Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimal Control Over Power Constrained Communication Channels

In this work, control loops are considered which are closed over non-ideal communication links. The limitations of the communication system lead to a performance degradation of conventionally designed controllers up to instability. The goal is to consider the communication and control system jointly and to use the respective degrees of freedom in an optimal way. Based on linear stochastic systems and communication channels with additive disturbances, optimization techniques are applied to design controllers and linear transmit and receive strategies jointly in a systematic way.
Attitudes of Polish Young Adults towards the Roman Catholic Church: A Sociological and Pastoral Analysis of Empirical Research among Young Adults and Teachers

The article provides a sociological and pastoral analysis of a representative empirical study conducted by means of an interview questionnaire among 1003 secondary school students in 2020 and 2021. The analysis was expanded to include data from parallel and similarly designed sociological studies carried out among teachers of religious education in order to obtain a broader view of the research problems and a better understanding of young adults by becoming familiar with the perceptions and opinions of teachers on the analysed issues. The article reflects on and discusses the following issues: personal relationships between young adults and the Church along with their expectations towards the latter, factors considered to persuade young adults to develop their faith and be part of the Church, as well as Church activities and offers regarded by the surveyed subjects as particularly needed. These issues, presented from an interdisciplinary perspective, provide a deeper insight into people’s relations with the Church and allow for diagnosis of their needs and expectations. They also enable identification of the elements and aspects of the functioning of the religious institution, which, in a pluralistic society and the course of the ever-advancing secularisation, requires a profound diagnosis, a thorough analysis and questions about the adequacy of forms and methods of evangelisation, as well as ways of reaching the target audience and the fulfilment of the fundamental religious mission.
Ratcheting and low cycle fatigue of nickel-based alloy GH3536 formed by selective laser melting at 800 °C

ABSTRACT The cyclic uniaxial stress-controlled ratcheting behaviour of GH3536 formed by selective laser melting (SLM) was tested at 800 °C. The effects of different stress rates and building orientations of 0°, 45° and 90° were investigated. Results present that the ratcheting behaviour of SLM GH3536 at 800 °C exhibits significant stress rate dependence. Moreover, the accumulated ratcheting strain increasing with increasing the stress amplitude and stress rate. It is noted that the building orientation angle of the specimen has an important influence on the mechanical performance. The 45° specimen in the experimental conditions has the greatest low cycle fatigue life. The ratcheting evolution over the whole cyclic load history can be divided into three stages. The relationship between steady ratcheting strain range and low cycle fatigue life was established.
Managing Family and Work: The Search for the Ideal Work-life Balance

Employers in the food and beverage (F&B) industry require many high-skilled and well-trained professionals but workers are often exploited in the industry. Aiming to answer if personal health, personal time management, and family matters affect the work-life balance (WLB) of F&B employees, which family matters played a mediator role. The data of 108 responses was analysed through the PROCESS analysis and Sobel's Test. The regression analysis shows that family matters are a mediator of the relationship between personal health and personal time management and WLB indicating that the variable is vital in ensuring a healthy WLB among F&B’s employees. Keywords: Family matters; Personal health; Personal time management; Quality of life eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i20. 3477
Neutralizing Antibodies to Human Cytomegalovirus Recombinant Proteins Reduce Infection in an Ex Vivo Model of Developing Human Placentas

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is the leading viral cause of congenital disease and permanent birth defects worldwide. Although the development of an effective vaccine is a public health priority, no vaccines are approved. Among the major antigenic targets are glycoproteins in the virion envelope, including gB, which facilitates cellular entry, and the pentameric complex (gH/gL/pUL128-131), required for the infection of specialized cell types. In this study, sera from rabbits immunized with the recombinant pentameric complex were tested for their ability to neutralize infection of epithelial cells, fibroblasts, and primary placental cell types. Sera from rhesus macaques immunized with recombinant gB or gB plus pentameric complex were tested for HCMV neutralizing activity on both cultured cells and cell column cytotrophoblasts in first-trimester chorionic villus explants. Sera from rabbits immunized with the pentameric complex potently blocked infection by pathogenic viral strains in amniotic epithelial cells and cytotrophoblasts but were less effective in fibroblasts and trophoblast progenitor cells. Sera from rhesus macaques immunized with the pentameric complex and gB more strongly reduced infection in fibroblasts, epithelial cells, and chorionic villus explants than sera from immunization with gB alone. These results suggest that the pentameric complex and gB together elicit antibodies that could have potential as prophylactic vaccine antigens.
Organized physical activity of secondary school students and university sports science students

