Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does GVC participation help industrial upgrading in developing countries? New evidence from panel data analysis

This paper assesses the impact of manufacturing global value chain (GVC) participation on industrial upgrading in developing countries. After constructing a novel manufacturing GVC dataset for 37 countries from 2001 to 2017, we apply panel fixed-effect estimation to evaluate whether value chain integration could lead to industrial upgrading. Our findings show that increasing participation in manufacturing GVC has led to structural change in the industrial sector. In the baseline model, we find a percentage rise in manufacturing GVC corresponds to 0.35–0.43% increase in the share of high-tech sector. Further analysis reveals that the upgrading channel is primarily derived from forward linkages, while backward linkages contribute in diminishing low-tech manufacturing activities. Our findings are robust under alternative estimation techniques. This linear transformation confirms earlier studies and thus highlights the critical role of GVC in promoting industrial upgrading in developing countries.
Comparison of antimicrobial effect of several decontaminating methods on contaminated Titanium discs

ABSTRACT Background: Decontaminating the implant surface, exposed to bacterial biofilm, is a concern in the treatment of peri-implant inflammatory disease. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of several methods on reduction of the bacterial load, colonized on the surfaces of titanium discs. Materials and Methods: In this in vivo study, seven titanium discs with Sandblasted, Large-grit, acid-etched (SLA) surface were placed in the mouth of each of ten patients with chronic periodontitis by an intra-oral maxillary splint for 24 h. In each patient, the contaminated discs, except for the negative control ones, were randomly treated by one of the six antiseptic methods including sterile normal saline, plastic curette, air polisher, hydrogen peroxide, 980 nm diode laser, and Er-YAG laser. A spectrophotometer was used to measure Optical Density (OD) in case of aerobic microorganisms. Colony-Forming Units (CFUs) were used for anaerobic bacteria. Data were analyzed through Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney Tests at a significance level of α =0.05 by SPSS software. Results: Statistical analysis showed a significant decrease in OD of aerobic bacteria among the seven groups during a 0–24 h time interval (P < 0.001). Furthermore, these tests showed a significant difference in the CFU (P < 0.001) for anaerobic bacteria after 48 h. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that all of the adopted methods significantly reduced microbial colonies on the surfaces of titanium discs with SLA surface. Er: YAG laser and normal saline had the highest and the lowest effects, respectively.
ANALYSIS OF CIRCULATING STRAINS, CAUSING INVASIVE LISTERIOSIS IN BULGARIA FOR TEN YEARS, 2010-2019

Listeriosis is a zoonosis with multiple mechanisms of infection and multiple organ symptoms, severe course and high lethality. An increasing incidence of listeriosis has been reported in several European countries in recent years. A limited range of Listeria strains is responsible for most blasts occurring in different countries. The aim of the study is to monitor the spread of the Listeria strains causing invasive listeriosis in Bulgaria for the period 2010-2019 and to analyze the etiological structure of the infection in different hospitals in the country. A total of 56 strains Listeria from 17 hospitals were investigated for confirmation of species and serogroup. The materials were isolated from haemocultures, fetuses water, cerebrospinal fluids and anal and throat secretions and two tests were used. Confirmed strains isolated from the clinical samples for the study period belonged to 4 serogroups of Listeria. Listeria monocytogenes serogroup I was detected in 28 (50%) of the samples, Listeria monocytogenes serogroup II – in 43%, Listeria innocua –in 5% and Listeria welshimeri – in 2% of the samples. The strains isolated from cerebrospinal fluid predominated (52%) and those isolated from haemocultures were 36%. Nineteen of the isolated strains from cerebrospinal fluid belonged to serotype 4b (19/29). Listeria monocytogenes serogroup I was detected in 70% from haemoculture. Listeria innocua and Listeria welshimeri were detected from cerebrospinal fluid. Serotype 1/2a was found in six hospitals and serotype 4b - in five hospitals. The majority of isolated strains was from newborns -12/56 (21.43%). Serotype 1/2a was detected in 12 hospitals and serotype 4b in 11 hospitals. The largest variety of strains was found in Plovdiv, UMBAL “Sv. Georgi”. The data confirmed a steady trend in the spread of certain listeria serotypes in each hospital over the years. The focus in the future should be on screening at-risk groups, mainly women of childbearing and it is recommended to look for the risk of listeriosis.
The structure of COPI vesicles and regulation of vesicle turnover

