Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Review of Discovery Profiling of PIWI-Interacting RNAs and Their Diverse Functions in Metazoans

PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) that perform crucial biological functions in metazoans and defend against transposable elements (TEs) in germ lines. Recently, ubiquitously expressed piRNAs were discovered in soma and germ lines using small RNA sequencing (sRNA-seq) in humans and animals, providing new insights into the diverse functions of piRNAs. However, the role of piRNAs has not yet been fully elucidated, and sRNA-seq studies continue to reveal different piRNA activities in the genome. In this review, we summarize a set of simplified processes for piRNA analysis in order to provide a useful guide for researchers to perform piRNA research suitable for their study objectives. These processes can help expand the functional research on piRNAs from previously reported sRNA-seq results in metazoans. Ubiquitously expressed piRNAs have been discovered in the soma and germ lines in Annelida, Cnidaria, Echinodermata, Crustacea, Arthropoda, and Mollusca, but they are limited to germ lines in Chordata. The roles of piRNAs in TE silencing, gene expression regulation, epigenetic regulation, embryonic development, immune response, and associated diseases will continue to be discovered via sRNA-seq.
Heat Generation in Cratonic Mantle Roots—New Trace Element Constraints From Mantle Xenoliths and Implications for Cratonic Geotherms

Heat generation within the cratonic lithospheric mantle (CLM) is an important but poorly determined parameter for constructing cratonic geotherms. Direct measurement of heat producing element (HPE: K, U, and Th) concentrations in bulk‐rock samples of cratonic mantle roots—provided as xenoliths in volcanic rocks such as kimberlites—is mostly compromised by infiltration of host melt into the xenoliths, resulting in over‐estimates of heat production. Here we use in situ methods (laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) on minerals from a variety of cratonic mantle peridotites to avoid host‐magma contamination enabling new, more accurate determinations of heat production for a wide spectrum of model mantle lithologies. The most melt‐depleted, least metasomatized peridotites indicate that heat generation in un‐metasomatized depleted cratonic lithospheric mantle is negligible, at ∼0.00004 µW/m3, 102 to 103 times less than models that use more enriched or metasomatized compositions. Refertilized cratonic peridotites, typical of many kimberlite hosted xenoliths, have more elevated, but still low heat generation, of 0.006 µW/m3. We propose that the heat generation of typical cratonic mantle peridotite lies between these two bounds, that is, between 0.00004 and 0.006 µW/m3. Both values produce lower estimates of lithospheric thickness, by ∼10 to up to 80 km, depending on model assumptions, than estimates using higher HPE concentrations measured on bulk‐rock xenolith material.
A Comparative Evaluation of a Single and Stereo Lighthouse Systems for 3-D Estimation

The lighthouse localization system has recently been developed and used for localization in virtual reality (VR). Not only for VR but also for a general indoor positioning systems (IPSs) it has several advantages over existing methods, including low cost, wide detection area, and easy setup. Here, we adopt the stereo configuration of a lighthouse for improved sensing performance and propose a novel calibration method for stereo configuration. For the stereo calibration, the exact positions of sufficient corresponding points in two sensor coordinates need to be determined. A printed checkerboard is widely used for stereo camera systems because it is easy to construct and its accuracy is guaranteed owing to its printing accuracy. However, in the case of the lighthouse system, it is very difficult or impossible to construct a highly accurate calibration board similar to the checkerboard mainly because of manufacturing errors. In this study, we use a receiver sensor and a two-axis linear stage equipped with micrometers. By moving predetermined distances along the x and y directions on the linear stage, we can obtain multiple-point information with high accuracy, which can then be used for the stereo calibration of two lighthouses. In this paper, the calibration and pose estimation procedures are described in detail, and the pose estimation result of the perspective-n-points method is compared with that of the triangulation method. Finally, the pose estimation accuracy of the proposed system is compared with that of a commercial system that is widely used for highly accurate medical applications.
Effect of sequentially adsorbed multilayers, citric acid(CA)-PEI-CA-PEI and PEI-CA-PEI-CA, on the surface chemistry and rheology of spherical α-alumina suspensions

Abstract The yield stress and zeta potential of washed spherical α-Al2O3 suspensions with two to four layers of critic acid(CA) and polyethyleneimine(PEI_Mw1.8and 70 kDa) adsorbed sequentially were characterized. With CA adsorbed as the first layer, pHξ=0 was shifted to a lower pH and the maximum yield stress (τymax) was reduced. With PEI adsorbed as the first layer, the pHξ=0 was moved slightly higher. With the introduction of the second layer, the CA/PEI additive was formed which functioned as a bridging agent. The pH range of yield stress was broadened significantly and increased with the number of layers. This pH ranged from 2.5 to 11. The CA/PEI multilayer additive loses its positive charge at pH >11. There was less adsorption in layer3 and layer4 when lower Mw PEI is applied to the suspension. The CA/PEI multilayer additive formed by PEI of Mw70000 and CA was larger in size than that formed by PEI of Mw 1800 and CA. Lower Mw PEI produced a stronger flocculated network or higher τymax suspension due to a higher concentration of multilayer additive. CA/PEI multilayer additive was participating in bridging and particle bridging interaction was not affected by the adsorption order of CA and PEI.GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Higher Probability of Occurrence of Hotter and Shorter Heat Waves Followed by Heavy Rainfall