Introduction and Objective. Organized physical activity (OPA) is an important part of adolescents’ physical activity (PA). The aim of the study is to determine differences between secondary school students and sports science students at the university participation in OPA, and to recommend a strategy to increase the active participation of adolescents in OP, and improve the education of sports specialists. Materials and method. The study was carried out continuously during 2010–2020 at 71 secondary schools in the Silesian region and at the Academy of Physical Education in Katowice, Poland. A total of 3,510 students participated in the study (2,199 secondary school students and 1,311 sports science students). To determine participation in OPA, the Physical Activity Preference Questionnaire was used, and to determine the level of weekly PA, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire was used. Results. The largest representation in the OPA was in school (21.1%) and university (30.7%) boys in soccer, and in school (13.7%) and university (33.4%) girls in volleyball. Schoolboys participating in OPA ≥5 lessons had statistically significantly more school PA, recreation PA, vigorous and total PA than boys not participating in OPA. University boys and girls were alike in vigorous PA. School (3.35 times) and university (1.73 times) boys and school (3.93 times) and university (5.08 times) girls were more likely to meet the PA recommendations. Conclusions. Active participation in the OPA of school and university boys and girls is significantly associated with a higher level of weekly PA, and likelihood to meet the PA recommendations. The greatest attention should focused on promotion of the participation in OPA in non-participating school boys and girls, as well as non-participating students at universities, as part of their professional training.
Complete Reaction Phenotyping of Propranolol and 4-Hydroxypropranolol with the 19 Enzymes of the Human UGT1 and UGT2 Families

Propranolol is a competitive non-selective beta-receptor antagonist that is available on the market as a racemic mixture. In the present study, glucuronidation of propranolol and its equipotent phase I metabolite 4-hydroxypropranolol by all 19 members of the human UGT1 and UGT2 families was monitored. UGT1A7, UGT1A9, UGT1A10 and UGT2A1 were found to glucuronidate propranolol, with UGT1A7, UGT1A9 and UGT2A1 mainly acting on (S)-propranolol, while UGT1A10 displays the opposite stereoselectivity. UGT1A7, UGT1A9 and UGT2A1 were also found to glucuronidate 4-hydroxypropranolol. In contrast to propranolol, 4-hydroxypropranolol was found to be glucuronidated by UGT1A8 but not by UGT1A10. Additional biotransformations with 4-methoxypropanolol demonstrated different regioselectivities of these UGTs with respect to the aliphatic and aromatic hydroxy groups of the substrate. Modeling and molecular docking studies were performed to explain the stereoselective glucuronidation of the substrates under study.
Patterns and conversational structure of knowledge sharing on Ebola virus disease among healthcare practitioners: Observations from a pilot study