COPI‐coated vesicles mediate transport between Golgi stacks and retrograde transport from the Golgi to the endoplasmic reticulum. The COPI coat exists as a stable heptameric complex in the cytosol termed coatomer and is recruited en bloc to the membrane for vesicle formation. Recruitment of COPI onto membranes is mediated by the Arf family of small GTPases, which, in their GTP‐bound state, bind both membrane and coatomer. Arf GTPases also influence cargo selection, vesicle scission and vesicle uncoating. Guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) and GTPase‐activating proteins (GAPs) regulate nucleotide binding by Arf GTPases. To understand the mechanism of COPI‐coated vesicle trafficking, it is necessary to characterize the interplay between coatomer and Arf GTPases and their effectors. It is also necessary to understand interactions between coatomer and cargo, cargo adaptors/receptors and tethers facilitating binding to the target membrane. Here, we summarize current knowledge of COPI coat protein structure; we describe how structural and biochemical studies contributed to this knowledge; we review mechanistic insights into COPI vesicle biogenesis and disassembly; and we discuss the potential to answer open questions in the field.
Pressure tuning of the thermal conductivity of the layered muscovite crystal

The physics of heat conduction in layered, anisotropic crystals is probed by measurements of the cross-plane elastic constant C{sub 33} and thermal conductivity {Lambda} of muscovite mica as a function of hydrostatic pressure. Picosecond interferometry and time-domain thermoreflectance provide high-precision measurements of C{sub 33} and {Lambda}, respectively, of micron-sized samples within a diamond-anvil cell; {Lambda} changes from the anomalously low value of 0.46 W m{sup -1} K{sup -1} at ambient pressure to a value more typical of oxides crystals with large unit cells, 6.6 W m{sup -1} K{sup -1}, at P = 24 GPa. Most of the pressure dependence of {Lambda} can be accounted for by the pressure dependence of the cross-plane sound velocities.
Soft pseudopotentials for efficient quantum Monte Carlo calculations: From Be to Ne and Al to Ar

We have developed “soft” ab initio Hartree–Fock pseudopotentials for Be–Ne and Al–Ar that avoid singularities at the electron-nuclear cusp. The absence of these singularities is a desired feature for quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) calculations, because it considerably reduces local energy fluctuations when sampling the QMC wave function. A modified procedure for obtaining soft pseudopotentials is introduced. Stability of QMC calculations with the developed pseudopotentials is demonstrated by the ability to use larger time steps for comparable accuracy with the previously available pseudopotentials. As expected, ionization potentials and electron affinities computed using the present approach compare very favorably with other Hartree–Fock pseudopotential methods.
Opto-mechanical behavior of photochromic liquid crystal polymer film composites

Light induced bending of photochromic liquid crystal polymer (LCP) thin films sandwiched with some transparent polymer substrates is studied. Kirchhoff plate model is analyzed. We found that under the irradiation of light with suitable wavelength, an effective bending moment of the composite film will be produced and has two contributions, the opto moment and the bi-film moment. The opto moment is due to the inhomogeneous distribution of the light induced contraction resulted from the light absorption decay. It acts as a bending moment for single layered LCP film as well and has been studied by many authors. The bi-film moment, on the hand, is resulted from the homogeneous contraction induced by light and will act only to the composite similar to the well-known bi-metal bending. By utilizing the two contributions, the magnitude of the total effective moment and the bending curvature can be enhanced largely. Moreover, the bending direction can be well controlled by suitable design of the multilayered structures. The variational formulation of the bending equation is derived, according to which any commercial finite element code can be used to simulate the light induced bending behavior under various boundary conditions. Some interesting bending patterns of the film composites are shown to be possibly produced by patterned layer structures.
High resolution optical shaft encoder for motor speed control based on an optical disk pick-up

