Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interleukine-33 and Lipid Profile in Cardiovascular Diseases Patients and Healthy Subjects

Interleukine-33 (IL-33), a newly described member of the IL-1 family, is expressed by many cell types, but the precise source of IL-33 remains so far unclear. IL-33 is implicated in the pathogenesis of many diseases. However, IL-33 is a multifaceted mediator with both pro- and anti- inflammatory activities, it presents an extracellular and nuclear – bound from, each of them performing distinct activities of their own. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the serum level of IL-33 in patients suffering from diverse cardiovascular diseases (CVD) with different body mass index (BMI), and to compare those with healthy control subjects with matched BMI. In an attempt to find the contribution of IL-33 and obesity to the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. The study was carried on( 30) patients with cardiovascular diseases, who were divided to three equal groups according to their BMI as G 1 with BMI (20-24.9), G 2 with BMI (25-29.9) and G 3 with BMI > 30. Healthy individuals were included (10) for each patients group matched BMI and age. All subjects performed serum tests for lipid profile and IL-33 after an overnight fast. The results showed a significant rise in total cholesterol and triglyceride only for G3 when compared to their healthy control, while significant differences were found for LDL, VLDL and IL-33 for all patient groups when compared with their matched age and BMI control groups. Also a significant elevation for G3 compared to G1 and G2 in triglyceride, LDL and IL-33 were found. A conclusion could be made that IL-33 and LDL are significantly affected by BMI in patients groups only and not in the control subjects. This confirms the synergistic effect of the obesity and cardiovascular events on IL-33, while no effect of the disease could be detected from the present study.
Power and hegemony within a community festival

Purpose – This paper aims to develop an illustrative case study of power and hegemony involved in the creation of a local community festival, through the representations of local communities' cultures from various ethnic groups within the city of Derby.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on observational analysis of the steering group and the planning forum processes, this paper will deconstruct the discourses utilised, deployed and reinvented in the Derby Jubilee Festival. Power is revealed as a pervasive and constructive set of forces that are both enabling and disenfranchising.Findings – The definitions of cultures used in the construction of the festival are demonstrated to have significant outcomes for the communities involved or to be excluded from the community festival. Further elaborates how the paper positions are constructed on the basis of different discourses of power.Originality/value – Few studies have developed an analysis of power and hegemony within festivals. The study shows how the v.
How easily understandable are complex multi-layered system maps

There has been a significant shift in the design community for the last ten years. The world has become more complex, more stakeholders and interdisciplinary teams need to be consulted and involved through the participatory design processes. In the fields of service design and systems ergonomics, several systems mapping methods have been employed to visualise the complex interactions of the systems within systems. The system maps are often shared not only within the interdisciplinary design team, but also with external stakeholders who may not have been involved in initial map creation and discussion stage. Therefore, it is very important to create easily understandable system maps and present them in an ‘easy to use’ manner, but there exists little research on how to create and present complex and multi-layered system maps. The majority of research is based on single layer diagrams. Sevaldson (2011) took into account how a multi-layered diagram could be used to represent the systems within the systems, but the usability of diagrams was not considered. On the other hand, newly introduced interactive mapping and presentation tools such as Prezi, Adobe Edge Animate and MapsAlive, could enable us to create diagrams and maps more easily interactive, e.g. hyperlinking, zooming in/out. This development also allows us to create narratives and contexts that have previously been hard to do. There is a great potential to explore how these new tools could be used to improve the usability of complex systems diagrams. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate how much an interactive, multi-layered zoomable map allowed users to more quickly understand, use and explore a complex system map compared to a static and single-layered map.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Overview of an extensive multi-wavelength study of GX 339-4 during the 2010 outburst

Context. The microquasar GX 339−4 experienced a new outburst in 2010: it was observed simultaneously at various wavelengths from radio up to soft γ-rays. We focus on observations that are quasi-simultaneous with those made with the INTEGRAL and RXTE satellites: these were collected in 2010 March–April during our INTEGRAL target of opportunity programme, and during some of the other INTEGRAL observing programmes with GX 339−4 in the field-of-view. Aims. X-ray transients are extreme systems that often harbour a black hole, and are known to emit throughout the whole electromagnetic spectrum when in outburst. The goals of our programme are to understand the evolution of the physical processes close to the black hole and to study the connections between the accretion and ejection. Methods. We analysed radio, NIR, optical, UV, X-ray and soft γ-ray observations. We studied the source evolution in detail by producing light curves, hardness-intensity diagrams and spectra. We fitted the broadband data with phenomenological, then physical, models to study the emission coming from the distinct components. Results. Based on the energy spectra, the source evolved from the canonical hard state to the canonical soft state. The source showed X-ray spectral variations that were correlated with changes in radio, NIR and optical emission. The bolometric flux increased from 0.8 to 2.9 × 10−8 erg cm−2 s−1 while the relative flux and contribution of the hot medium decreased on the average. Reprocessing in the disc was likely to be strong at the end of our observations. Conclusions. The source showed a behaviour similar to that of previous outbursts, with some small deviations in the hard X-ray parameter evolution. The radio, NIR and optical emission from jets was detected and observed to fade as the source softened. The results are discussed within the context of disc and jet models.
Mapping potential risk for housing damage from ground movement due to climate change

