Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWANs) for Internet of Things (IoT) Applications: Research Challenges and Future Trends

Internet of things (IoT) changes significantly the requirements for connectivity, mainly with regards to long battery life, low device cost, low deployment cost, extended coverage and support for a massive number of devices. Driven from these requirements, several different cellular and non-cellular low power wide area network (LPWAN) solutions are emerging and competing for IoT business and the overall connectivity market. Motivated by this, in this paper, we review and compare the design specifications of different LPWAN solutions, as well as, we discuss their suitability for different IoT applications. Finally, we present the challenges, future trends, and potential research directions for LPWANs.
A New Cytotoxic Pregnanone from Calotropis gigantea

A new pregnanone, named calotropone (1), was isolated from the EtOH extract of the roots of Calotropis gigantea L. together with a known cardiac glycoside. The structures were elucidated by a study of their physical and spectral data. Compounds 1 and 2 displayed inhibitory effects towards chronic myelogenous leukemia K562 and human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cell lines.
Helping Relationships and Genetic Propensities: A Combinatoric Study of DRD2, Mentoring, and Educational Continuation

Abstract From conception to death, helping relationships promote positive development and enable people to surmount challenges in their lives. Is it the case that the negative consequences of a genetic propensity for risky behaviors can be attenuated by helping relationships (a G × E)? But is it also the case that people with such a genetic propensity are less likely to have helping relationships compared to people without such a propensity (a rGE)? We illustrate this complex pattern of gene–environment interplay by drawing on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and a combinatoric analytic strategy. We focus on a gene associated with dopamine receptor type 2 (DRD2 TaqIA), student–mentor relationships, and educational continuation beyond secondary school. Results reveal that, for both white and black males, DRD2 A1+ (A1A1 and A1A2 genotypes) is associated with a decreased likelihood of school continuation compared to their counterparts with DRD2 A1–; mentors who are teachers compensate for this negative association (a G × E); and youth with DRD2 A1+ are less likely to have a mentor who is a teacher than their counterparts with DRD2 A1– (a rGE).
SPROUT: Lazy vs. Eager Query Plans for Tuple-Independent Probabilistic Databases

A paramount challenge in probabilistic databases is the scalable computation of confidences of tuples in query results. This paper introduces an efficient secondary-storage operator for exact computation of queries on tuple-independent probabilistic databases. We consider the conjunctive queries without self-joins that are known to be tractable on any tuple-independent database, and queries that are not tractable in general but become tractable on probabilistic databases restricted by functional dependencies. Our operator is semantically equivalent to a sequence of aggregations and can be naturally integrated into existing relational query plans. As a proof of concept, we developed an extension of the PostgreSQL 8.3. 3 query engine called SPROUT. We study optimizations that push or pull our operator or parts thereof past joins. The operator employs static information, such as the query structure and functional dependencies, to decide which constituent aggregations can be evaluated together in one scan and how many scans are needed for the overall confidence computation task. A case study on the TPC-H benchmark reveals that most TPC-H queries obtained by removing aggregations can be evaluated efficiently using our operator. Experimental evaluation on probabilistic TPC-H data shows substantial efficiency improvements when compared to the state of the art.
De Novo Regulatory Motif Discovery Identifies Significant Motifs in Promoters of Five Classes of Plant Dehydrin Genes

Plants accumulate dehydrins in response to osmotic stresses. Dehydrins are divided into five different classes, which are thought to be regulated in different manners. To better understand differences in transcriptional regulation of the five dehydrin classes, de novo motif discovery was performed on 350 dehydrin promoter sequences from a total of 51 plant genomes. Overrepresented motifs were identified in the promoters of five dehydrin classes. The Kn dehydrin promoters contain motifs linked with meristem specific expression, as well as motifs linked with cold/dehydration and abscisic acid response. KS dehydrin promoters contain a motif with a GATA core. SKn and YnSKn dehydrin promoters contain motifs that match elements connected with cold/dehydration, abscisic acid and light response. YnKn dehydrin promoters contain motifs that match abscisic acid and light response elements, but not cold/dehydration response elements. Conserved promoter motifs are present in the dehydrin classes and across different plant lineages, indicating that dehydrin gene regulation is likely also conserved.
Improving Data Quality: Consistency and Accuracy

