Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of transmissibility and measures effectiveness of SARS in 8 regions, China, 2002-2003

Background Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a form of atypical pneumonia which took hundreds of lives when it swept the world two decades ago. The pathogen of SARS was identified as SARS-coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and it was mainly transmitted in China during the SARS epidemic in 2002-2003. SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 have emerged from the SARS metapopulation of viruses. However, they gave rise to two different disease dynamics, a limited epidemic, and an uncontrolled pandemic, respectively. The characteristics of its spread in China are particularly noteworthy. In this paper, the unique characteristics of time, space, population distribution and transmissibility of SARS for the epidemic were discussed in detail. Methods We adopted sliding average method to process the number of reported cases per day. An SEIAR transmission dynamics model, which was the first to take asymptomatic group into consideration and applied indicators of R 0, Reff , Rt to evaluate the transmissibility of SARS, and further illustrated the control effectiveness of interventions for SARS in 8 Chinese cities. Results The R 0 for SARS in descending order was: Tianjin city (R 0 = 8.249), Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shanxi Province, Hebei Province, Beijing City, Guangdong Province, Taiwan Province, and Hong Kong. R 0 of the SARS epidemic was generally higher in Mainland China than in Hong Kong and Taiwan Province (Mainland China: R 0 = 6.058 ± 1.703, Hong Kong: R 0 = 2.159, Taiwan: R 0 = 3.223). All cities included in this study controlled the epidemic successfully (Reff<1) with differences in duration. Rt in all regions showed a downward trend, but there were significant fluctuations in Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Taiwan Province compared to other areas. Conclusion The SARS epidemic in China showed a trend of spreading from south to north, i.e., Guangdong Province and Beijing City being the central regions, respectively, and from there to the surrounding areas. In contrast, the SARS epidemic in the central region did not stir a large-scale transmission. There were also significant differences in transmissibility among eight regions, with R0 significantly higher in the northern region than that in the southern region. Different regions were able to control the outbreak successfully in differences time.
Drought and heat stress mediated activation of lipid signaling in plants: a critical review

Lipids are a principal component of plasma membrane, acting as a protective barrier between the cell and its surroundings. Abiotic stresses such as drought and temperature induce various lipid-dependent signaling responses, and the membrane lipids respond differently to environmental challenges. Recent studies have revealed that lipids serve as signal mediators forreducing stress responses in plant cells and activating defense systems. Signaling lipids, such as phosphatidic acid, phosphoinositides, sphingolipids, lysophospholipids, oxylipins, and N-acylethanolamines, are generated in response to stress. Membrane lipids are essential for maintaining the lamellar stack of chloroplasts and stabilizing chloroplast membranes under stress. However, the effects of lipid signaling targets in plants are not fully understood. This review focuses on the synthesis of various signaling lipids and their roles in abiotic stress tolerance responses, providing an essential perspective for further investigation into the interactions between plant lipids and abiotic stress.
P2RX7 gene knockout or antagonism reduces angiotensin II-induced hypertension, vascular injury and immune cell activation

Objective: Extracellular ATP is elevated in hypertensive mice and humans and may trigger immune activation through the purinergic receptor P2X7 (P2RX7) causing interleukin-1β production and T-cell activation and memory T-cell development. Furthermore, P2RX7 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) are associated with hypertension. We hypothesized that P2RX7 activation contributes to hypertension and cardiovascular injury by promoting immune activation. Methods: Male wild-type and P2rx7–/– mice were infused or not with angiotensin II (AngII) for 14 days. A second group of AngII-infused wild-type mice were co-infused with the P2RX7 antagonist AZ10606120 or vehicle. BP was monitored by telemetry. Cardiac and mesenteric artery function and remodeling were assessed using ultrasound and pressure myography, respectively. T cells were profiled in thoracic aorta/perivascular adipose tissue by flow cytometry. Associations between SNPs within 50 kb of P2RX7 transcription, and BP or hypertension were modeled in 384 653 UK Biobank participants. Results: P2rx7 inactivation attenuated AngII-induced SBP elevation, and mesenteric artery dysfunction and remodeling. This was associated with decreased perivascular infiltration of activated and effector memory T-cell subsets. Surprisingly, P2rx7 knockout exaggerated AngII-induced cardiac dysfunction and remodeling. Treatment with a P2RX7 antagonist reduced BP elevation, preserved mesenteric artery function and reduced activated and effector memory T cell perivascular infiltration without adversely affecting cardiac function and remodeling in AngII-infused mice. Three P2RX7 SNPs were associated with increased odds of DBP elevation. Conclusion: P2RX7 may represent a target for attenuating BP elevation and associated vascular damage by decreasing immune activation.
Performance of the tetra-primer PCR technique compared to PCR-RFLP in the search for rs12979860 (C/T) and rs8099917 (T/G) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IFNL4 gene

