Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rapid Synthesis of Robust Antibacterial and Biodegradable Hydrogels via Frontal Polymerization

Chitosan (CS) is widely used in biomedical hydrogels due to their similarity to extracellular matrix. However, the preparation method of CS-based hydrogel suffers the drawbacks of tedious operation, time-consuming and energy consumption. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop a rapid synthesis pathway towards hydrogels. In this work, we used a modified CS as a cross-linking agent and acrylic acid (AA) as monomer to prepare a hydrogel through frontal polymerization (FP), which facilitates a facile and rapid method achieved in several minutes. The occurrence of pure FP was confirmed via the frontal velocity and temperature profile measurement. In addition, the as-prepared hydrogel shows excellent mechanical strength up to 1.76 MPa, and the Young’s modulus (ranging from 0.16 to 0.56 MPa) is comparable to human skin. The degradation mechanism is revealed by the micro-IR images through the distribution of the functional groups, which is attributed to the breakage of the ether bond. Moreover, the hydrogel exhibits excellent degradability, biocompatibility and antibacterial properties, offering great potentials in tissue engineering. We believe this work not only offers a facile and rapid FP method to fabricate a robust degradable hydrogel, but also provides an effective pathway for the investigation of the degradation mechanism at the chemical bond analysis level.
Ex vitro shoot induction of rodent tuber (Typhonium flagelliforme) with benzyl amino purine and naphthalene acetic acid

A medicinal plant called rodent tuber has the potential to both prevent and treat various diseases. There is no Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) governing the growth method of rodent tuber because it still grows wild and is rarely cultivated. This research aimed to study the optimal growth of rodent tuber for mass seed propagation based on the type of explants and the concentration of auxin and cytokinin combinations for inducing shoots. While generative parameters (harvesting of tubers/shoots) were observed up to 13 WAP (Week After Planting), vegetative parameters were observed up to 10 WAP. The results showed that the best type of explants for shoot induction and growth of rodent tuber were whole plants with a survival rate of 100%; the number of shoots was 6.65; the plant height was 21.27 cm with 6.34 leaves; 26.56 roots with a length of 16.05 cm; and 40.80% flowering plants. PGR (Plant Growth Regulator) combination of 50 ppm BAP (Benzyl Amino Purine) and 100 ppm NAA (Naphthalene Acetic Acid) became the best explant soaking solution by forming eight shoots and the height of plants was 24.13 cm with seven leaves. The explant produced the highest root length in a combination of 100 ppm BAP and 50 ppm NAA, which was 17.70 cm. The interaction between whole plant explants immersed in 0 ppm BAP and 100 ppm NAA solution resulted in the most significant number of roots (41). Those goals can support the SOP of propagated methods and ensure the consistency, quality, and availability of raw materials for traditional medicine.
Convergence of Per Capita Income in Indian States during 1980-2020

This study undertakes four decades of data for Indian states from the 1980s and traces the convergence of state-level per capita income, which has always been one of the most important economic phenomena for Indian states. A total span of four decades has been broken down into three sub-periods, viz., 1980-1992, 1993-2003, and 2003-2020 based on time and levels of income using panel unit root tests. The results show no discernible evidence of convergence across the states, especially after post-liberalization. The panel unit root tests suggest no evidence of convergence over the whole-time period of 1980-2020 when all the regions are taken together. The pre-liberalization period of 1980-1992 showed more evidence of convergence among the regions as compared to the post-liberalization period of 1992–2020 which does not exhibit any convergence. After dividing the post-liberalization period into sub periods of 1992-2003 and 2004-2020 some sign of convergence is found; however, the number of regions exhibiting any significant convergence is less in number than such regions in the pre-liberalization period (three states in 1992-2003 and five states in 2004-2020 vs six states in 1980-1992). However, taking into account control variables significant evidence for convergence of state-level per capita GDP was traced. This indicates that inequality across states could be reduced through active policy interventions through control variables for capital expenditure, development expenditure, and fiscal deficit.
LAxplore: An NLP-Based Tool for Distilling Learning Analytics and Learning Design Instruments out of Scientific Publications

: Each year, the amount of research publications is increasing. Staying on top of the state of the art is a pressing issue. The ﬁeld of Learning Analytics (LA) is no exception, with the rise of digital education systems that are used broadly these days from K12 up to Higher Education. Keeping track of the advances in LA is challenging. This is especially the case for newcomers to the ﬁeld, as well as for the increasing number of LA units that consult their teachers and scholars on applying evidence-based research outcomes in their lectures. To keep an overview of the rapidly growing research ﬁndings on LA, we developed LAxplore, a tool that uses NLP to extract relevant information from the LA literature. In this article, we present the evaluation of LAxplore. Results from the evaluation show that LAxplore can signiﬁcantly support researchers in extracting information from relevant LA publications as it reduces the time of searching and retrieving the knowledge by a factor of six. However, the accurate extraction of relevant information from LA literature is not yet ready to be fully automatized and some manual work is still required.
Salmonella Bacteremia in an Older Patient With No Specific Entry: A Case Report