Using a three-beam optical pick-up from a compact disk player and a flexible, shaft-mounted diffraction grating, we obtain information about the rotation speed and angular position of the motor’s spindle. This information may be used for feedback to the motor for smooth operation. Due to the small size of the focused spot and the built-in auto-focus mechanism of the optical head, the proposed encoder can achieve submicrometer resolution. With high resolution, reliable operation, and low-cost elements, the proposed method is suitable for rotary and linear motion control where accurate positioning of an object is required.
The lift and drag forces on a circular cylinder oscillating in a flowing fluid

A circular cylinder was placed in a flowing fluid with its axis across the stream. The fluctuating lift and drag forces, and the steady drag force were measured. The results for the stationary cylinder were given in a previous paper (Bishop & Hassan 1964). Here, the results are described and summarized for a cylinder that is made to oscillate transversely in a direction perpendicular to the stream.
Traces Of Individuals Emotional Intelligence In Chetanbhagat’s Revolution 2020

Humans have evolved with more intelligence as individuals. Although, the restless life of an individual has becomes poor in emotional balance and impulse control. This contributes to a major portion of blame behind the growing number of suicides, divorces, and mental disorders which have increased in today’s society. Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence's mixed ability of self-awareness, self-regulation, social skill, empathy, and motivation suggests ways to overcome these problems. ChetanBhagat is an Indian writer who portrays the stress and pressure undergone by modern Indians through the characters in his novels. The purpose of this study is to find resilience and emotional stability amongst the characters in the select novels of ChetanBhagat through the application of Daniel Goleman's four aspect mixed model. Indian people are well known for intelligence however, they struggle to handle failures due to societal pressure. Emotional intelligence is an essential life skill that helps to control depression, frustration, and anger; meanwhile, it improves confidence, motivation, and relationship management in personal and professional life.
Homoclinic orbits of the Kovalevskaya top with perturbations

In this paper the instability issue of the permanent rotation of a heavy top is revisited and the analytical characteristic equation for the particular solution is derived. The homoclinic orbits of the Kovalevskaya top are formulated from the Kovalevskaya fundamental equation and the Kotter transformation. Some integrable motions of the undisturbed Kovalevskaya top are obtained by means of the Jacobian elliptic integrals. The criteria for judging the onset of homoclinic transversal intersections of the stable and unstable manifolds at a saddle in the Poincaré map when the Kovalevskaya top is disturbed by a small external torque are established via the Melnikov integral due to Holmes and Marsden [15]. This theoretical achievement is crosschecked by the 4th‐order Runge‐Kutta algorithms and by the Poincaré section to investigate the long‐term behaviors of the Euler‐Poisson equations with small forced torques. This also gives a theoretical and numerical evidence for the nonintegrability of the disturbed Kovalevskaya top.
Ordinary and extraordinary dielectric functions of rutile SnO2 up to 20 eV

Spectroscopic ellipsometry at room temperature is applied in order to determine the ordinary (e⊥) and extraordinary (e∥) dielectric functions (DFs) of rutile SnO2 corresponding to electric field (E) polarization perpendicular (E⊥c) and parallel (E∥c) to the optical axis (c), respectively. Strong anisotropic behavior is found for the full spectral range from 0.5 up to 20 eV. The onsets of strong absorption are found at 4.28 eV and 5.42 eV for E⊥c and E∥c, respectively. A dipole-forbidden band gap at (3.59 ± 0.2) eV at room temperature is found by line shape fits to the imaginary parts of the DFs. Further high-energy transitions are resolved. Their accurate energy values are obtained by fitting the second derivatives of the DFs. Comparison to published DFs calculated by ab-initio theory demonstrates that the electron-hole interaction in SnO2 is strong and has to be included for interpretation.
Toxicity of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances to Aquatic Invertebrates, Planktons, and Microorganisms

