Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Allometric model for height estimation of Alnus acuminata Kunth in agroecological zones of the high Andean tropics

The complexity in the management of field tools for recording dasometric information has led to the use of allometric equations that save time, work, and costs allowing the estimation of variables that are difficult to record, such as total height (TH). The objective of this research was to develop an allometric equation for the species Alnus acuminata in order to calculate TH from the diameter at breast height (DBH). At the Obonuco-AGROSAVIA Research Center in Pasto (Nariño), dasometric information was recorded for 75 months for 200 even-aged trees. Four models were evaluated: linear, polynomial, Mixed linear (random effect per tree age), and Mixed linear (random effect per tree). For the selection of the best model, the criteria were used with the lowest values ​​of Akaike (AIC) and Bayesian (BIC). The information was analyzed using the "Nonlinear Mixed-Effects Models" package, R software. The results revealed that A. acuminata had an 81% survival; the TH average was 7.4 ± 1.3 m; and the average DBH was 9.51 ± 2.23cm. The average annual increase of DBH was 1.5 cm year-1, and the TH was 1.18 m∙ per year-1. The mixed linear model confirmed the assumptions of normality, independence, and homogeneity of variances in addition of having good criteria in its predictive performance and efficiency through the equation TH=2.07+0.35*DBH+0.95*Age. This research contributes to the management of native species of the high tropics by designing an equation for the first vegetative growth phases of A. acuminata in high mountain agroecological zones.
AMPK-Dependent YAP Inhibition Mediates the Protective Effect of Metformin against Obesity-Associated Endothelial Dysfunction and Inflammation

Hyperglycemia is a crucial risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Chronic inflammation is a central characteristic of obesity, leading to many of its complications. Recent studies have shown that high glucose activates Yes-associated protein 1 (YAP) by suppressing AMPK activity in breast cancer cells. Metformin is a commonly prescribed anti-diabetic drug best known for its AMPK-activating effect. However, the role of YAP in the vasoprotective effect of metformin in diabetic endothelial cell dysfunction is still unknown. The present study aimed to investigate whether YAP activation plays a role in obesity-associated endothelial dysfunction and inflammation and examine whether the vasoprotective effect of metformin is related to YAP inhibition. Reanalysis of the clinical sequencing data revealed YAP signaling, and the YAP target genes CTGF and CYR61 were upregulated in aortic endothelial cells and retinal fibrovascular membranes from diabetic patients. YAP overexpression impaired endothelium-dependent relaxations (EDRs) in isolated mouse aortas and increased the expression of YAP target genes and inflammatory markers in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). High glucose-activated YAP in HUVECs and aortas was accompanied by increased production of oxygen-reactive species. AMPK inhibition was found to induce YAP activation, resulting in increased JNK activity. Metformin activated AMPK and promoted YAP phosphorylation, ultimately improving EDRs and suppressing the JNK activity. Targeting the AMPK–YAP–JNK axis could become a therapeutic strategy for alleviating vascular dysfunction in obesity and diabetes.
Towards Low-Cost Learning-based Camera ISP via Unrolled Optimization

Recently, learning-based image signal processor (ISP) pipelines modeled using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been able to provide higher quality images over traditional model-based ISPs at the expense of significant memory, energy, and computation overhead. We propose an unrolled optimization network that models the ISP pipeline with considerably lower number of parameters and computation overhead. The unrolled optimization solves the image reconstruction problem of the ISP by leveraging both model-based and learning-based methods. In the proposed ISP model, the image formation operators namely, blur kernels and sensor sampling functions are formulated with learnable parameters such that the physical constraints are respected during conventional training. A CNN that is shared across the iterations of the unrolled model plays the role of the prior and performs denoising. An efficient tone mapper network is also utilized to further improve the quality of the resulting images. The entire pipeline is then trained in an end-to-end fashion using perceptual loss. The proposed ISP has over $\mathbf{34}\times$ fewer parameters in comparison to the state-of-the art deep ISPs.
Blessing or curse ? : Domestic plants ' survival and employment prospects after foreign acquisitions

Blessing or Curse? Domestic Plants' Survival and Employment Prospects after Foreign Acquisitions This paper investigates whether the acquisition of a domestic establishment by a foreign owner has any effects on the survival prospects and employment growth of that plant. The analysis uses plant level data for the UK electronics and food industries for the period 1980 to 1993. We control for possible endogeneity using a matched sample of firms and instrumental variables. Estimating a standard hazard model yields the result that foreign takeover reduces the liftetime of the acquired plant in both the electronics and food sectors. Estimations of the determinants of employment growth in domestic plants provide some evidence that the incidence of takeover reduces employment growth, in particular for unskilled labour in the electronics industry. There is no significant effect for the food sector, however. JEL Classification: L25, F23
Neurite dispersion: a new marker of multiple sclerosis spinal cord pathology?

Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the multiple sclerosis spinal cord is limited by low specificity regarding the underlying pathological processes, and new MRI metrics assessing microscopic damage are required. We aim to show for the first time that neurite orientation dispersion (i.e., variability in axon/dendrite orientations) is a new biomarker that uncovers previously undetected layers of complexity of multiple sclerosis spinal cord pathology. Also, we validate against histology a clinically viable MRI technique for dispersion measurement (neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging,NODDI), to demonstrate the strong potential of the new marker.
Foxo3 Knockdown Mediates Decline of Myod1 and Myog Reducing Myoblast Conversion to Myotubes

Sarcopenia has a high prevalence among the aging population. Sarcopenia is of tremendous socioeconomic importance because it can lead to falls and hospitalization, subsequently increasing healthcare costs while limiting quality of life. In sarcopenic muscle fibers, the E3 ubiquitin ligase F-Box Protein 32 (Fbxo32) is expressed at substantially higher levels, driving ubiquitin-proteasomal muscle protein degradation. As one of the key regulators of muscular equilibrium, the transcription factor Forkhead Box O3 (FOXO3) can increase the expression of Fbxo32, making it a possible target for the regulation of this detrimental pathway. To test this hypothesis, murine C2C12 myoblasts were transduced with AAVs carrying a plasmid for four specific siRNAs against Foxo3. Successfully transduced myoblasts were selected via FACS cell sorting to establish single clone cell lines. Sorted myoblasts were further differentiated into myotubes and stained for myosin heavy chain (MHC) by immunofluorescence. The resulting area was calculated. Myotube contractions were induced by electrical stimulation and quantified. We found an increased Foxo3 expression in satellite cells in human skeletal muscle and an age-related increase in Foxo3 expression in older mice in silico. We established an in vitro AAV-mediated FOXO3 knockdown on protein level. Surprisingly, the myotubes with FOXO3 knockdown displayed a smaller myotube size and a lower number of nuclei per myotube compared to the control myotubes (AAV-transduced with a functionless control plasmid). During differentiation, a lower level of FOXO3 reduced the expression Fbxo32 within the first three days. Moreover, the expression of Myod1 and Myog via ATM and Tp53 was reduced. Functionally, the Foxo3 knockdown myotubes showed a higher contraction duration and time to peak. Early Foxo3 knockdown seems to terminate the initiation of differentiation due to lack of Myod1 expression, and mediates the inhibition of Myog. Subsequently, the myotube size is reduced and the excitability to electrical stimulation is altered.
Psychosocial factors influencing the academic performance of students at a rural college in the Covid-19 era

—This study explored the psychosocial factors influencing students' academic performance in a rural college. It employed a quantitative approach through descriptive design. Questionnaires were used as data collection tools. One hundred and fifteen respondents were conveniently and purposively sampled from a rural college. The study used descriptive statistics to determine frequency and percentages to analyse quantitative data. The findings revealed that psychological and social factors could influence the students' academic performance in a rural college. This recommends that postsecondary institutions: TVET colleges and other higher education institutions should develop programs and create student support systems that can help enhance academic performance, course completion and manage psychosocial factors.
Piecing Together the Triassic/Jurassic Stratigraphy Along the South Flank of the Uinta Mountains, Northeast Utah: A Stratigraphic Analysis of the Bell Springs Member of the Nugget Sandstone