The consecutive heat wave and heavy rainfall (CHWHR) events, defined as the occurrence of heat waves followed by heavy rainfall, can cause more damages than individual extremes. Nevertheless, this type of compound event has not been diagnosed systematically. Here we examine the occurrence of CHWHR events and underlying characteristics. We find 22% of land areas experienced statistically significant CHWHR events within 7 days in China during 1981–2005, with an average 26% of heat waves being followed by heavy rainfall (vs. 10% expected by chance). More importantly, the shorter and hotter heat waves are more likely to be followed by heavy rainfall than other heat waves. This phenomenon is associated with atmospheric convection and moisture convergence. In addition, climate projection shows the CHWHR events will occur more frequently and abruptly in China throughout the 21st century, which contribute to the increased compound risk of back‐to‐back heat waves and flash floods.
Carbon tetrachloride administration induces the expression of hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha in rat liver

Background: There is now increasing evidence that HIF-1 is also responsive to a variety of non-hypoxic stimuli. However, the mechanisms by which these non-hypoxic stimuli induce HIF-1α are not completely known, yet, although some evidence points to a role of ROS as messengers regulating HIF activity. Objective: To determine the expression of HIF-1α in liver rat tissue induced by carbon tetrachloride under normoxic conditions, with or without N-acetylcysteine protection. Methods: Twenty-five male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 5 groups: normal control rats, normal rats orally administered with coconut oil (1 mL/200 g body weight) for 1 day, rats orally administered with CCl4 (0.55 mg/g body weight) for 1 day, rats injected i.v. with NAC (0.15 mg/g body weight) for 8 days and then orally administered with CCl4 (0.55 mg/g body weight) for 1 day, rats orally administered with CCl4 (0.55 mg/g body weight) for 1 day and then injected i.v. with NAC (0.15 mg/g body weight) for 2 days. The expression of HIF-1α mRNA was measured by real-time RT-PCR using the Livak method. The expression of HIF-1α protein was measured by ELISA assay. Results: The highest HIF-1α mRNA and protein expression found in the group treated by CCl4 and then was gradually lowered in the pre-NAC group, post-NAC group, control group, and last, in the oil group. Conclusion: Our study shows the effect of CCl4-treated rats under normoxic conditions increased the mRNA and protein HIF-1α. NAC post-treatment provide a better protective effect compared with NAC pre-treatment
Molybdenum carbide chemical sensors with ultrahigh signal-to-noise ratios and ambient stability

Herein, we present a demonstration of the usability of the chemical sensing properties of transition metal carbides (TMCs) as gas sensing channels. Two phases of nanostructured molybdenum carbide (α-MoC1−x and β-Mo2C) with high porosities were perfectly synthesized by a temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) method, and they showed distinct metallic characteristics due to different density of states (DOS) localization status. The molybdenum carbide sensors showed novel gas sensing characteristics which have not been shown by previous typical sensing materials: predominantly, an unprecedentedly high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with the ability to detect the ppb levels of NH3 and NO2 was achieved, which is attributed to a combination of high electrical conductivity and superior catalytic properties. In addition to high sensitivity, unlike previous channel materials, the molybdenum carbide sensors showed very high ambient stability. The electrical conductivity and sensing performance are well preserved for half-year ambient exposure without any oxidation or degradation of channel materials, due to the good corrosion resistance and low chemical reactivity of molybdenum carbides. In addition, a versatile gas sensing response is observed according to the crystal phase of molybdenum carbides due to the distinct DOS of α-MoC1−x and β-Mo2C. We believe that this observation of new chemical sensing materials can shed light on the superior potential of TMCs for highly sensitive and stable low-power operating internet-of-things (IoT) sensors. In addition, owing to their ultra-high chemical stability and high melting temperature, TMCs can be utilized as channel materials for sensors in harsh operating conditions.
The Effect of Social Studies Lessons on Citizenship Perceptions of 7th Grade Syrian Immigrant Students

