Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Urban sharks: residency patterns of marine top predators in relation to a coastal metropolis

Understanding and ultimately predicting how marine organisms will respond to urbanization is central for effective wildlife conservation and management in the Anthropocene. Sharks are upper trophic level predators in virtually all marine environments, but if and how their behaviors are influenced by coastal urbanization remains understudied. Here, we examined space use and residency patterns of 14 great hammerheads Sphyrna mokarran, 13 bull sharks Carcharhinus leucas, and 25 nurse sharks Ginglymostoma cirratum in proximity to the coastal metropolis of Miami, Florida, using passive acoustic telemetry. Based on the terrestrial urban carnivore literature, we predicted sharks would exhibit avoidance behaviors of areas close to Miami, with residency patterns in these urban areas increasing during periods of lower human activity, such as during nocturnal hours and weekdays, and that dietary specialists (great hammerhead) would exhibit comparatively lower affinity towards highly urbanized areas relative to dietary generalists (bull and nurse shark). However, we did not find empirical support for these predictions. Space use patterns of tracked sharks were consistent with that of ‘urban adapters’ (species that exhibit partial use of urban areas). Modeling also revealed that an unmeasured spatial variable was driving considerable shark residency in areas exposed to high urbanization. We propose several hypotheses that could explain our findings, including food provisioning from shore-based activities that could be attracting sharks to urban areas. Ultimately, the lack of avoidance of urban areas by sharks documented here, as compared to terrestrial carnivores, should motivate future research in the growing field of urban ecology. OPEN ACCESS Researchers release an acoustically tagged nurse shark into waters off Miami, Florida, to investigate shark residency patterns in relation to coastal urbanization. Photo: R. Roemer
Social cognitive career theory and rural high school learners’ intentions to pursue an accounting career

ABSTRACT The extended social cognitive career theory (SCCT) suggests that career intentions are influenced by person inputs, background contextual affordances, learning experiences, self-efficacy expectations and outcome expectations, as well as satisfaction and well-being in academic and work settings. The main purpose of the current study was to examine the career intentions of South African high school learners towards a career in the accounting field. Using proportionate stratified random sampling, 305 learners from eight high schools in a rural community were surveyed. Respondents’ intentions to pursue a career in accounting were significantly positively correlated with self-efficacy expectations and outcome expectations. Work satisfaction, earning potential, self-efficacy expectations, personal interest, Accounting being offered as a subject and having a family member in the accounting field are factors influencing participants’ career choice. Recommendations are made that could assist in better-informed career decision-making, guidance and support for learners who wish to pursue a career in the accounting field.
A Survey Based on Palm Dorsal Vein Pattern Verification.

The modern Technique used for biometric security is Palm vein authentication. It employs the dorsal pattern in the human palm to verify the person. It involves of high security and stability false authentication user identified by this method. Only one authentication user can use it. Sparse vein is different from each person, so that false identification was detected. To extract the region of interest, knuckle tips are used as key factor for the image normalization. Through the Hierarchical matching and the knuckle point matching score are generated. Authentication user can be is identified by this process. Palm vein authentication has the advantage of the high efficiency and the crucial identity information is unrevealed. Based on the wavelength of the incident illumination skin layers varies from person to person.
Use of Hemp Seed Oil in Sciatica Pain: An Italian Clinical Case Report

Sciatalgia is a very intense and disabling neuropathic pain, especially when caused by intervertebral disc herniation. This clinical case is intended to suggest the use of hemp seed oil, as a natural pain reliever, which can also be used in conjunction with conventional anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxant treatments.
The Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program: An Invited Review