In this case report, we describe a rare case of non-typhoidal Salmonella bacteremia in an 87-year-old woman with no apparent history of daily Salmonella exposure. The patient presented with fever, body discomfort, and diarrhea. Medical examinations ruled out usual sources of Salmonella, including raw food consumption and pet contact. Her medical history included postoperative sigmoid colon cancer, left breast cancer, and other ailments. Although Salmonella infection typically stems from oral intake, this case suggests that bacterial translocation from the gastrointestinal tract could be the primary cause, potentially exacerbated by the patient's age and medical history. Another hypothesis is an ascending infection from diarrhea to the urinary tract, which might have led to pyelonephritis and subsequent bacteremia. This case highlights the importance of recognizing the potential for severe infections such as sepsis in older individuals presenting with diverse symptoms. Therefore, this case further underscores the need for heightened clinical vigilance, especially in community hospitals, to ensure timely and appropriate management of such severe conditions in the older population.
Redes de área corporal. Una perspectiva al futuro desde la investigación

Body Area Networks (BAN) is a growing field for such applications like Health monitoring and health related issues. Recently, new standards and technologies have been proposed, like Bluetooth, ZigBee, Ultra Wide Band (UWB), ECMA 386, WiFi, LTE, etc, oriented to provide solutions to different problems and requirements arising from our current life style. This document presents a revision of the current developments in Body Area Networks from a research point of view, revising aspects of standardization, applications and future trends in this amazing field.
BioSTransformers for Biomedical Ontologies Alignment

: This paper aims at describing the new siamese neural models that we have developed. They optimize a self supervised contrastive learning function on scientiﬁc biomedical literature articles. The results obtained on several benchmarks show that the proposed models are able to improve various biomedical tasks without examples (zero shot) and are comparable to biomedical transformers ﬁne-tuned on supervised data speciﬁc to the problems addressed. Moreover, these new siamese models are exploited to align biomedical ontologies, demonstrating their semantic mapping capabilities. We then compare the different approaches of alignments that we have proposed. In conclusion, we propose a distinct methods and data sources that we evaluate and compare to validate our alignments.
Research on the Exercise Prescription to Reduce the Health Problems of the Elderly Caused by Social Environment in China

Combining the current situation of Chinas social structure and the health condition of the elderly, using scientific methods to point out the application methods and scope of exercise prescription. What kind of health problems Chinese society brings to the elderly, and how these health problems should be solved by exercise prescription? This includes customized exercise prescriptions based on region, condition, health status, medical history, family environment, age, and gender. A census of health conditions was conducted using a large body of public health literature, which was then combined with physiological and psychological scholarly articles to develop a matched treatment program using the concept of exercise prescription. Chinese older adults need to be provided with individualized and tailored exercise prescription programs based on region, economic conditions, health status, medical history, family environment, age, and gender.
The Effect of Inoculum with the Glomus mosseae and Palm Frond Detritus on the Yield of Millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) and the Ratio of Protein to Proline under Varying Irrigation Levels

This study aimed to determine the effect of Gloums Mosseae fungus and palm fronds detritus (compost) on the yield of millet crop (panicum miliaceum L.) and the ratio of protein to proline at various irrigation levels. A field experiment was conducted in one of the fields in the Sumer District of the Al-Diwaniyah Governorate during the summer of 2022. A Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was used in this experiment with three replications. The treatments were distributed randomly. Two levels of fungal inoculation (F1 = inoculation with Glomus Mosseae, F0 = control), three levels of compost (C1 = application of 3 tons of palm frond compost, C2 = application of 5 tons of palm frond compost, C0 = control) and three irrigation duration (R1 = irrigation every ten days, R2 = irrigation every fifteen days, R3 = irrigation every twenty days). The results present a significant increase in all the studied traits (grain yield, biological yield, grain protein content, leaf proline content) 2.408 t h-1, 17.926, t h-1 16.10%, 13.16%, and 1.617 mmol gm-1, respectively, compared to with the control treatments that resulted in the least values for the studied traits, respectively, 1.123 t h-1 10.099 t h-1, 8.62%, 6.66%, 0.807 mmol gm-1.
Evaluation of Physical Quality Characterization MRQ 107 Parboil Rice Production Using Selected Parameter