Providing people to acquire some skills and concepts, social studies lessons interact with various branches of science. One of them is citizenship education. When citizenship education is examined, it is seen that effective citizenship education comes to the forefront in present democracies. Concepts and issues such as respect for differences, empathy, globalization, cooperation, solidarity, identity, unity, and the feeling of togetherness are important considering immigrant students’ acquiring citizenship awareness via intercultural interaction. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of social studies lessons on citizenship perceptions of 7th grade Syrian immigrant students. For this purpose, opinions of 14 Syrian immigrant students, who attended 7th grade in three different secondary schools in Hatay in 2019, were asked. The research was designed in qualitative design and phenomenology model. Purposive sampling method was used to determine Syrian immigrant students participating in the research. A semi-structured student interview form was used to collect data. It was found that, immigrant students in the study group of the research know their rights and responsibilities, respect the rights of others, feel responsible and have patriotism. They stated that citizenship education they received in social studies lessons contributed greatly to their acquisition of these values. Considering these findings, it was concluded that social studies lesson has an important effect on the formation of citizenship perceptions of Syrian immigrant students; enabling them to be connected with the environment they live in with a sense of belonging, while enabling them to become more sensitive and responsible citizens towards their environment.
Incels on Reddit: A study in social norms and decentralised moderation

The social news website Reddit has a long history of hosting communities (‘subreddits’) that advocate or encourage white supremacy (Gillespie 2018), disparagement of minority groups (Topinka 2017), and violence against women (Massanari 2017). As a platform that relies heavily on volunteer moderators to self-govern the subreddits (Matias 2016), Reddit has been criticised for failing to adequately enforce its site-wide rules (Gillespie 2018). Incels—an internet subculture that ascribes to deeply misogynistic beliefs—grew in visibility when they developed subreddits on Reddit. After ongoing criticism and media attention about harmful behaviour of incels both on and off the platform, Reddit imposed escalating sanctions and ultimately banned the most visible of these subreddits over a period of several years. In this paper, we focus on the interaction between formal rules and social norms in incel and related subreddits. This paper aims to improve understanding about how problematic norms are contested in (partially-) decentralised systems of content moderation. We examine discourse about moderation to better understand the role of moderation teams in maintaining and changing social norms in their communities and to examine the interaction between these norms and both sitewide and subreddit-specific rules. Our analysis suggests that the threat of prohibition alone is unlikely to be sufficient to drive cultural change in problematic subreddits. We argue that content moderation is an insufficient frame to understand the regulation of harmful communities; real change requires addressing the underlying cultural norms rather than focusing on individual pieces of content.
Enhancing production agility using enterprise systems

ABSTRACT To satisfy customer demands and achieve organisational targets effectively, production operations in manufacturing companies must be nimble and responsive. The evolution of enterprise systems (ESs) technologies has made knowledge management (KM) strategies to acquire and share data possible in real-time using approaches such as business intelligence to provide information analytics for data-driven decision-making. This paper examines the use of an ES for improving production agility in New Zealand firms by investigating three implementation case studies. Findings reveal that ESs drive schedules, automate release of job orders and optimise resource capacities by capturing pertinent data in real-time to increase organisational agility in timely producing and dispatching products to customers. Although organisations sometimes get constrained in material availability in operations, the ES technology in conjunction with KM processes provides the connectivity and information support along with knowledge-based analytics to build-up production agility in manufacturing firms.
Balancing Speed and Accuracy in Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Function Post-Processing: Comparing 2 Levels of Automation in 3 Vendors to Manual Assessment

Automating cardiac function assessment on cardiac magnetic resonance short-axis cines is faster and more reproducible than manual contour-tracing; however, accurately tracing basal contours remains challenging. Three automated post-processing software packages (Level 1) were compared to manual assessment. Subsequently, automated basal tracings were manually adjusted using a standardized protocol combined with software package-specific relative-to-manual standard error correction (Level 2). All post-processing was performed in 65 healthy subjects. Manual contour-tracing was performed separately from Level 1 and 2 automated analysis. Automated measurements were considered accurate when the difference was equal or less than the maximum manual inter-observer disagreement percentage. Level 1 (2.1 ± 1.0 min) and Level 2 automated (5.2 ± 1.3 min) were faster and more reproducible than manual (21.1 ± 2.9 min) post-processing, the maximum inter-observer disagreement was 6%. Compared to manual, Level 1 automation had wide limits of agreement. The most reliable software package obtained more accurate measurements in Level 2 compared to Level 1 automation: left ventricular end-diastolic volume, 98% and 53%; ejection fraction, 98% and 60%; mass, 70% and 3%; right ventricular end-diastolic volume, 98% and 28%; ejection fraction, 80% and 40%, respectively. Level 1 automated cardiac function post-processing is fast and highly reproducible with varying accuracy. Level 2 automation balances speed and accuracy.
Effect of impregnated activated carbon on carbon dioxide adsorption performance for biohydrogen purification