The performance of footings in residential construction is influenced by the degree of ground movement, particularly in reactive soils, which is driven by the magnitude of change in soil moisture. New patterns of climate are affecting residential foundations and causing serious and expensive damage. This paper produces a map of potential risk for housing damage from ground movement due to climate change. Using a geographic information system, it combines information on (1) soil moisture change related to climate, using TMI as the indicator, and (2) population growth. Preliminary results, having Victoria, Australia, in the last decade as the case study, suggest that effects of climate change on soil, and resulting impacts on house foundations, are not being taken into consideration in current planning strategies for urban development. Most of the urban growth priority zones in the study area are susceptible to medium and high risk for damage. Producing new and renovated buildings that are durable in the long term is essential for the economy, environment and social welfare. The map presented here can assist policies and strategies towards urban resilience in the context of climate change.
Variance Risk Dynamics, Variance Risk Premia, and Optimal Variance Swap Investments

With increasing appreciation of the fact that stock return variance is stochastic and variance risk is heavily priced, the industry has created a series of variance derivative products to span variance risk. The variance swap contract is the most actively traded of these products. It pays at expiry the difference between the realized return variance and a fixed rate, called the variance swap rate, determined at the inception of the contract. We obtain a decade worth of variance swap rate quotes at five maturities. With the data, we first exploit the information in both the time series and the term structure of the variance swap rates to analyze the return variance rate dynamics and market pricing of variance risk. We then study both theoretically and empirically how investors can use variance swap contracts across different maturities to span the variance risk and to revise their dynamic asset allocation decisions. We find that with the swap contract to span the variance risk, an investor increases her investment in the underlying stock. In addition, the investor's indirect utility increases significantly when allowed to span the volatility risk using variance swap contracts. Finally, an out-of-sample study confirms that the gains from including variance swaps into the portfolio mix are large.
The power of the bull

Everyone has heard of the Minotaur in the labyrinth on Crete and many know that the Greek gods would adopt the guise of a bull to seduce mortal women. But what lies behind these legends? The Power of the Bull discusses mankind's enduring obsession with bulls. The bull is an almost universal symbol throughout Indo-European cultures. Bull cults proliferated in the Middle East and in many parts of North Africa, and one cult, Mithraism, was the greatest rival to Christianity in the Roman Empire. The Cults are divergent yet have certain core elements in common. Michael Rice argues that the ancient bulls were the supreme sacrificial animal. An examination of evidence from earliest prehistory onwards reveals the bull to be a symbol of political authority, sexual potency, economic wealth and vast subterranean powers. In some areas representations of the bull have varied little from earliest times, in others it has changed vastly over centuries. This volume provides a well-illustrated and accessible analysis of the exceptionally rich artistic inheritance associated with the bull.
Biomass, production and horizontal patchiness of sea ice algae in a high-Arctic fjord (Young Sound, NE Greenland)