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a significant source of nourishment in most Asian countries since it is a primary source of carbohydrates, micronutrients (Fe and Zn) and vitamins, offering broad prospects for food and nutritional security. MARDI’s variety, namely MRQ 107, was chosen for producing parboiled rice using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) technique at different soaking hours (2, 4 and 6) with steaming time at intervals of 15, 30 and 45 mins with hot water temperature 70ºC and 75ºC. The results have shown that parboiled rice of MRQ 107 process at selected parameter consistently has produced a high milling percentage in the 69-70% range with conversion to Head Rice Yield (HRY) in the range 84%-97%. This finding shows that good quality MRQ 107 parboiled rice can be produced through the parameters selected with a recovery of a high percentage of rice heads (head rice) and has the potential to resolve the economic losses to millers from losing out due to a high rate of broken rice especially during parboiled rice processing.
Quality of Life of Elderly People with Severe Intellectual Disabilities in Chile

Introduction: Currently, the concept of quality of life (QoL) is key to defining health policies aimed at the population with intellectual disability (ID). Most QoL studies in this field have been limited to people with ID with higher levels of functioning. This has resulted in little interest in evaluating QoL interventions in people with ID and high support needs, affecting their general well-being and conditioning the care received. This study seeks to explore the QoL levels of people with severe and profound ID, and to examine their differences according to some variables. Material and methods: From a quantitative-descriptive approach, the San Martín scale, based on the eight-dimensional QoL Model of Schalock and Verdugo, has been applied to 201 Chilean people with severe or profound ID between 60 and 86 years of age. Results: The data show how most of the participants have low levels of QoL, with self-determination and social inclusion being the most affected dimensions. When comparing the QoL score with the sociodemographic variables, there are differences according to the level of support needs and the type of center of which they are users. Conclusion: It is necessary to pay attention to the low levels of QoL because there is a notable risk that they lead to greater situations of vulnerability for this group. Likewise, it is convenient to advocate for a higher frequency in the support offered and to bring the spaces in which these people operate as close as possible to the community.
Dielectric Patterning Method for Enhanced Monostatic Radar Cross Section (RCS) Reduction Effect Based on Dielectric-Barrier-Discharge (DBD) Plasma

This communication presents an improved method for reducing radar cross section (RCS) using dielectric-barrier-discharge (DBD) air plasma. By integrating a patterned dielectric layer in the region where plasma is generated, the effective permittivity is increased. This leads to higher electron density and induces a higher power absorption, enhancing the RCS reduction without altering the plasma generation conditions, such as bias voltage or gas. With an optimally designed dielectric pattern, the experimental results for a $200\,\, \times 200$ mm2 conductor plate show a 1.2-fold increase in absorbed power, resulting in up to 34.7 dB of RCS reduction in the 8.0–10.0-GHz range, which is a 10.7-dB improvement compared with without the patterned dielectric. This technique has achieved the largest RCS reduction reported so far for plasma-based methods, establishing it as one of the most effective approaches for RCS reduction.
Generating Programs Trivially: Student Use of Large Language Models

Educators have been concerned about the capability of large language models to automatically generate programs in response to textual prompts. However, little is known about whether and how students actually use these tools. In the context of an upper-level formal methods course, we gave students access to large language models. They were told they could use the models freely. We built a Visual Studio Code extension to simplify access to these models. We also paid for an account so students could use the models for free without worrying about cost. In this experience report we analyze the outcomes. We see how students actually do and do not use the models. We codify the different uses they make. Most of all, we notice that students actually do not use them very much at all, and provide insight into the many reasons why not. We believe such experiments can help rebalance some of the public narrative about such tools.
Diagnostic Performance of the Measurement of Skinfold Thickness for Abdominal and Overall Obesity in the Peruvian Population: A 5-Year Cohort Analysis

The escalating prevalence of overall and abdominal obesity, particularly affecting Latin America, underscores the urgent need for accessible and cost-effective predictive methods to address the growing disease burden. This study assessed skinfold thicknesses’ predictive capacity for overall and abdominal obesity in Peruvian adults aged 30 or older over 5 years. Data from the PERU MIGRANT 5-year cohort study were analyzed, defining obesity using BMI and waist circumference. Receiver operating characteristic curves and area under the curve (AUC) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Adults aged ≥ 30 (n = 988) completed the study at baseline, with 47% male. A total of 682 participants were included for overall and abdominal obesity analysis. The 5-year prevalence values for overall and abdominal obesity were 26.7% and 26.6%, respectively. Subscapular skinfold (SS) best predicted overall obesity in men (AUC = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.75–0.88) and women (AUC = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.67–0.88). Regarding abdominal obesity, SS exhibited the highest AUC in men (AUC = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.77–0.89), while SS and the sum of trunk skinfolds showed the highest AUC in women. In secondary analysis excluding participants with type-2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) at baseline, SS significantly predicted DM2 development in men (AUC = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.58–0.83) and bicipital skinfold (BS) did in women (AUC = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.62–0.84). The findings highlight SS significance as an indicator of overall and abdominal obesity in both sexes among Peruvian adults. Additionally, SS, and BS offer robust predictive indicators for DM2.
Heat flow in western Virginia and a model for the origin of thermal springs in the folded Appalachians