The challenge in biohydrogen (bio-H2) production is the presence of low hydrogen purity, which contains a high concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2). Bio-H2 purification systems are required to produce high-purity hydrogen for industrial applications, such as adsorption for CO2 removal. This study tested the effect of impregnated activated carbon (AC) and feed gas flow rate on CO2 adsorption performance. Different types of adsorbents were synthesized by impregnating the chemical on AC, such as potassium iodide, potassium hydroxide, copper (II) sulfate, sodium carbonate, and zinc acetate. The feed gas flow rate was varied in the range of 0.25–1.0 L min−1 by using synthetic bio-H2 gas, that is, mixing the gas with 50 vol.% H2 and 50 vol.% CO2. The CO2 adsorption performances of the synthesized adsorbents were evaluated in terms of breakthrough time and adsorption capacity. To evaluate the reusability of the adsorbents, adsorption–desorption cycles were conducted for several times. For desorption, atmospheric air was used to remove the adsorbed CO2 from the adsorbents. The effect of air flow rate on CO2 desorption was assessed by setting the air flow rate to be between 100 and 350 L min−1. The impregnated AC with zinc acetate displayed the highest adsorption capacity of 63.61 mg CO2/g adsorbent and the longest breakthrough time of 25.7 min. The optimum feed gas flow rate was 0.25 L min−1, thereby demonstrating that the lowest feed gas flow rate resulted in the highest adsorption capacity. Moreover, desorption was faster at higher air flow rates.
The use of Public-Private Partnerships in Health Supply Chain Management in Rwanda

BackgroundThe Government of Rwanda considers the private sector to play an important role in supporting provision of strategic national investments through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). ObjectiveThis study aims to describe the various aspects of PPPs in Health Supply Chain Management (HSCM) in Rwanda.MethodsA questionnaire was used to collect data from health professionals and individuals familiar with HSCM Public-Private Partnerships for this descriptive, cross-sectional and quantitative study.ResultsThe PPP interventional areas used in HSCM in Rwanda were namely supply of commodities (99%), delivered health Information Technology (IT) supplies and equipment (operate) (53%), finance (52%), and maintenance area (40%). The main challenges were limited conversation and absence of formal platforms for public and private engagement (83.7%) and complex procurement requirements for medical products and equipment by public institutions (73.3%). The strategies to improve the PPPs in HSCM were effective coordination of PPPs (93.3%) and improved dialogue and formal platforms (90.6%)ConclusionThese findings indicated that private sector through PPPs plays an important role in HSCM in Rwanda. The engagement of the private sector can increase the financial support in terms of financing HSCM activities like supply of health commodities and equipment. Rwanda J Med Health Sci 2021;4(2): 237-256
Use of worked‐example videos to support problem‐solving: An analysis of student behavior

Worked examples are important tools for teaching problem‐solving skills in physics and engineering subjects. Presenting a worked example in a computer‐based multimedia format may provide extra support to the learning process, but different strategies of using worked examples can lead to different outcomes. An observational experiment was conducted to investigate students' video usage behaviors and their impact on problem‐solving efficiency and outcomes. Seven undergraduate engineering students were asked to solve a dynamics problem with three subquestions. A worked‐example video was provided as a potential resource for help‐seeking. The experiment, including the student's affect, their computer usage patterns, their usage of the worked‐example video itself, and their problem‐solving work was video‐recorded, and students were instructed to verbalize their thinking process. Video recordings were coded using a behavioral scheme to characterize the timing and frequency of important problem‐solving and video interaction events. “Process‐checking” and “pattern‐matching” emerged as two systematic approaches to using the worked‐example videos, along with a general focus on visual information over audio information. A varying level of success in solving the problem illustrates that the effectiveness of using the worked‐example resource depends on the learning context and the student's needs.
Canonical Correlation Analysis for Long-term Changes of Facial Images based on the Frequency of UV Protection, Physical and Psychological Features

In this paper,we analyze the relationship between impression of facial skin and skin component distribution by applying Canonical Coefficient Analysis (CCA) to multiple physical and psychological features obtained from facial images. Based on the acquired relationship, we modulate the skin pigment features, and appearances of the face with arbitrary psychological features are reproduced. In our previous work, we applied Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to the melanin pigment variation of the facial skin, and we obtained individual differences in it occurring over 7 years. In the previous method, as the factor causing individual difference, we considered the frequency of UV protection. However, actual skin appearance is thought to depend on not only melanin but also several other factors. Therefore, in this study, we captured facial images of females aged from their 10s to 80s at intervals of 12 years, and we obtained not only physical but also psychological features. As physical features, melanin and hemoglobin pigment and shading distributions, and the frequency of UV protection for 12 years were obtained. Psychological features values were acquired as subjective evaluation. As a result of CCA on the physical features only, it was found that the whole face can be made lighter in appearance by performing UV protection every day continuously for 6 years or more. As a result on the both physical and psychological features, pigment features greatly affecting the impression of the skin and multiple skin aging patterns were obtained. According to this result, the pigment features were modulated, and facial appearances with arbitrary psychological features were reproduced.