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, rs12979860 e rs8099917) in the Interferon Lambda 4 gene (IFNL4, formerly IFNL3 and/or IL28B) has been associated with failure in the innate immune response, sustained virological response in hepatitis C, and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM) development. To search for these polymorphisms several methodologies can be employed, such as sequencing, real-time or quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis in PCR products (PCR-RFLP), and tetra-primer PCR. The present study compared the performance of the tetra-primer PCR in relation to the PCR-RFLP, both optimized in the Research HTLV Laboratory of the Center of Immunology of Instituto Adolfo Lutz in São Paulo. One hundred DNA samples obtained from patients of STD/Aids Reference Centre in São Paulo, previously analyzed for IL28B SNPs by PCR-RFLP were selected for analysis, after confirming that they represent all IL28B SNPs patterns described in the literature. The results obtained showed concordance between the PCR-RFLP and the tetra-primer PCR SNPs results, and because of the low cost, easy to perform, and minor employment of biological specimen and reagents, the tetra- primer PCR is of choice to be used in routine.
A New Three-Level Neutral-Point-Clamped Fifteen-Switch Inverter for Independent Control of Two Three-Phase Loads

A new topology of a three-level neutral-point-clamped fifteen-switch inverter (FSI) is proposed. The FSI topology consists of three legs, of which each consists of five switches and two diodes. An FSI can independently drive two three-phase loads. In addition, a new space-vector modulation (SVM) method suitable for the FSI to drive two three-phase loads is described in detail; moreover, the SVM method is suitable for both common-frequency and difference-frequency working modes of an FSI. The application on independent control of two three-phase loads for an FSI is verified well by the simulations and experiments.
Microplastics as an emerging threat to human health: Challenges and advancements in their detection

Microplastic pollution has emerged as a significant environmental concern, with potential direct and indirect impacts on ecosystems. Microplastics are pervasive, found in water, food, and even the air we breathe. While their influence on human health is still unclear, microplastics are known to possess endocrine-disrupting properties and can accumulate persistent organic pollutants. Accurate measurement and categorization of microplastics are crucial to understanding their prevalence and impact on contamination. Fortunately, there are several methods available, such as visual analysis, fluorescence techniques, vibrational spectroscopy, and electron microscopy, that offer optimal accuracy in detecting and quantifying microplastics. The increasing presence of microplastics in the food chain has prompted global research efforts to assess potential risks to human health. However, despite ongoing advancements, challenges remain in standardizing analytical procedures and developing methods capable of detecting microplastics as small as nanometers. Visual classification-based methods, though limited in detecting smaller microplastics, show promise for improvement through integration with advanced technologies. This study primarily focuses on microplastic sampling strategies, detection methods, and their respective advantages and disadvantages, shedding light on the advancements and challenges in the field.
Concept Analysis: Engagement in Personal HIV Management

A concept analysis is an endeavor in social sciences to ensure proper usage of the term among researchers, theorists, and practitioners. The concept of engagement has recently been touted as the term describing HIV-infected individuals who are compliant with their highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) medications. Accordingly, engagement has also come to mean that the full compliance with not just HAART, but also compliance with lab tests, medical visits, and counseling services. Post-release incarcerated male inmates that are HIV-infected (IMIHIV) are an especially vulnerable population in regard to access to care and compliance with HAART medications and services. Therefore, full understanding of the meaning and context of the term engagement is imperative to begin a conversation about these individuals. Thus, engagement in personal HIV management will be stressed.
EFFICIACY OF MINIMALLY INVASIVE SURGERY ON HALLUX VALGUS : A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Introduction: The terms "Hallux valgus" or "hallux abducto-valgus" are the medical terms most commonly used in relation to a bunion anomaly. These deformities can result from foot or joint abnormalities, but the most common cause is wearing too-small or too-large shoes. High heels cause the body to bend forward, which puts pressure on the toes. The type of surgery depends on the bones involved, their angular connection, the joint injury, and other deformities. The aim: This article describe about efficiacy of minimally invasive surgery on hallux valgus. Methods: By comparing itself to the standards set by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) 2020, this study was able to show that it met all of the requirements. So, the experts were able to make sure that the study was as up-to-date as it was possible to be. For this search approach, publications that came out between 2013 and 2023 were taken into account. Several different online reference sources, like Pubmed and SagePub, were used to do this. It was decided not to take into account review pieces, works that had already been published, or works that were only half done. Result: In the PubMed database, the results of our search brought up 89 articles, whereas the results of our search on SagePub brought up 62 articles. The results of the search conducted for the last year of 2013 yielded a total 33 articles for PubMed and 17 articles for SagePub. In the end, we compiled a total of 19 papers, 12 of which came from PubMed and seven of which came from SagePub. We included seven research that met the criteria. Conclusion: MIS measures for HV surgery can be considered effective with a reoperation rate of less than 20%. Both the radiological and clinical outcome of the minimally invasive osteotomy and the open method are on par with one another.
Measuring the digital transformation maturity level independently with the design science research methodology