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), recognized worldwide as emerging pollutants, may pose a substantial threat to human health and our environment due to their stability, high concentrations, wide distribution, and easy accumulation. Ever since perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid were recognized by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, the public has become increasingly concerned about potential contamination and the environmental risks associated with PFASs. Ubiquitous PFAS contamination of drinking water, groundwater, surface water, and sediment has been detected, especially in areas with rapid industrial and economic development. Its accumulation in living organisms and foods has accentuated the importance of investigations into aquatic organisms at the bottom of the food chain, as the stability and integrity of the food web as well as the population quantity and structure of the aquatic ecosystem may be affected. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the toxic and toxicity-related effects of PFASs on aquatic plankton, aquatic invertebrates and microorganisms, the characteristics of different target aquatic organisms in toxicity investigations, and a feasibility evaluation of PFAS substitutes to provide valuable suggestions for further utilization and regulation of PFASs and their substitutes.
Temperature Dependence of Dark Lines in Coherent Population Trapping

We measure the signal amplitude and linewidth of a dark line in coherent population trapping in the Rb vapour cell filled with mixed buffer gas N-2 and Ar as a function of cell temperature. We find that the dark line signal amplitude increases with temperature up to a maximum at 49 degrees C and then drops at higher temperatures due to quenching effects of N-2. The linewidth of the dark line remains basically constant, at 1080 Hz. We also measure the linewidth of the dark line as a function of laser intensity. The linewidth increases linearly with laser intensity. An intrinsic linewidth (FWHM=896 Hz at 3.4 GHz) of the Rb cell is obtained.
Informed Contraceptive Decisions: A Qualitative Study of Hispanic Teens in New Mexico

Objectives: U.S. Hispanic teens experience higher rates of unintended pregnancy than white teens. Limited research has been done to explore the sociocultural factors that impact Hispanic teens and their decisions about birth control and long-acting reversible contraception (LARC). The theory of planned behavior served as a framework for this study and teen perspectives about contraceptive decision making. This study aimed to identify the sociocultural factors that impact Hispanic teens when they make decisions about birth control and LARC. Study Design and Methods: We interviewed Hispanic teens from school-based health centers in New Mexico during their schedule medical appointments. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded using content analysis coding methods and a descriptive qualitative design. Results: A total of 20 Hispanic teens participated in this study, all were female and between the ages of 14 and 19 years. Themes: Five themes emerged from the analysis process that impact Hispanic teen contraceptive choice, these are family, religion, culture, peer influence, and other factors. Conclusions and Implications: Among both LARC and non-LARC groups, peer influence was the most frequently cited reason for contraceptive decision making. Relationships with family were cited as barriers for Hispanic teens, where lack of communication and abstinence-only beliefs made it difficult to seek contraception. Findings demonstrate that teens selected LARCs because of the impacts on menstrual cycles and clinician influence. Teens who did not self-select LARC discussed ease of protection and the utilization of birth control as a transition to LARC.
A CPW-fed slotted antenna with loaded split ring for multiband applications

This paper presents a coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed slot antenna consisting of a slotted ground and a parasitically coupled split ring for multiband operation. In the design, the use of both the loaded split ring to rectangle wide slot and embedded L-slots into the ground is found an effective skill for exciting multiresonant modes as well as miniaturizing the slot antenna. The numerical and experimental results show that the optimal antenna has triple operating bands below – 10-dB reflection coefficients magnitude |S 11|) centered at 2.4/3.5/5.8 GHz covering the required bandwidths of various wireless communication standards. In addition, stable monopole-like radiation patterns and acceptable antenna gains are achieved across the operating bands.
L-RAPiT: A Cloud-Based Computing Pipeline for the Analysis of Long-Read RNA Sequencing Data