This pilot study was designed to determine the conversational structure on Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), pattern of knowledge sharing and knowledge sharing behaviour of healthcare practitioners (HCP) on Medscape online network. The study was guided by Conversation Theory, and deployed a retrospective document/content analysis research design. Ninety-two comments from healthcare practitioners including 16 EVD newsposts out of 37 EVD news were randomly extracted from the network between 2014 and 2018. Extracted data were analysed using NVivo and Microsoft Excel applications. An EVD knowledge taxonomy was developed from the content mapping of EVD topics posted on the network. Results from the pilot study revealed that news on EVD were mostly on EVD outbreak management at the peak period of EVD outbreak in 2014. Also, the HCPs mostly engaged in knowledge sharing on issues relating to EVD risk. Findings revealed that the entire (37) newsposts were of interest to HCPs and they responded to 16 newsposts. There were three active and influential HCPs on the network. The novelty of this study stems from its focus on conversation patterns of HCP on online knowledge sharing using the variables of Conversation theory to examine their knowledge sharing behaviours. The outcome of the study could serve as a model for other studies on other trending viral diseases such as Coronavirus, Lassa Fever, Monkey pox, etc. This study thus recommends replicate analysis in the main study with a larger data set with further findings using network analysis and other statistical tools to examine the conversational structure on EVD and pattern of knowledge sharing among the HCPs.
Construction of miRNA-mRNA network and a nomogram model of prognostic analysis for prostate cancer

Background Dysregulated genetic factors correlate with carcinoma progression. However, the hub miRNAs-mRNAs related to biochemical recurrence in prostate cancer remain unclear. We aim to identify potential miRNA-mRNA regulatory network and hub genes in prostate cancer. Methods Datasets of gene expression microarray were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database for Robust Rank Aggregation (RRA), targeted gene prediction, gene function and signal pathway enrichment analyses, miRNA-mRNA regulatory network construction, core network screening, as well as validation and survival analysis were carried out by using exogenous data. Results Prostate cancer-related differentially expressed genes were mostly related to actin filament regulation. Moreover, the cGMP-PKG signaling pathway might play a role in prostate cancer progression. As the core of microRNAs, hsa-miR-106b-5p, hsa-miR-17-5p and hsa-miR-183-5p were matched to hub genes (such as TMEM100, FRMD6, NBL1 and STARD4). The expression levels of hub genes in prostate cancer tissues were significantly lower than normal and closely related to prognosis of patients. The ridge regression model was applied to establish a risk score system. Both risk score and Gleason were used to establish a nomogram. Nomogram predicted the area under the [receiver operating characteristic (ROC)] curve (AUC) of biochemical recurrence at 1-, 3-, and 5-year of 0.713, 0.732 and 0.753, respectively. Conclusions Hub genes were closely related to prostate cancer development and progression, which might become biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis. This novel nomogram established could be applied to clinical prediction.
Decide Now or Later: Making Sense of Incoherence Across Online Reviews

Consumers read online reviews to decide whether to buy a product. Extensive research examines what makes a single review helpful or credible, yet there is very limited understanding of how a collection of reviews facilitates purchase decisions. Such understanding is critical because consumers rarely consult all reviews or a single review. They often start by reading the “top reviews” that a website highlights, then deciding whether to read additional reviews and how many. This paper investigates how inconsistency among top reviews affects a consumer’s purchase deferral—the likelihood to decide immediately or defer the decision until after obtaining more information. We found that, if different reviewers disagree on their opinions about the same feature of a product, consumers are more likely to defer the purchase decision and consult more reviews. Further, this effect is weaker when reviewers provide specific details about their needs or use of the product along with their opinions. This work provides guidance to review platforms on how to select and present a set of top reviews. Our findings also inform retailers and product manufacturers on how to focus their attention in dealing with reviews and when a focus only on the top reviews is not sufficient.
The propensity to business startup: Evidence from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data in Saudi Arabia

Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess the determining factors of entrepreneurial business startup in Saudi Arabia from an eclectic perspective. Design/methodology/approach Based on Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data of 2000 Saudi Arabian respondents, the study analyzes a multitude of individual factors which are classified into four groups: financial resources; social legitimacy; entrepreneurial personality; and entrepreneurial competencies. Gender and education are moderating variables influencing the relationship, whereas age is a control variable using binary logistic regression technique. Findings Out of ten hypotheses, only four hypotheses, namely, income, fear of failure, perception of high status and knowledge of other entrepreneurs, have a significant relationship with the possibility of a business startup. Originality/value Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.
Molecular Biocompatibility of a Silver Nanoparticle Complex with Graphene Oxide to Human Skin in a 3D Epidermis In Vitro Model