This study uses the Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) approach in creating an artifact on the perspective of the Information System. Design Science as a valuable tool for creating a new artifact or developing an existing artifact through research. The DSRM Framework described in this study discusses the implementation of each stage, namely, Explicated Problem, Define Requirement, Design and Development, Demonstration, and Evaluation and is complemented by the implementation of case studies of artifact creation in DSRM stages. The Digital Maturity Measurement in question is a service to measure digital maturity in various dimensions. Each DSRM stage is mapped to a case study of that service.
A Conformal Energy-Conserved Method for Maxwell’s Equations with Perfectly Matched Layers

In this paper, a conformal energy-conserved scheme is proposed for solving the Maxwell’s equations with the perfectly matched layer. The equations are split as a Hamiltonian system and a dissipative system, respectively. The Hamiltonian system is solved by an energy-conserved method and the dissipative system is integrated exactly. With the aid of the Strang splitting, a fully-discretized scheme is obtained. The resulting scheme can preserve the five discrete conformal energy conservation laws and the discrete conformal symplectic conservation law. Based on the energy method, an optimal error estimate of the scheme is established in discrete L2-norm. Some numerical experiments are addressed to verify our theoretical analysis. AMS subject classifications: 65M12, 65M15, 65M70
Bacteriophage Therapy to Control Bovine Mastitis: A Review

Bovine mastitis is a polymicrobial disease characterised by inflammation of the udders of dairy and beef cattle. The infection has huge implications to health and welfare of animals, impacting milk and beef production and costing up to EUR 32 billion annually to the dairy industry, globally. Bacterial communities associated with the disease include representative species from Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Actinomyces, Aerococcus, Escherichia, Klebsiella and Proteus. Conventional treatment relies on antibiotics, but antimicrobial resistance, declining antibiotic innovations and biofilm production negatively impact therapeutic efficacy. Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses which effectively target and lyse bacteria with extreme specificity and can be a valuable supplement or replacement to antibiotics for bovine mastitis. In this review, we provide an overview of the etiology of bovine mastitis, the advantages of phage therapy over chemical antibiotics for the strains and research work conducted in the area in various model systems to support phage deployment in the dairy industry. We emphasise work on phage isolation procedures from samples obtained from mastitic and non-mastitic sources, characterisation and efficacy testing of single and multiple phages as standalone treatments or adjuncts to probiotics in various in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo bovine mastitis infection models. Furthermore, we highlight the areas where improvements can be made with focus on phage cocktail optimisation, formulation, and genetic engineering to improve delivery, stability, efficacy, and safety in cattle. Phage therapy is becoming more attractive in clinical medicine and agriculture and thus, could mitigate the impending catastrophe of antimicrobial resistance in the dairy sector.
Working Capital Management and Firm Profitability: An Empirical Review

Working capital management is very important for the survival of a company no matter the size of that company. Inadequate working capital or illiquidity is a major issue confronting Many Nigerian companies. The main objectives of this study is to review the impact of working capital management on the profitability. The variables used in the study were cash conversion cycle, accounts receivable, inventory and accounts payable proxies to working capital management while, return on equity and return on assets as proxies to profitability. The study adopted conceptual approach where data collected from already existing data on the impact of working capital management on profitability. it is quite clear that a positive correlation exists between working capital management and firms’ profitability. Finally, a company which maintain sufficiently low inventory levels will reduce the holding cost of the inventory which results to higher profitability. The managements of companies should improve their cash conversion cycle, focus more on credit transactions with their vendors, and decrease their receivables days’ by offering a discount to those who paid early and those paid in advance, and should maintain optimum level of inventory in order to maximize their profitability.
Effects of Initial Rice Bran Concentration and Inoculum's Ratio on Microbial Growth of Co-culture Fermentation