PIECING TOGETHER THE TRIASSIC/JURASSIC STRATIGRAPHY ALONG THE SOUTH FLANK OF THE UINTA MOUNTAINS, NORTHEAST UTAH: A STRATIGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF THE BELL SPRINGS MEMBER OF THE NUGGET SANDSTONE Paul H. Jensen Department of Geology Master of Science Nomenclature for the Upper Triassic and Lower Jurassic strata along the south flank of the Uinta Mountains has been somewhat confusing because of the position of the study area between southern Wyoming, where one set of names is used, and central/southern Utah where a different set of formation names is used. The Nugget Sandstone or Glen Canyon Sandstone of the eastern Uinta Mountains overlies the Upper Triassic Popo Agie or Chinle Formation. The nature of the contact between these two formations is unclear both in stratigraphic location and conformability. The Chinle Formation consists, in ascending order, of the Gartra Member, the purple unit, the ocher unit, and the upper red unit. The overlying Nugget Sandstone consists of two members, the lower Bell Springs Member and the overlying unnamed cross-bedded member, typically believed to be Navajo Sandstone equivalent. These two units of the Nugget Sandstone are thought to represent the Glen Canyon Group of the Colorado Plateau, although no obvious Wingate or Kayenta Formation equivalents have been recognized. The Bell Springs Member contains abundant fine-grained, ripple-laminated sandstones, red and green mudstones, occasional mudcracks and salt casts, evidence of burrowing and exposure, and some mediumto coarse-grained sandstones with smallscale (30-40 cm high) cross-beds. This member was deposited in a marine tidal flat environment, quite different from the mainly eolian environment of the rest of the Nugget Sandstone. The Bell Springs Member appears to be entirely Upper Triassic, based upon dinosaur tracks, while the upper windblown unit’s age is unknown, but probably straddles the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. During mapping in the Donkey Flat, Steinaker Reservoir, Dry Fork, and Lake Mountain quadrangles, the Bell Springs Member of the Nugget Sandstone was mapped as a separate unit.
Perceived offensiveness to the self, not that to others, is a robust positive predictor of support of censoring sexual, alcoholic, and violent media content

Introduction Harm and offense are two important notions in legal discussions on the extent to which one’s freedom may be limited. Prior research on the third-person effect found that perceived media harm on others, not perceived media harm on the self, is a robust positive predictor of support of censoring socially undesirable media content (e.g., pornography). In comparison, how offensiveness perceptions predict censorship support is not clear. Drawing on moral foundations theory, we test here how perceived media offensiveness to the self compared with 1) perceived media offensiveness to others and 2) perceived media harm on others would predict censorship support. Method We conducted two cross-sectional survey studies in the U.S. to address this question with sexual, alcoholic, and violent media content as test cases. In Study 1 (N = 544 undergraduates), we measured perceived media offensiveness to the self, that to others, and censorship support. In Study 2 (N = 727 non-student adults), we also measured perceived media harm on the self and others. Results As in prior research, we found that people perceive sexual, alcoholic, and violent media content to harm other viewers more strongly than it harms themselves, and the perception of how much others are harmed predicts perceivers’ censorship support. In contrast, while people also perceive the three types of media content to offend other viewers more strongly than they offend the self, the perception of how much others are offended predicts censorship support to a significantly lesser extent or does not predict this at all. Instead, the perception of how much the self is offended does. Discussion These findings add to the work on moral foundations theory that distinguishes between how the care/harm and sanctity/degradation foundations relate to moral judgments. These findings also suggest that the current theorizing of the third-person effect needs to expand to reconcile the seemingly inconsistent results on how harm and offensiveness perceptions differently relate to censorship support. The care/harm and sanctity/degradation foundations may underlie how harm and offensiveness perceptions predict censorship support. However, several “anomalous” findings need to be accounted for before moral foundations provide a comprehensive explanation of the third-person effect.
Impact of Quota Withdrawn on the Textile and Clothing Industry of Bangladesh

The textile and clothing industry plays a significant role in the economy of Bangladesh. It acts as a key player in the progress of the country. At present, the export performance of the readymade garment sector is more than 80% of total exports and hence makes up about 12% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Bangladesh. Thus, the country’s development largely depends on this sector which is considered the backbone of Bangladesh. As the quota system under the Multi-Fiber Agreement (MFA) phase greatly impacted the development process of the readymade garment sector in Bangladesh, many researchers disputed that after the abolition of the quota system, the growth of this sector might be hampered. Therefore, this study aims to find out the impact of quota withdrawal on the readymade garment (RMG) sector and, thereby, the roles of this sector to the economy of Bangladesh. For this purpose, the research has covered a period of twenty years as sample size, where ten years has been considered as the pre-MFA period and ten years as the post-MFA period. Being a quantitative study, comparative statements and descriptive statistics techniques have been used to determine the impact of quota withdrawal on the export performance of Bangladesh's textile and clothing sector. The evidence shows a smooth upward trend of textile and clothing exports towards the ten major countries in the world following the post-MFA period, and Bangladesh is registered as a significant export growth country following the withdrawal of MFA. Consequently, the arguments about the RMG sector concerning the textile and clothing industry that Bangladesh might not be able to compete in the global market during post-MFA periods proved wrong; thereby, this sector’s contribution to the economy is increasing progressively.
Shock-induced energy conversion of entropy in non-ideal fluids