Two central criteria for data quality are consistency and accuracy. Inconsistencies and errors in a database often emerge as violations of integrity constraints. Given a dirty database D, one needs automated methods to make it consistent, i.e., find a repair D' that satisfies the constraints and "minimally" differs from D. Equally important is to ensure that the automatically-generated repair D' is accurate, or makes sense, i.e., D' differs from the "correct" data within a predefined bound. This paper studies effective methods for improving both data consistency and accuracy. We employ a class of conditional functional dependencies (CFDs) proposed in [6] to specify the consistency of the data, which are able to capture inconsistencies and errors beyond what their traditional counterparts can catch. To improve the consistency of the data, we propose two algorithms: one for automatically computing a repair D' that satisfies a given set of CFDs, and the other for incrementally finding a repair in response to updates to a clean database. We show that both problems are intractable. Although our algorithms are necessarily heuristic, we experimentally verify that the methods are effective and efficient. Moreover, we develop a statistical method that guarantees that the repairs found by the algorithms are accurate above a predefined rate without incurring excessive user interaction.
Condoms and condiments: compatibility and safety of personal lubricants and their use in Africa

Previous research on the use of personal lubricants for sexual intercourse is limited and has primarily focused on condom compatibility and breakage, with only recent limited assessment of lubricant safety and possible epidemiologic implications. This article discusses the global evidence of lubricant compatibility with latex condoms and biological safety of lubricants, as well as documentation of lubricant use and current guidelines for HIV prevention programming in Africa. Data on lubricant compatibility with condoms are less available than commonly realized, and many lubricant products may not have been thoroughly tested for safety due to flexible regulatory environments. Recent laboratory and study findings from microbicides research also suggest that some water‐based lubricants may have safety issues. Some African populations are using several types of lubricants, especially oil‐based petroleum jellies, and receive little evidence‐based guidance. More research is needed from the medical community to guide prevention programming.
Imaging the Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Supragranular Activity in the Rat Somatosensory Cortex in Response to Stimulation of the Paws

We employed voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) imaging to investigate the spatio-temporal dynamics of the responses of the supragranular somatosensory cortex to stimulation of the four paws in urethane-anesthetized rats. We obtained the following main results. (1) Stimulation of the contralateral forepaw evoked VSD responses with greater amplitude and smaller latency than stimulation of the contralateral hindpaw, and ipsilateral VSD responses had a lower amplitude and greater latency than contralateral responses. (2) While the contralateral stimulation initially activated only one focus, the ipsilateral stimulation initially activated two foci: one focus was typically medial to the focus activated by contralateral stimulation and was stereotaxically localized in the motor cortex; the other focus was typically posterior to the focus activated by contralateral stimulation and was stereotaxically localized in the somatosensory cortex. (3) Forepaw and hindpaw somatosensory stimuli activated large areas of the sensorimotor cortex, well beyond the forepaw and hindpaw somatosensory areas of classical somatotopic maps, and forepaw stimuli activated larger cortical areas with greater activation velocity than hindpaw stimuli. (4) Stimulation of the forepaw and hindpaw evoked different cortical activation dynamics: forepaw responses displayed a clear medial directionality, whereas hindpaw responses were much more uniform in all directions. In conclusion, this work offers a complete spatio-temporal map of the supragranular VSD cortical activation in response to stimulation of the paws, showing important somatotopic differences between contralateral and ipsilateral maps as well as differences in the spatio-temporal activation dynamics in response to forepaw and hindpaw stimuli.
The effect of aerobic running on self-esteem /

2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a round black mark, it is an indication o f either blurred copy because o f movement during exposure, duplicate copy, or copyrighted materials th a t should n o t have been filmed. For blurred pages, a good image o f the page can be found in the adjacent frame. If copyrighted materials were deleted, a target note will appear listing the pages in the adjacent frame.
Does Flipped Classroom work? Critical analysis of empirical evidences on its effectiveness for learning

This paper attempts to synthesize the highest quality evidence to see to which extent the principles of the Flipped Classroom (FCM) are driven by rigorous data that confirm and expand the learning benefits frequently claimed by the FCM’s advocates. After producing a synthesis of 17 reviews of the literature on the issue, it has been found that most rigorous research approaches are cautious about the impact of the model, while the broader review approaches embrace more enthusiastic positions. Moreover, most existing research deals with FCM in higher education, with K12’s effects less covered. More than 232 studies (encompassing 9,809 students) lead to identify three thematic clusters guiding future research and practices: a methodological, a pedagogical and organizational cluster. Furthermore, a visible learning approach has been used to support some recommendations for FCM’s learning design and deployment. La Flipped Classroom funziona? Analisi critica di evidenze empiriche sulla sua efficacia per l’apprendimento Questo articolo ha tentato di sintetizzare la ricerca di qualita piu elevata per vedere in che misura i principi della Flipped Classroom (FCM) sono guidati da dati rigorosi che confermano e ampliano i benefici di apprendimento frequentemente associati al modello dai suoi sostenitori. Dopo aver analizzato 17 rassegne della letteratura sul tema, si e giunti alla conclusione che gli approcci piu rigorosi della ricerca sono molto cauti sull’impatto del modello, mentre le revisioni che adottano criteri piu ampi tendono ad assumere posizioni piu entusiaste. Inoltre, la maggior parte delle ricerche esistenti affronta la FCM nell’istruzione superiore, lasciando lo studio del livello primario e secondario scoperti. Piu di 232 studi (che comprendono 9809 studenti) portano a individuare tre cluster tematici che guidano future ricerche e pratiche: un cluster metodologico, uno pedagogico e uno organizzativo. Inoltre, l’approccio visible learning e stata utilizzato per supportare alcune raccomandazioni di progettazione e l’implementazione della FCM.
Trust in organization as a moderator of the relationship between self‐efficacy and workplace outcomes: A social cognitive theory‐based examination