Silver nanoparticles (AgNP) can migrate to tissues and cells of the body, as well as to agglomerate, which reduces the effectiveness of their use for the antimicrobial protection of the skin. Graphene oxide (GO), with a super-thin flake structure, can be a carrier of AgNP that stabilizes their movement without inhibiting their antibacterial properties. Considering that the human skin is often the first contact with antimicrobial agent, the aim of the study was to assess whether the application of the complex of AgNP and GO is biocompatible with the skin model in in vitro studies. The conducted tests were performed in accordance with the criteria set in OECD TG439. AgNP-GO complex did not influence the genotoxicity and metabolism of the tissue. Furthermore, the complex reduced the pro-inflammatory properties of AgNP by reducing expression of IP-10 (interferon gamma-induced protein 10), IL-3 (interleukin 3), and IL-4 (interleukin 4) as well as MIP1β (macrophage inflammatory protein 1β) expressed in the GO group. Moreover, it showed a positive effect on the micro- and ultra-structure of the skin model. In conclusion, the synergistic effect of AgNP and GO as a complex can activate the process of epidermis renewal, which makes it suitable for use as a material for skin contact.
Cat-Poo-Chino and Captive Wildlife: Tourist Perceptions of Balinese Kopi Luwak Agrotourism

Kopi luwak, known as the world’s most expensive coffee, is made from coffee beans that have been partially digested by the Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). This study aims to assess how tourists perceive the inclusion of captive civets within curated Balinese kopi luwak tours by analyzing 3,364 reviews of 25 sites housing live civets, posted to the tourist review platform, TripAdvisor, between October 2011 and March 2020. Overall, reviewers concerned with animal welfare were more likely to leave a negative review. Two emergent themes, encounters with caged animals and encounters with sleeping animals, are explored through a multispecies lens. Civet displays are discussed in relation to passive and true animal encounter, animal dignity, shared suffering, and cognitive dissonance. Although caged practices persist across sites, results also indicate new forms of concealed cruelty as civets are likely sedated to enable photographic souvenirs.
Assessing the argumentation ability of pre-service teachers. Case study concerning the chemical dissolution process

The scientific argumentation ability of pre-service teachers (PSTs) in the early stages of education is essential as they will provide students with their initial grounding in the scientific knowledge. A total of 133 pre-service Early Childhood (PSEC) and Primary (PSP) School teachers undertook an argumentation activity concerning how the dissolution process takes place. The design of this activity is as a clear example of the different levels of complexity of the argumentation ability in science. The results show that PSTs consolidated the categories identification of evidence and construction of warrant. However, the abilities to provide a counter-critique and construct a comparative argument are still not consolidated. The Mann-Whitney U test did not show any significant differences between groups with high levels of difficulty. In contrast, we found statistically significant differences for the identification of evidence in favour of PSPs.
Compact, highly efficient, single-frequency 25W, 2051nm Tm fiber-based MOPA for CO2 trace-gas laser space transmitter