Physical inactivity is a global challenge that necessitates early intervention during childhood. Schools are positioned to make a significant impact on children’s current and future physical activity behavior, but numerous barriers hinder the implementation and sustainability of school-based physical activity opportunities. The purpose of this invited article is to provide an overview of the comprehensive school physical activity program (CSPAP) as a concept, framework, and promising approach to institutionalizing physical activity within the school environment. Despite the availability of numerous published reviews on the topic, a broad, up-to-date panorama of the CSPAP literature that encompasses and consolidates historical, conceptual, empirical, and practical perspectives is currently lacking. Contained within this article is an explanation of the public health context that undergirds the CSPAP concept, a historical perspective of the concept’s origins and evolution, examples of CSPAP research, recommendations for advancing the knowledge base, and evidence-informed frameworks and principles for professional practice.
The Burden of Asthma in Children Aged 0-14 Years in Asia: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Aim: Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children and it imposes a huge burden on the health systems of countries. The aim of the present study was to investigate the burden of asthma disease in children in Asia during the period of 1990-2019. and Methods: All data sources from the Global Burden of Disease study (2019) were used to estimate the breast cancer prevalence, mortality, disability-adjusted life years and asthma rates in children aged 0-14 years in Asia from 1990 to 2019. We estimated all-cause and cause-specific mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), disability-adjusted life years and attributable risks. Results: There is a positive and significant correlation between the human development index (HDI) and disease incidence in both sexes (r=0.417, p<0.05), and this correlation is positive and significant in both females (r=0.401, p<0.05) and males (r=0.420, p<0.05). There is also a significant negative correlation between HDI and disease mortality in both sexes (r=-0.475, p<0.05) and this negative correlation is significant in both females (r=-0.459, p<0.05) and males (r=-0.483, p<0.05). The study of YLDs showed that there is a significant negative correlation between HDI and YLL in both sexes (r=-0.474, p<0.05), and in women (r=-0.456) and men (r=-0.483, p<0.05). Conclusion: Given that YLL is higher in countries with low HDI, greater attention must be paid to reduce the incidence of and premature deaths attributable to asthma in these countries.
A Pilot Study to Evaluate the Efficacy of Self-Attachment to Treat Chronic Anxiety and/or Depression in Iranian Women

The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the efficacy of the new Self-Attachment Technique (SAT) in treating resistant anxiety and depression, lasting at least three years, among Iranian women from different social backgrounds. In this self-administrable and algorithmic intervention, the participant, using their childhood photos, imaginatively creates an affectional bond with their childhood self, vows to consistently support and lovingly re-raise this child to emotional well-being. We conducted a longitudinal study with repeated measurement to evaluate the efficacy of SAT using ANOVA. Thirty-eight women satisfying the inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited from different parts of Tehran. To describe the SAT protocols, a total of eight one-to-one sessions were offered to the recruits, the first four were weekly while the last four were fortnightly. The participants were expected to practice the protocols for twenty minutes twice a day. Two questionnaires, GAD-7 and PHQ-9, were used to measure anxiety and depression levels before and after the intervention and in a three-month follow-up. Thirty women completed the course. The change in anxiety level between the pre-test and the post-test was significant at p < 0.001 with effect size 2.5. The change in anxiety between pre-test and follow-up test was also significant at p < 0.001 with effect size 3.5. The change in anxiety between the post-test and the follow-up was significant at p < 0.05 with effect size 0.6. For depression, the changes between pre-test and post-test as well as between pre-test and follow-up were significant at p < 0.001 with effect size 2.3 and 3.1 respectively.
Process development of lentiviral vector expression, purification and formulation for gene therapy applications

There is growing interest in the use of lentiviral vectors, particularly for cancer immunotherapy and the treatment of monogenic diseases. Manufacturing of these vectors is challenging primarily due to cytotoxic effects of vector components resulting in low cell culture titres and vector instability leading to low purification yields. In addition, currently used processes are typically not scalable as they rely on adherently cultured cells and unit operations such as batch centrifugation and gel filtration. To improve process scalability, suspension adaptation of a lentiviral vector packaging cell line was attempted, however, cell aggregation could not be prevented. For vector clarification it was found that membranes with pore sizes of 0.22 µm resulted in recoveries less than 50%, whereas the use of 0.45 µm membranes resulted in recoveries close to 100%. Successful vector concentration utilising centrifugal filters was possible with a membrane molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of 100 kDa, whereas a 300 kDa MWCO led to low recoveries. Chromatography stationary phases that allow convective mass transfer, such as membranes and monoliths, are becoming increasingly popular for purification of large molecules. Lentiviral vector was found to bind monoliths with weak and strong anion exchangers over a wide range of conditions. Vector elution conditions determined for membrane- and monolith-based resins in high-throughput 96-well plate format were found to not be indicative of gradient elution conditions for 1 mL versions of these resins operated by a chromatography system. The thermolability of lentiviral vectors leads to a requirement for storage at less than -65°C. Inexpensive mixtures of sugars in combination with a glycine-derivative were studied for their ability to stabilise a lentiviral vector during freeze-drying and subsequent thermochallenge. The amorphous solid formed upon freeze-drying was able to stabilise the vector for up to 12 weeks at 4°C and eight weeks at 25°C. This is in comparison to formulation in phosphate buffered saline, where more than 90% of infectious titre was lost immediately upon freeze-drying.
MEDIATION IN EDUCATIONAL VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS IN CONTINUING EDUCATION TEACHER: AN EXPERIENCE IN CURITIBA'S NETWORK