Co-culture fermentation is widely applied for its synergistic effects. The synergistic effects of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and propionic acid bacteria (PAB) are reported to improve the ruminant feed efficiency through the supplementations of probiotics. However, although co-culture fermentation of LAB and PAB has been recently demonstrated, the effects of carbon source and inoculum’s ratio on the microbial growth in co-fermentation are still not well-explored. Thus, this study was carried out to investigate the effect of rice bran concentration, as carbon source and inoculum’s ratio on the growth of L. casei and P. jensenii in co-culture fermentation. Reducing sugar content was extracted from rice bran through autoclave at 121℃ for 15 minutes. Co-culture fermentation was carried out in 2 stages: rice bran extract concentration’s variation and inoculum’s ratio variation. Co-culture in 20% w/v of RBE concentration showed the highest yield coefficient of YX/S of 0.265 g biomass/g substrate and YP/S of 0.715 g propionic acid/g substrate. Therefore, 20% w/v RBE concentration was used for the study of inoculum’s ratio. The YX/S (0.254 g biomass/g substrate) and YP/S (0.653 g propionic acid/g substrate) of ratio 1:4 was slightly lower than ratio 1:8, but the viability of L. casei (8.934 log10 CFU/mL) and P. jensenii (9.420 log10 CFU/mL) was the highest in ratio 1:4. Although increase of PAB ratio can increase biomass produced, but ratio 1:4 can achieve higher microbes’ viability which is important in the development of probiotics products.
PENGARUH MODERNISASI SISTEM ADMINISTRASI PERPAJAKAN DAN SANKSI PERPAJAKAN TERHADAP TINGKAT KEPATUHAN WAJIB PAJAK ORANG PRIBADI PADA KANTOR PELAYANAN PAJAK (KPP) PRATAMA SELATAN BATAM KOTA

This study aims to obtain empirical evidence about the effect of modernization of the tax administration system and tax sanctions on individual taxpayer compliance. This research was conducted at the South Batam Tax Service Office. The population in this study were all mandatory in the tax service office pratama south batam, then a sample of 100 respondents was taken using the slovin method. The test method used is multiple regression. The results showed the effect of the Modernization of the Tax Administration System, Tax Sanctions simultaneously using the F test, the F test value was 40,186 with a significance level (sig) = 0.000. Because the value of 0.000 <0.05, thus Ho is rejected with Ha accepted, the regression model obtained is significant or it can be said that the Effect of Modernization of the Tax Administration System and Tax Sanctions together has a significant effect on Individual Taxpayer Compliance.
Physically active commuting between home and work/study place in Greater Stockholm

One of the most often suggested strategies for enhancing public health through physical activity (PA) is to make use of the need for transportation between home and work/study place through walking or bicycling. This paper presents a study based on a questionnaire and map distributed to about 2000 physically active commuters in Greater Stockholm. Five variables are examined: distance, commuting time, velocity, perceived exertion and body mass index (BMI). The results demonstrate that most of the commuters meet the WHO physical activity recommendations. A methodological conclusion from the study is that subjective estimations of commuting distances do not give reliable values. Suggested methods for more accurate values are measuring routes drawn on maps or to use the straight-line distance between home and work/study place together with a correction factor (A). For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD E212343.
Ownership Structure and the Cost of Debt: Evidence from Chinese Corporate Bond Market

Drawing upon evidence from the Chinese corporate bond market, we study how ownership structure affects the cost of debt for firms. Our results show that state, institutional and foreign ownership formats reduce the cost of debt for firms. The benefits of state ownership are accentuated when the issuer is headquartered in a province with highly developed market institutions, operates in an industry less dominated by the state or during the period after the 2012 anti-corruption reforms. Institutional ownership provides the most benefits in environments with lower levels of marketization, especially for firms with low credit quality. Our evidence sheds light on the nexus of ownership and debt cost in a political economy where state and private firms face productivity and credit frictions. It is also illustrative of how the market environment interacts with corporate ownership in affecting the cost of bond issuance.
Electrohydrodynamic Printed Ultramicro AgNPs Thin-Film Temperature Sensor

To achieve high-density and arrayed temperature sensing, thin-film temperature sensors require a multilayer structure and miniaturized preparation technology. Currently, screen printing, direct writing by squeeze, and MEMS are the main methods for preparing thin-film sensors; however, the film linewidth produced by screen printing or direct writing by squeeze is impossible to achieve width within <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10 \mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, while MEMS is costly, and limited in terms of target materials. Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing is a promising alternative due to its ability to print multiple materials and multilayer structures with patterned films less than <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10 \mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> width. In this study, we propose a method using only EHD printing to prepare ultramicro thin-film temperature sensors, including an AgNPs sensitive layer and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) encapsulation layer. The area of the AgNPs film sensitive layer is less than <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$120\times 120\,\,\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, with an average linewidth of less than <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10 \mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and a film thickness of less than 200 nm. The printing range of the PDMS encapsulation layer is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$300\times 300\,\,\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, with a minimum film thickness of 567 nm. The performance test results show that the ultramicro AgNPs thin-film temperature sensor after EHD printing of PDMS encapsulation has a higher temperature measurement upper limit. The hysteresis error was ±0.1309%, and the repeatability error was ±0.3311%, both much lower than previously reported. The successful fabrication of ultramicro thin-film temperature sensors using EHD printing suggests the potential of this method to supercede MEMS for achieving high-density and arrayed temperature sensing in limited space.