From shaping cosmic structures in space to producing intense sounds in aircraft engines, shock waves in fluids ineluctably convert entropy fluctuations into swirling motions and sound waves. Studies of the corresponding conversion from internal energy to kinetic energy have so far been restricted to ideal (or idealised) fluids. Yet, many substances do not obey the ideal-gas law (including those in the above two examples). The present work demonstrates that non-ideal thermodynamic properties provide a remarkable degree of control over the conversion to solenoidal and dilatational kinetic energies. Of particular interest is the ability to suppress much of the emitted acoustic field whilst promoting mixing downstream of the shock. This is made possible by exploiting the convexity (or lack thereof) of the shock adiabats. Whilst illustrated here using dense vapours near the thermodynamic critical point, this ability to design and control specific shock-induced energy transfers extends beyond near-critical-point phenomena; e.g. shocked mixtures (high-speed dusty flows on Mars, nanoparticle formation in supersonic expanders for drug manufacturing), reacting fronts (supersonic combustion, rocket propulsion), ionising shocks (reentry systems, inertial confinement fusion) or fronts in active fluids (bacterial and crowd flows). This theoretical work, which demonstrates the predictive capabilities of linear theory, lays the foundation for future experimental investigations ultimately aimed at delivering novel shock-based flow-control strategies exploiting the thermodynamic properties of the fluid.
Assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism workers’ health and well-being in Jordan

The current study assesses the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on tourism workers’ health and well-being in Jordan by investigating coronavirus threats, financial impacts, resources impacts, social isolation, depression and personal control experienced by tourism workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how the threats and impacts of the coronavirus pandemic affect workers’ health and well-being. A quantitative survey method was applied using a questionnaire. Data were collected from a sample of 400 tourism workers in Jordan. The study’s findings revealed that tourism workers are financially strained, socially isolated, psychologically depressed, experiencing a lack of personal control, and have limited resources due to their dread of the pandemic and its negative impacts. It was also found that a significant negative direct effect of perceived coronavirus threats and their impacts on workers’ depression and personal control had a significant influence on workers’ health and well-being. The current study proposed a model of the influence of coronavirus on tourism workers’ health and well-being through their personal control and depression.
Accelerating Distributed K-FAC with Efficient Collective Communication and Scheduling

Kronecker-factored approximate curvature (K-FAC) has been shown to achieve faster convergence than SGD in training deep neural networks. However, existing distributed K-FAC (D-KFAC) relies on the all-reduce collective for communications and scheduling, which incurs excessive communications in each iteration. In this work, we propose a new form of D-KFAC with a reduce-based alternative to eliminate redundant communications. This poses new challenges and opportunities in that the reduce collective requires a root worker to collect the results, which considerably complicates the communication scheduling. To this end, we formulate an optimization problem that determines tensor fusion and tensor placement simultaneously aiming to minimize the training iteration time. We develop novel communication scheduling strategies and propose a placement-aware D-KFAC (PAD-KFAC) training algorithm, which further improves communication efficiency. Our experimental results on a 64-GPU cluster interconnected with 10Gb/s and 100Gb/s Ethernet show that our PAD-KFAC can achieve an average of 27% and 17% improvement over state-of-the-art D-KFAC methods, respectively.
Behavioral Self-Regulation Skills and the Teacher-Child Relationship in Early Childhood

The present study examined the relationship between children's behavioral self-regulation (BSR) skills and the teacher-child relationship (TCR). Furthermore, this study investigated the contribution of the TCR, child's age, parent monthly income, child gender, and year of attendance in preschool education on children's BSR assessed by the Revised Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS-R). Participants consist of 388 children aged 42 to 77 months. Pearson product-moment correlation analysis and multivariate linear regression analysis were used in the data analysis. The results show a moderately positive relationship between BSR skills and the TCR. Furthermore, the results indicate that except for child gender and years of attendance in preschool, TCR, child's age, and monthly income of the family significantly predict the total score of BSR skills. Moreover, the TCR is the strongest predictor of BSR skills, followed by the child's age and the family’s monthly income, respectively. The qualities of TCR appear to be essential for children’s BSR skills.
The thorny road towards green path development: the case of bioplastics in Lower Austria

ABSTRACT This article contributes to a better understanding of how heterogeneous innovation system actors shape green industrial path development. Previous research has identified various forces of stability that reside within place-specific and non-local innovation system structures and advanced our understanding of the role of change agency in rearranging these structures to facilitate green transitions. Failures to reconfigure innovation systems have received limited attention so far. Drawing on recent insights into the role of maintenance agency, we cast light on how powerful actors undertake strategic interventions to prevent rearrangements of innovation systems from happening. Our empirical analysis of the emerging bioplastics path in the region of Lower Austria reveals how resistive incumbents from the fossil-based plastics industry, academia and support organisations preserve historically grown system configurations that favour the old unsustainable industry and create barriers to the consolidation of the bioplastics path.