This paper aims to present part of the analysis and results of an action-training survey, conducted with teachers and trainers of the Municipal Curitiba Municipality of Education. Inserted into the Project Cri @ ness, partnership project of PUC-PR and Municipal Education - SME. The questioning of this research came from the following question: how the mediation in a discussion forum on a virtual learning environment could contribute to a continuing education early grades of elementary school teachers? The theoretical constructs about the mediation that supported the data analysis and underlie this research are mainly in Masseto (2009). The methodological referral followed the case study assumptions made by Yin (1984) and Stake (2000). Participants were 58 school teachers, two trainers, being collected and analyzed 162 messages posted in the forum and interviews with trainers. The results of this analysis reveal the need for continuing education related to mediation in AVA forum, trainers network, continued training carried out in the same environment, using the same technological tools and under the same intended assumptions by the school teachers.
Study and Physical Mapping of the Species-Specific Tandem Repeat CS-237 Linked with 45S Ribosomal DNA Intergenic Spacer in Cannabis sativa L.

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is a valuable crop and model plant for studying sex chromosomes. The scientific interest in the plant has led to its whole genome sequencing and the determination of its cytogenetic characteristics. A range of cytogenetic markers (subtelomeric repeat CS-1, 5S rDNA, and 45S rDNA) has been mapped onto hemp’s chromosomes by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). In this study, another cytogenetic marker (the tandem repeat CS-237, with a 237 bp monomer) was found, studied, and localized on chromosomes by FISH. The signal distribution and karyotyping revealed that the CS-237 probe was localized in chromosome 6 with one hybridization site and in chromosome 8 with two hybridization sites, one of which colocalizes with the 45S rDNA probe (with which a nucleolus organizer region, NOR, was detected). A BLAST analysis of the genomic data and PCR experiments showed that the modified CS-237 monomers (delCS-237, 208 bp in size) were present in the intergenic spacers (IGSs) of hemp 45S rDNA monomers. Such a feature was firstly observed in Cannabaceae species. However, IGS-linked DNA repeats were found in several plant species of other families (Fabaceae, Solanaceae, and Asteraceae). This phenomenon is discussed in this article. The example of CS-237 may be useful for further studying the phenomenon as well as for the physical mapping of hemp chromosomes.
Should I Pay or Should I Grow? Factors Which Influenced the Preferences of US Consumers for Fruit, Vegetables, Wine and Beer during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study examines the key factors that determine the preferences of US consumers towards the growing and processing used for horticultural products such as fruit, vegetables, wine and beer over their preferences for buying them both before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings obtained using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) show that engagement with horticulture prior to and after the occurrence of COVID-19 influenced preferences for the growing and processing of fruit, vegetables, wine and beer over buying them in both the pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 contexts. Engagement with horticulture before and after the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly impacted by attitudes towards US growers. Attitudes towards COVID-19 and human values such as self-enhancement, conservation and self-transcendence were also found to be significant factors, while openness to change was not found to be significant. Best practice recommendations are included on the basis of these findings for managers of community gardens, horticultural properties and specialized food stores.
A Deep Learning-based Cryptocurrency Price Prediction Model That Uses On-chain Data

Cryptocurrency has recently attracted substantial interest from investors due to its underlying philosophy of decentralization and transparency. Considering cryptocurrency’s volatility and unique characteristics, accurate price prediction is essential for developing successful investment strategies. To this end, the authors of this work propose a novel framework that predicts the price of Bitcoin (BTC), a dominant cryptocurrency. For stable prediction performance in unseen price range, the change point detection technique is employed. In particular, it is used to segment time-series data so that normalization can be separately conducted based on segmentation. In addition, on-chain data, the unique records listed on the blockchain that are inherent in cryptocurrencies, are collected and utilized as input variables to predict prices. Furthermore, this work proposes self-attention-based multiple long short-term memory (SAM-LSTM), which consists of multiple LSTM modules for on-chain variable groups and the attention mechanism, for the prediction model. Experiments with real-world BTC price data and various method setups have proven the proposed framework’s effectiveness in BTC price prediction. The results are promising, with the highest MAE, RMSE, MSE, and MAPE values of 0.3462, 0.5035, 0.2536, and 1.3251, respectively.
Diabetes impairs cardioprotective function of endothelial progenitor cell-derived extracellular vesicles via H3K9Ac inhibition