A study of the variation in sea ice algal distribution and production was performed dur- ing June and early July 1999 in Young Sound, northeastern Greenland. Measurements were per- formed in situ by divers using an underwater pulse-amplitude-modulated (PAM) fluorometer, oxygen microelectrodes and 14 C incubations. In early June, Young Sound was covered by ~1.6 m of sea ice and ~30 cm of dry snow, which reflected ~75% of the incident light. These conditions resulted in low irradiance below the sea ice (<2 µmol photons m -2 s -1 ), low values of chlorophyll a (<1 µg l -1 sea ice) and low primary productivity (<0.05 µg C l -1 h -1 ) in the bottom ice (0 to 4 cm). The snow cover grad- ually disappeared during June, resulting in increased light penetration of up to 20 µmol photons m -2 s -1 , chl a concentrations of up to 15 µg l -1 (0.6 mg C m -2 ), and primary production rates of up to 0.2 µg C l -1 h -1 (0.2 mg C m -2 d -1 ) in the bottom ice. Light saturation curves of photosynthesis were obtained in situ on 3 occasions and showed adaptation of the sea ice algae to low irradiance; E k val- ues ranged from 12 to 35 µmol photons m -2 s -1 . Photosynthesis of sea ice algae resulted in supersatu- rated oxygen conditions (150 to 200%) at the sea ice-water interface as compared to ambient seawa- ter. In situ investigations of irradiance, algal biomass and photosynthetic activity on different metric scales showed a heterogeneous distribution of sea ice algae. Statistical treatment of the data obtained revealed that algal activity followed the light regime below the sea ice (radii of patches were 50 to 100 m), whereas algal biomass patches were smaller (radii of patches were 5 to 10 m). Sea ice algal production in Young Sound was 2 to 3 mg C m -2 during June and July 1999. Compared to other coastal fast-ice areas this rate is low. We suggest that the low biomass and productivity in Young Sound was caused by a combination of poor light conditions due to snow cover and freshwater drainage from melt ponds and river discharge removing and/or inhibiting the algae at the sea ice- water interface through physical disturbance and exposure to freshwater. The primary production of sea ice algae in Young Sound was <1% of the annual pelagic primary production.
Coseismic reverse- and oblique-slip surface faulting generated by the 2008 Mw 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake, China

The Mw 7.9 Wenchuan, China, earthquake ruptured two large thrust faults along the Long-menshan thrust belt at the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. This earthquake generated a 240-km-long surface rupture zone along the Beichuan fault and an additional 72-km-long surface rupture zone along the Pengguan fault. Maximum vertical and horizontal offsets of 6.5 m and 4.9 m, respectively, were measured along the Beichuan fault. A maximum vertical offset of 3.5 m was measured along the Pengguan fault. Coseismic surface ruptures, integrated with aftershocks and industry seismic profiles, show that two imbricate structures have ruptured simultaneously, resulting in the largest continental thrust event ever documented. Large oblique thrusting observed during this earthquake indicates that crustal shortening is an important process responsible for the high topography in the region, as everywhere along the edge of Tibetan Plateau.
Unemployment in Nigeria; A Challenge of Demographic Change?

With the current population of approximately 182million people (PRB, 2015); Nigeria is the most populous Black Country in the world. Arguments are ripe whether her ever-growing population is the sole factor responsible also for her continuous growth of unemployment. To answer this question, this paper extracted secondary data from Population Reference Bureau (PRB, 2003-2015), United Nations Annex Table (2012), International Monetary Fund (IMF, 2002-2015) and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS, 2003-2015) to prove whether unemployment is mainly caused by demographic change in Nigeria or there are other intrinsic factors responsible for this social challenge. A comparative analysis of the population and unemployment structure of three purposively selected and heavily populated countries in three different continents-Nigeria, China and USA were undertaken. Results show that population growth is not the SOLE factor responsible for increase in unemployment in Nigeria as unemployment statistics is stable for U.S. and China while their populations are growing, but the reverse is the case for Nigeria as both population and unemployment are growing. Recommendations were thereafter made to address other likely factors identified.
Determinants of Market outlet Choice for Major Vegetables Crop: Evidence from Smallholder Farmers’ of Ambo and Toke-Kutaye Districts, West Shewa, Ethiopia

This study was initiated to investigate factors affecting market outlet choices by smallholder farmers’ in Ambo and Toke-Kutaye districts. A total of 150 sample households were randomly selected for an interview using a semi-structured questionnaire. The Descriptive statistics and multinomial logit regression model were used for data analysis. Hence, 49.33% of sampled respondents choice direct sell to market while the remaining 31.33% and 19.33% of respondents choice wholesaler and retailer channel respectively. On the other hand, the multinomial logit regression analysis result showed that family size and access to market negatively affecting choice of retailer channel. Similarly, dummy model farmer, education level, and access to credit decrease the probability choice of retailer channel while it increases probability choice of wholesaler channel. Livestock in TLU and access to market decreases the probability choice of wholesaler channel. Finally, the study suggested that being model farmer, allocating more land for vegetables production, efficient use of family labor, access to market, and access to credit services would help to enhance smallholders capacity to produce vegetables that aligned to improve vegetables value chain in the study areas.
Quantification and evaluation of atmospheric pollutant emissions from open biomass burning with multiple methods: a case study for the Yangtze River Delta region, China