Drawing on a social cognitive theory perspective, we contend that an employee's trust in oneself, or self-efficacy, will interact with the individual's trust in the system, or trust in organization, to predict job attitudes and behaviours. Specifically, we expected that self-efficacy would have stronger effects on job attitudes (job satisfaction and turnover intentions) and behaviours (task performance and organizational citizenship behaviours) to the degree to which employees perceive high levels of trust in organization. Using data collected from 300 employees and their respective supervisors at a manufacturing organization in Turkey across three waves, we found that self-efficacy had more positive effects on job satisfaction, task performance, and citizenship behaviours when trust in organization was high. Interestingly, self-efficacy had a positive effect on turnover intentions when trust in organization was low, indicating that high trust in organization buffered the effects of self-efficacy on intentions to leave. The results suggest that the motivational value of trust in oneself is stronger to the degree to which employees also have high trust in the system, whereas low trust in system neutralizes the motivational benefits of self-efficacy. Practitioner points Practicing managers should not only invest in increasing self-efficacy of their employees, but also invest in building trust to improve employees’ attitudes, behaviours, and performance. This is because when employee trust in organization is high, employee self-efficacy has greater potential to have a positive influence over job satisfaction, task performance, and organizational citizenship behaviours. Self-efficacy may actually increase an employee's desire to leave the organization when organizational conditions are unfavourable, such as in the case of low trust in the organization. Practicing managers should be aware that employees who have high levels of confidence may be at higher risk of turnover when they are unhappy with the organization.
Determining the Characteristics of Preferred Virtual Faces Using an Avatar Generator

Video game developers continuously increase the degree of details and realism in games to create more human-like characters. But increasing the human-likeness becomes a problem in regard to the Uncanny Valley phenomenon that predicts negative feelings of people towards artificial entities. We developed an avatar creation system to examine preferences towards parametrized faces and explore in regard to the Uncanny Valley phenomenon how people design faces that they like or reject. Based on the 3D model of the Caucasian average face, 420 participants generate 1341 faces of positively and negatively associated concepts of both gender. The results show that some characteristics associated with the Uncanny Valley are used to create villains or repulsive faces. Heroic faces get attractive features but are rarely and little stylized. A voluntarily designed face is very similar to the heroine. This indicates that there is a tendency of users to design feminine and attractive but still credible faces.
Changes in Subjective Well-Being, Aspirations and Expectations in Participants of Poverty Alleviation Programs: A Qualitative Analysis of Produciendo Por Mi Futuro in Colombia

This document presents the results of the qualitative analysis on the understanding of well-being and the changes in life satisfaction, aspirations and expectations in the participants of the Produciendo por mi Futuro program in Colombia, a poverty-reduction intervention implemented by Prosperidad Social, that is based on the graduation programs developed initially by the BRAC Development Institute of Bangladesh. The qualitative analysis was carried out using the biographical method called Life Stories. The results indicate that the conception of the wellbeing of the participants involves not only socio-economic dimensions but also others such as keeping the family together or feeling calm, at peace or happy. The frequency with which some elements associated with the notion of well-being are mentioned varies over time and this variation may be related to seasonal changes such as rain or drought, or school seasons, vacations or holidays, or with various shocks faced by the participants during the implementation of the program. Life satisfaction increased for the participants, although the increase was greater and more sustained in participants who started the program with lower life satisfaction compared with their peers. The aspirations and expectations improved for most of the participants; however, it was found that expectations increased more for those who started with lower wellbeing perceptions and expectations, who, in turn, were those who exhibited, relative to their peers, a poverty dynamic with greater limitations and worse socioeconomic conditions. at the beginning of the intervention.
Examining longitudinal relationship among effort reward imbalance, coping strategies and academic burnout in Korean middle school students

The present study examined the longitudinal relationship between effort-reward imbalance as a stressor and academic burnout as a strain. The study also examined the moderation effect of coping strategies, a problem-focused coping and an emotion-focused coping, in the relationship between effort-reward imbalance as a stressor and middle school students’ academic burnout as a strain using multi-group latent growth modeling (LGM) analysis. The results indicated a significant relationship between the initial status of effort-reward imbalance and the initial status of academic burnout. The results also indicated a significant relationship between the change rate of effort-reward imbalance and that of academic burnout. In addition, problem-focused coping strategies had a moderation effect on the relationship between effort-reward imbalance and academic burnout longitudinally. However, the emotion-focused coping strategy did not have a moderation effect. The authors discuss specific findings and practical implications for teachers and school psychologists.
Thermal Calibration of Low Cost MEMS Sensors for Land Vehicle Navigation System