Background and Purpose: Myocardial infarction (MI) in diabetic patients results in higher mortality and morbidity. We and others have previously shown that bone marrow-endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) promote cardiac neovascularization and attenuate ischemic injury. Lately, small extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as major paracrine effectors mediating the benefits of stem cell therapy. Modest clinical outcomes of autologous cell-based therapies suggest diabetes-induced EPC dysfunction and may also reflect their EV derivatives. Moreover, studies suggest that post-translational histone modifications promote diabetes-induced vascular dysfunctions. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that diabetic EPC-EVs may lose their post-injury cardiac reparative function by modulating histone modification in endothelial cells (ECs). Methods: We collected EVs from the culture medium of EPCs isolated from non-diabetic (db/+) and diabetic (db/db) mice and examined their effects on recipient ECs and cardiomyocytes in vitro, and their reparative function in permanent ligation of left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery and ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) myocardial ischemic injuries in vivo. Results: Compared to db/+ EPC-EVs, db/db EPC-EVs promoted EC and cardiomyocyte apoptosis and repressed tube-forming capacity of ECs. In vivo, db/db EPC-EVs depressed cardiac function, reduced capillary density, and increased fibrosis compared to db/+ EPC-EV treatments after MI. Moreover, in the I/R MI model, db/+ EPC-EV-mediated acute cardio-protection was lost with db/db EPC-EVs, and db/db EPC-EVs increased immune cell infiltration, infarct area, and plasma cardiac troponin-I. Mechanistically, histone 3 lysine 9 acetylation (H3K9Ac) was significantly decreased in cardiac ECs treated with db/db EPC-EVs compared to db/+ EPC-EVs. The H3K9Ac chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) results further revealed that db/db EPC-EVs reduced H3K9Ac level on angiogenic, cell survival, and proliferative genes in cardiac ECs. We found that the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, valproic acid (VPA), partly restored diabetic EPC-EV-impaired H3K9Ac levels, tube formation and viability of ECs, and enhanced cell survival and proliferative genes, Pdgfd and Sox12, expression. Moreover, we observed that VPA treatment improved db/db EPC-mediated post-MI cardiac repair and functions. Conclusions: Our findings unravel that diabetes impairs EPC-EV reparative function in the ischemic heart, at least partially, through HDACs-mediated H3K9Ac downregulation leading to transcriptional suppression of angiogenic, proliferative and cell survival genes in recipient cardiac ECs. Thus, HDAC inhibitors may potentially be used to restore the function of diabetic EPC and other stem cells for autologous cell therapy applications.
A Heuristic Approach to the Two-Dimensional Roll-on Roll-off Liner Shipping Stowage Problem

Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo) ships represent the primary source for transporting vehicles and other types of rolling material over long distances. In this master thesis, we focus on operational decisions related to stowage of cargoes for a RoRo ship voyage visiting a given set of loading and unloading ports. Decisions, such as which cargoes to carry and how to stow the vehicles carried during the voyage, are considered. We focus on stowage of one single deck, which is an essential building block in solving the problem for multiple decks, i.e. for the whole ship. By focusing on stowage on one deck, this can be viewed as a special version of a 2-dimensional packing problem with a number of additional considerations. One important consideration is the placement of the vehicles, where one wants to place vehicles that belong to the same shipment close to each other to ease the loading and unloading. Another important consideration in this problem is shifting, which means temporarily moving some vehicles to make an entry/exit route for the vehicles that are to be loaded/unloaded at the given port. Our approach to solving the 2DRSSP splits the problem into two phases. First, we solve the stowage problem for a given deck. Then, the shifting evaluation problem is solved to evaluate the quality of the stowage plan with respect to shifting cost. Two mathematical models are made, describing these problems. In addition, a 2-phase heuristic is developed using components from the greedy randomized adaptive search procedure (GRASP) and the adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) procedure. The heuristic first determines which cargoes to carry, in order to maximize the revenue generated from carrying these cargoes, while ensuring a feasible stowage plan exists for the given cargoes. Then, vehicles are relocated in order to ease the loading and unloading. Several problem-specific destroy and repair operators are built in order to improve the heuristic’s performance. Computational results show that the mixed integer programming (MIP) solver is able to solve small instances. The proposed heuristic provides close to optimal solutions to these same instances and is able to handle realistically sized problem instances.