Long-read sequencing (LRS) has been adopted to meet a wide variety of research needs, ranging from the construction of novel transcriptome annotations to the rapid identification of emerging virus variants. Amongst other advantages, LRS preserves more information about RNA at the transcript level than conventional high-throughput sequencing, including far more accurate and quantitative records of splicing patterns. New studies with LRS datasets are being published at an exponential rate, generating a vast reservoir of information that can be leveraged to address a host of different research questions. However, mining such publicly available data in a tailored fashion is currently not easy, as the available software tools typically require familiarity with the command-line interface, which constitutes a significant obstacle to many researchers. Additionally, different research groups utilize different software packages to perform LRS analysis, which often prevents a direct comparison of published results across different studies. To address these challenges, we have developed the Long-Read Analysis Pipeline for Transcriptomics (L-RAPiT), a user-friendly, free pipeline requiring no dedicated computational resources or bioinformatics expertise. L-RAPiT can be implemented directly through Google Colaboratory, a system based on the open-source Jupyter notebook environment, and allows for the direct analysis of transcriptomic reads from Oxford Nanopore and PacBio LRS machines. This new pipeline enables the rapid, convenient, and standardized analysis of publicly available or newly generated LRS datasets.
An XFEM‐based embedding mesh technique for incompressible viscous flows

This paper presents a finite element (FE) embedding mesh technique to efficiently embed arbitrary fluid mesh patches into Cartesian or unstructured background fluid grids. Our motivating application for such a technique is to efficiently resolve flow features like boundary layers around structures, which is achieved by attaching fluid boundary layer meshes around these structure surfaces. The proposed technique can be classified as a non‐overlapping domain decomposition method. The particular feature is that the embedded patch cuts a void region into the background grid independently of background element edges. Since the embedded fluid domain ends in the middle of background elements, extended FE techniques are used to model a sharp separation between active and inactive regions on the background grid. The active background region is coupled to the boundary layer mesh using a mixed/hybrid Lagrange multiplier technique as proposed in Gerstenberger and Wall (textitInt. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 2010; 82:537–563). The coupling formulation works without stabilization for the Lagrange multiplier unknowns and the Lagrange multiplier can be completely condensed on the element level. Within this paper, the approach is derived for incompressible, viscous flows. Three‐dimensional examples using linear and quadratic shape functions demonstrate the correctness and the versatility of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Protective and sex‐specific effects of moderate dose folic acid supplementation on the placenta following assisted reproduction in mice

Epigenetic defects induced by assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have been suggested as a potential mechanism contributing to suboptimal placentation. Here, we hypothesize that ART perturbs DNA methylation (DNAme) and gene expression during early placenta development, leading to abnormal placental phenotypes observed at term. Since folic acid (FA) plays a crucial role in epigenetic regulation, we propose that FA supplementation can rescue ART‐induced placental defects. Female mice were placed on a control diet (CD), a moderate 4‐fold (FAS4) or high dose 10‐fold (FAS10) FA‐supplemented diet prior to ART and compared to a natural mating group. ART resulted in 41 and 28 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in E10.5 female and male placentas, respectively. Many DEGs were implicated in early placenta development and associated with DNAme changes; a number clustered at known imprinting control regions (ICR). In females, FAS4 partially corrected alterations in gene expression while FAS10 showed evidence of male‐biased adverse effects. DNAme and gene expression for five genes involved in early placentation (Phlda2, EphB2, Igf2, Peg3, L3mbtl1) were followed up in placentas from normal as well as delayed and abnormal embryos. Phlda2 and Igf2 expression levels were lowest after ART in placentas of female delayed embryos. Moreover, ART concomitantly reduced DNAme at the Kcnq1ot1 ICR which regulates Phlda2 expression; FAS4 partially improved DNAme in a sex‐specific manner. In conclusion, ART‐associated placental DNAme and transcriptome alterations observed at mid‐gestation are sex‐specific; they may help explain adverse placental phenotypes detected at term and are partially corrected by maternal moderate dose FA supplementation.