Abstract. Air pollutant emissions from open biomass burning (OBB) in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) were estimated for 2005–2015 using three (traditional bottom-up, fire radiative power (FRP), and constraining) approaches, and the differences among those methods and their sources were analyzed. The species included PM10, PM2.5, organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), CH4, non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), CO, CO2, NOx, SO2 and NH3. The interannual trends in emissions with FRP-based and constraining methods were similar to the fire counts in 2005–2012, while those with the traditional method were not. For most years, emissions of all species estimated with the constraining method were smaller than those with the traditional method except for NMVOCs, while they were larger than those with the FRP-based method except for EC, CH4 and NH3. Such discrepancies result mainly from different masses of crop residue burned in the field (CRBF) estimated in the three methods. Chemistry transport modeling (CTM) was applied using the three OBB inventories. The simulated PM10 concentrations with constrained emissions were closest to the available observations, implying that the constraining method provided the best emission estimates. CO emissions in the three methods were compared with other studies. Similar temporal variations were found for the constrained emissions, FRP-based emissions, GFASv1.0 and GFEDv4.1s, with the largest and the lowest emissions estimated for 2012 and 2006, respectively. The temporal variations in the emissions based on the traditional method, GFEDv3.0, and the method of Xia et al. (2016) were different. The constrained CO emissions in this study were commonly smaller than those based on the traditional bottom-up method and larger than those based on burned area or FRP in other studies. In particular, the constrained emissions were close to GFEDv4.1s that contained emissions from small fires. The contributions of OBB to two particulate pollution events in 2010 and 2012 were analyzed with the brute-force method. Attributed to varied OBB emissions and meteorology, the average contribution of OBB to PM10 concentrations in 8–14 June 2012 was estimated at 37.6 % (56.7 µg m−3), larger than that in 17–24 June 2010 at 21.8 % (24.0 µg m−3). Influences of diurnal curves of OBB emissions and meteorology on air pollution caused by OBB were evaluated by designing simulation scenarios, and the results suggested that air pollution caused by OBB would become heavier if the meteorological conditions were unfavorable and that more attention should be paid to the OBB control at night. Quantified with Monte Carlo simulation, the uncertainty of the traditional bottom-up inventory was smaller than that of the FRP-based one. The percentages of CRBF and emission factors were the main source of uncertainty for the two approaches. Further improvement on CTM for OBB events would help better constrain OBB emissions.
Social or environmental labelling- Consumers’ knowledge, attitudes and preferences

In the recent years the Swedish fashion retailers have increased their range of various social or environmental labels on their garments which in return has created confusion amongst the fashion consumers. Currently, there are approximately fourteen different third-party labelling standards in Sweden and a diverse range of self-controlled labelling standards. The reason for this increase can partly be explained by the increasing pressure from various actors to act more sustainably and ethically, and companies having realized a competitive advantage by adopting sustainable strategies. This study provides a preliminary exploration into the types of social and environmental labels that are available on the Swedish market and consumers’ knowledge, attitudes and preferences regarding these labels. Based on two focus group discussions held at two different occasions, respondents indicated that environmental labelling of clothing could influence their purchase decision positively if product related attributes (design and quality) have the same standard as non-sustainable clothing. Although consumers’ knowledge about the social or environmental labels is relatively low, they have an increased interest to learn more about the various labels and the potential environmental impact the fashion industry may cause. However, the growing involvement of taking social or environmental issues into consideration does not always lead to consumers actually purchasing eco-friendlier clothes, and thus these two “identities” are not yet compatible with each other. Additionally, consumers respond differently to positive and negative labelling, where negative labelling seems to have a stronger effect on their feelings and may influence their purchase decision. When it comes to the design of the label, visual and verbal communications are additives and a label should also have a numerical rating system, which states how sustainable a garment is in comparison to other garments. Furthermore, the logo should be more coherent with the fashion industry in terms of colours and illustrations. Moreover, consumers think that there is a lack of information at the point of purchase regarding the social and environmental labels and this should be addressed with either QR-code or by providing a simple brochure.
Audit Firm Size and Going-Concern Reporting Accuracy

This study examines the association between measures of going-concern reporting accuracy and audit firm size of the companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. Prior works have examined the association between auditor size and audit quality, using various proxies for audit quality. Recent work has hypothesized that goingconcern reporting accuracy can also measure audit quality. Furthermore, Prior research suggests that big audit firms are of higher quality than are smaller firms. However, existing tests for an association between audit firm size and reporting accuracy are indirect and provide different results. Our study extends this line of research by examining whether big audit firms exhibit higher quality reporting by having fewer ‘‘audit-reporting errors’’ in the context of issuing going-concern modified reports. Our analyses examine going-concern reporting errors (unmodified opinions rendered to subsequently bankrupt clients) over an 9 year period. Our findings indicate no association between the size of audit firm and going-concern reporting accuracy.