For vehicle navigation, Global Positioning System (GPS) provides long term accurate positions, but only when direct lines of sight to four or more satellites exist. Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), on the other hand, are self contained sensors that can provide short term accurate navigation information. The integration of the two systems can effectively provide continuous navigation data even during GPS signal outages. Traditional inertial systems were heavy, bulky and costly. In the past two decades, the use and development of light weight, compact and cost effective Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) based inertial sensors has made the civilian integrated vehicle navigation systems more affordable. However, these sensors still have to make their way in the field due to their significant error sources such as turn-on biases or scale factors variations. Moreover, the performance characteristics of these sensors are highly dependent on the environmental conditions such as temperature variations. Hence there is a need for the development of accurate, reliable and efficient thermal models to reduce the effect of these errors that can degrade the system performance.
Role of Myocardial ATP‐Sensitive Potassium Channels in Mediating Preconditioning in the Dog Heart and Their Possible Interaction With Adenosine A1‐Receptors

BackgroundA brief period of myocardial ischemia can result in an increased resistance to subsequent, more severe episodes of ischemia. Recent studies have indicated that activation of adenosine A1-receptors may mediate this preconditioning effect. It is also known that A1-activation can lead to ATP-sensitive potassium channel (KATP) opening via a Gi protein-mediated effect. Thus, we determined whether the KATPM blocker glyburide could abolish preconditioning or the protective effects of A1-receptor activation Methods and ResultsAnesthetized dogs were subjected to 5 minutes of left circumflex coronary artery (LCx) occlusion (or sham) followed by 10 minutes of reperfusion. The hearts were then subjected to 60 minutes of LCx occlusion and 5 hours of reperfusion. Glyburide (5 μg/kg/min) or vehicle was given directly into the LCx 20 minutes before preconditioning or sham preconditioning. Preconditioning resulted in a significantly reduced infarct size compared with nonpreconditioned animals. Glyburide abolished the protective effect of preconditioning. To establish a link between KATPand A1-receptor activation, the effect of the A1-agonist R-PIA with or without glyburide on infarct size was determined. R-PIA (0.4 μg/kg/min, directly into the LCx) significantly reduced infarct size, and this protective effect was abolished by glyburide. None of the treatments described above had a significant effect on peripheral hemodynamic status or myocardial blood flow ConclusionsPreconditioning may be mediated by KATP activation, and this may be linked to A1-receptor stimulation.
Language in the brain at rest: new insights from resting state data and graph theoretical analysis

In humans, the most obvious functional lateralization is the specialization of the left hemisphere for language. Therefore, the involvement of the right hemisphere in language is one of the most remarkable findings during the last two decades of fMRI research. However, the importance of this finding continues to be underestimated. We examined the interaction between the two hemispheres and also the role of the right hemisphere in language. From two seeds representing Broca's area, we conducted a seed correlation analysis (SCA) of resting state fMRI data and could identify a resting state network (RSN) overlapping to significant extent with a language network that was generated by an automated meta-analysis tool. To elucidate the relationship between the clusters of this RSN, we then performed graph theoretical analyses (GTA) using the same resting state dataset. We show that the right hemisphere is clearly involved in language. A modularity analysis revealed that the interaction between the two hemispheres is mediated by three partitions: A bilateral frontal partition consists of nodes representing the classical left sided language regions as well as two right-sided homologs. The second bilateral partition consists of nodes from the right frontal, the left inferior parietal cortex as well as of two nodes within the posterior cerebellum. The third partition is also bilateral and comprises five regions from the posterior midline parts of the brain to the temporal and frontal cortex, two of the nodes are prominent default mode nodes. The involvement of this last partition in a language relevant function is a novel finding.
INFLATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT

When the Bank of Sweden established the prize for Economic Science in memory of Alfred Nobel (1968), there doubtless was as there doubtless still remains widespread skepticism among both scientists and the broader public about the appropriateness of treating economics as parallel to physics, chemistry, and medicine. These are regarded as “exact sciences” in which objective, cumulative, definitive knowledge is possible. Economics, and its fellow social sciences, are regarded more nearly as branches of philosophy than of science properly defined, enmeshed with values at the outset because they deal with human behavior. Do not the social sciences, in which scholars are analyzing the behavior of themselves and their fellow men, who are in turn observing and reacting to what the scholars say, require fundamentally different methods of investigation than the physical and biological sciences? Should they not be judged by different criteria?