Five new heat flow values in the Blue Ridge (37/sup 0/02'N, 80/sup 0/12'W), Valley and Ridge (38/sup 0/00'N, 79/sup 0/50'W; 37/sup 0/54'N, 79/sup 0/54'W; 38/sup 0/14'N, 79/sup 0/49'W), and Alleghany Plateau (37/sup 0/12'N, 82/sup 0/06'W) provinces of Virginia are 36.3 +- 1.3mW/m/sup 2/, 317 +- 20mW/m/sup 2/, 48.2 +- 0.3mW/m/sup 2/, 49.5 +- 1.5mW/m/sup 2/, and 55.8 +- 1.7mW/m/sup 2/, respectively. The value of 36.3mW/m/sup 2/ in the Blue Ridge agrees with values predicted by the contour map of Sass et al. (1976) for this part of the eastern United States; the values of 49.5 and 48.3mW/m/sup 2/ in the Valley and Ridge province do not. The high value of 317 +- 20mW/m/sup 2/ at Hot Springs, Virginia, is the result of convection along a fault zone and is not regionally representative. The value of 48.3mW/m/sup 2/ determined at a site about 8 km southwest of Hot Springs, Virginia, is regionally representative of the heat flux. New data support a model of moderately deep circulation of meteoric water entering near-vertical sedimentary beds at relatively high topographic elevations and circulating downward via bedding plane permeability and fractures within Silurian quartzites and/or adjacent carbonate units. The moderately deep circulation is then intersectedmore » by vertical transverse linear fracture zones along which the water rises. All of the warm springs are located adjacent to topographic gaps which have developed along zones of weakness associated with the transverse fracture zones. « less
A comprehensive review on prevention and management of hospital-acquired infections: Current strategies and best practices

Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are a significant global public health issue, impacting millions of patients annually. Another name for HAIs is nosocomial infections (NI). These infections arise from illnesses that patients contract while they are in the hospital and can have major negative effects on their health, such as increased morbidity, prolonged hospital stays, or even death. The rise of antibiotic-resistant pathogens has only added to the complexity and severity of HAIs. Healthcare facilities need to take a thorough, evidence-based strategy to HAI prevention and control in order to solve this issue. This entails carrying out evidence-based procedures, like cleaning the environment, using the proper antimicrobial agents, and practicing hand hygiene, in addition to continuously assessing and evaluating their HAI prevention program. Improving patient outcomes, cutting healthcare costs, and preserving public confidence in the healthcare system all depend on lowering the prevalence of HAIs. Improvements in hospital epidemiological surveillance, infection control practices, and the implementation of HAI prevention guidelines should lead to a decrease in the frequency of morbidity and mortality. Nonetheless, HAIs continue to be a major worry for high-risk populations.
The Implementation of Response Surface Methodology and Artificial Neural Networks to Find the Best Germination Conditions for Lycopersicon esculetum Based on Its Phenological Development in a Greenhouse

The incorporation of biodegraded substrates during the germination of horticultural crops has shown favorable responses in different crops; however, most of these studies evaluate their effect only in the first days of seedling life, and do not follow up on the production process under greenhouse or open field conditions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the phenological development of Lycopersicon esculetum (tomato) seedlings in greenhouses that were germinated with biodegraded substrate mixed with peat moss. To find the best plant performance condition and determine whether the biodegraded substrate allows tomato plants to be obtained with the conditions for their production, the response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) were used. Three response surface models and three neural network models were developed to analyze the plant growth, the leaf length and the leaf width. The results obtained show that plant height during the first days presented statistically significant differences among the different treatments, with an initial average height of 5.3 cm. The length of the leaves at transplantation was statistically different, maintaining a length of 2.4, and the width of the leaves at transplantation measured 1.8 cm. The RSM and ANN models allowed the estimation of the optimal value of the adequate amount of degraded substrate to germinate Lycopersicon esculetum and reduce the use of peat moss. The coefficient of determination (r2) indicates that the ANNs presented a better data fit (r2 > 0.99) to predict the experimental conditions that maximize the study variables; in this sense, the plants obtained with 100% biodegraded substrate showed a better development, which suggests its use as an alternative substrate in the germination process and to reduce the use of peat moss.