Fibertek has developed and demonstrated an ideal high-power; low-risk; low-size, weight, and power (SWaP) 2051 nm laser design meeting the lidar requirements for satellite-based global measurement of carbon dioxide (CO2). The laser design provides a path to space for either a coherent lidar approach being developed by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)1,2 or an Integrated Path Differential Lidar (IPDA) approach developed by Harris Corp using radio frequency (RF) modulation and being flown as part of a NASA Earth Venture Suborbital Mission—NASA’s Atmospheric Carbon and Transport – America.3,4 The thulium (Tm) fiber laser amplifies a <500 kHz linewidth distributed feedback (DFB) laser up to 25 W average power in a polarization maintaining (PM) fiber. The design manages and suppresses all deleterious non-linear effects that can cause linewidth broadening or amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and meets all lidar requirements. We believe the core laser components, architecture, and design margins can support a coherent or IPDA lidar 10-year space mission. With follow-on funding Fibertek can adapt an existing space-based Technology Readiness Level 6 (TRL-6), 20 W erbium fiber laser package for this Tm design and enable a near-term space mission with an electrical-to-optical (e-o) efficiency of <20%. A cladding-pumped PM Tm fiber-based amplifier optimized for high efficiency and high-power operation at 2051 nm is presented. The two-stage amplifier has been demonstrated to achieve 25 W average power and <16 dB polarization extinction ratio (PER) out of a single-mode PM fiber using a <500 kHz linewidth JPL DFB laser5-7 and 43 dB gain. The power amplifier’s optical conversion efficiency is 53%. An internal efficiency of 58% is calculated after correcting for passive losses. The two-stage amplifier sustains its highly efficient operation for a temperature range of 5-40°C. The absence of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) for the narrow linewidth amplification shows promise for further power scaling.
Association between Bubble Tea Consumption and Prevalence of Acne Vulgaris

Introduction: Acne vulgaris (AV) is one of the most common skin disorders among youth. A cross-sectional study was conducted to analyze the association between bubble tea consumption and the prevalence of acne vulgaris among medical students. Method: Subjects were obtained from consecutive sampling. There were 91 eligible subjects meeting inclusion criteria. Data was collected using questionnaires. Examinations were through observation of photographs of lesions. Chi-square analysis was conducted at a 95% confidence interval (p<0.05). Results: Data were collected from 91 medical students with mean age 19.62+0.98 year-old. The prevalence of acne was 58.2%; mostly in age 20 years (37.7%). There is a significant association between consumption of bubble tea and the prevalence of AV (p<0.001). Conclusion: Bubble tea consumption is associated with prevalence of acne vulgaris.Pendahuluan: Akne vulgaris merupakan salah satu penyakit kulit yang umum dialami pada dewasa muda. Metode: Penelitian observasional cross sectional untuk mengetahui asosiasi konsumsi bubble tea dengan kejadian akne vulgaris. Sampel diambil dengan metode consecutive sampling menghasilkan 91 mahasiswa yang memenuhi kriteria inklusi dan eksklusi. Pengambilan data primer dengan kuesioner. Pemeriksaan fisik observasi kulit responden dengan foto. Analisis data menggunakan uji Chi-Square dengan tingkat kemaknaan p<0,05. Hasil: Angka kejadian akne vulgaris adalah 58,2% dengan rata-rata usia 19.62+0.98; usia terbanyak penderita adalah 20 tahun (37,7%). Terdapat asosiasi bermakna antara konsumsi bubble tea dengan kejadian akne vulgaris (p<0,001). Simpulan: Penelitian ini menunjukkan hubungan bermakna antara konsumsi bubble tea dengan kejadian akne vulgaris.
ASSIST: A Suite of S functions Implementing Spline smoothing Techniques

We present a suite of user friendly S functions for fitting various smoothing spline models including (a) non-parametric regression models for independent and correlated Gaussian data, and for independent binomial, Poisson and Gamma data; (b) semi-parametric linear mixed-effects models; (c) non-parametric nonlinear regression models; (d) semi-parametric nonlinear regression models; and (e) semi-parametric nonlinear mixed-effects models. The general form of smoothing splines based on reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces is used to model non-parametric functions. Thus these S functions deal with many different situations in a unified fashion. Some well known special cases are polynomial splines, periodic splines, spherical splines, thin-plate splines, l-splines, generalized additive models, smoothing spline ANOVA models, projection pursuit models, multiple index models, varying coefficient models, functional linear models, and self-modeling nonlinear regression models. These non-parametric/semi-parametric linear/nonlinear fixed/mixed models are widely used in practice to analyze data arising in many areas of investigation such as medicine, epidemiology, pharmacokinetics, econometrics and social science. This manual describes technical details behind these S functions and illustrate their applications using several examples.