffusion coefficient was 0.34 ± 0.43. Our network diffusion model can serve as a tool to detect non-clinical symptoms at an earlier stage and make informed predictions about the timeline of neurodegeneration on an individual personalized basis.
HHIP Overexpression Suppresses Human Gastric Cancer Progression and Metastasis by Reducing Its CpG Island Methylation

Human hedgehog-interacting protein (HHIP), a negative regulator of hedgehog (HH) signaling pathway, has been reported to be dysregulated in many types of cancer, including gastric cancer. However, the inhibitory role of HHIP as well as the underlying molecular mechanism of HHIP regulation in gastric cancer haven’t been fully elucidated yet. In this study, we demonstrated that HHIP overexpression significantly suppressed the proliferation and invasion of AGS cells evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and transwell assays, respectively. Interestingly, methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MS-PCR, MSP) showed that HHIP overexpression dramatically decreased its de novo promoter methylation levels in AGS cells. Furthermore, HHIP expression was higher in adjacent non-cancerous tissue compared to matched gastric cancer tissue. High HHIP level was negatively correlated with metastasis (p = 0.035) but not local recurrence (p = 0.58). Taken together, our study suggested that HHIP can modulate gastric cancer progression and metastasis via regulation of its de novo promoter methylation levels in a feedback manner. Lower HHIP levels is positively associated with gastric cancer metastasis, which not only indicates HHIP could be served as a protective marker for gastric cancer, but also suggests restoring HHIP expression might be a potential therapeutic strategy for clinical treatment.
Genome-Wide Analysis of the GRAS Gene Family and Functional Identification of GmGRAS37 in Drought and Salt Tolerance

GRAS genes, which form a plant-specific transcription factor family, play an important role in plant growth and development and stress responses. However, the functions of GRAS genes in soybean (Glycine max) remain largely unknown. Here, 117 GRAS genes distributed on 20 chromosomes were identified in the soybean genome and were classified into 11 subfamilies. Of the soybean GRAS genes, 80.34% did not have intron insertions, and 54 pairs of genes accounted for 88.52% of duplication events (61 pairs). RNA-seq analysis demonstrated that most GmGRASs were expressed in 14 different soybean tissues examined and responded to multiple abiotic stresses. Results from quantitative real-time PCR analysis of six selected GmGRASs suggested that GmGRAS37 was significantly upregulated under drought and salt stress conditions and abscisic acid and brassinosteroid treatment; therefore, this gene was selected for further study. Subcellular localization analysis revealed that the GmGRAS37 protein was located in the plasma membrane, nucleus, and cytosol. Soybean hairy roots overexpressing GmGRAS37 had improved resistance to drought and salt stresses. In addition, these roots showed increased transcript levels of several drought‐ and salt-related genes. The results of this study provide the basis for comprehensive analysis of GRAS genes and insight into the abiotic stress response mechanism in soybean.
A Diversity of Cell Types, Subtypes and Phenotypes in the Central Nervous System: The Importance of Studying Their Complex Relationships

1 Axe Neurosciences, Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada, Département de Médecine Moléculaire, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada, Division of Medical Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Colombia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Proteomic Changes of Porcine Oocytes After Vitrification and Subsequent in vitro Maturation: A Tandem Mass Tag-Based Quantitative Analysis

Cryopreservation of immature germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes is a promising strategy in pigs but still results in reduced oocyte quality due to inevitable cryodamages. Recently, there has been more focus on the molecular changes of oocytes after vitrification, but the alteration in the proteome level remains elusive. The aim of this study therefore was to decipher the proteomic characteristics of porcine GV oocytes following vitrification and in vitro maturation (IVM) by using tandem mass tag (TMT)-based quantitative approach and bioinformatics analysis. A total of 4,499 proteins were identified, out of which 153 presented significant difference. There were 94 up-regulated and 59 down-regulated proteins expressed differentially in the vitrified oocytes. Functional classification and enrichment analyses revealed that many of these proteins were involved in metabolism, signal transduction, response to stimulus, immune response, complement, coagulation cascades, and so on. Moreover, a parallel reaction monitoring technique validated the reliability of TMT data through quantitative analysis for 10 candidate proteins. In conclusion, our results provided a novel perspective of proteomics to comprehend the quality change in the vitrified porcine GV oocytes after IVM.