Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Selected ‘Starter Kit’ energy system modelling data for Paraguay (#CCG)

Energy system modelling can be used to assess the implications of different scenarios and support improved policymaking. However, access to data is often a barrier to energy system modelling, causing delays. Therefore, this article provides data that can be used to create a simple zero order energy system model for Paraguay, which can act as a starting point for further model development and scenario analysis. The data are collected entirely from publicly available and accessible sources, including the websites and databases of international organizations, journal articles, and existing modelling studies. This means that the dataset can be easily updated based on the latest available information or more detailed and accurate local data. These data were also used to calibrate a simple energy system model using the Open Source Energy Modelling System (OSeMOSYS) and three stylized scenarios (Fossil Future, Least Cost and Net Zero by 2050) for 2020–2050. The assumptions used and results of these scenarios are presented in the appendix as an illustrative example of what can be done with these data. This simple model can be adapted and further developed by in-country analysts and academics, providing a platform for future work.
Vlog-Based Multimodal Composing: Enhancing EFL Learners’ Writing Performance

For most learners of English as a foreign language (EFL), there has long been a lack of effective opportunities to practice English writing skills. However, the recent development of social networking services (SNS) provides new possibilities for these learners to practice writing English in a meaningful way. Meanwhile, with the popularity of social media in language learning, writing is unnecessarily in the form of plain text, and multimodal composing based on text and additional modes such as audio, video or images has been a new form of writing activity instead. This study integrated SNS-based multimodal composing activities into secondary and higher education, with the aim of determining its effects on learners’ writing performance. Two classes in senior high school Grade 10 and four in college were recruited, three as the control groups without using SNS-based multimodal composing, and others as the experimental groups. While all classes’ writing performance improved between pretest and posttest, the gains in overall writing competence by experimental groups and the gains in three detailed aspects (readability, lexical complexity and syntactic complexity) by college students were significantly larger. Progress in detailed aspects, on the other hand, was different across different groups. These findings are discussed in relation to specific characteristics of multimodal composing and SNS-based learning that enables learners to improve writing performance.
Description of a new species Topomyia (Topomyia) sarawakensis (Diptera: Culicidae) from Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary, Sarawak, Malaysia

: A new mosquito species, Topomyia ( Topomyia ) sarawakensis Miyagi, Toma and Okazawa is described from Sarawak, Malaysia. The adult male and female, pupa, and fourth-instar larva are described in detail. Illustrations of the male genitalia, pupa, and fourth-instar larva of the species are also provided. The larvae of this species breed in the water accumulation of the phytotelmata (leaf axils) of ginger plants ( Boesenbergia sp.), Pandanus sp. , and taro plants ( Alocasia and Colocasia ) in mountain forests.
Differential Transcription Profiling in Bone Marrow Mononuclear Cells Between Myasthenia Gravis Patients With or Without Thymoma

PurposeDefective stem cells have been recognized as being associated with autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune cytopenias and myasthenia gravis (MG). However, the differential gene expression profile of bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMCs) and the molecular mechanisms underlying MG pathogenesis have not been fully elucidated. Therefore, we investigated the abnormal expression and potential roles and mechanisms of mRNAs in BMMCs among patients with MG with or without thymoma.MethodsTranscription profiling of BMMCs in patients with MG without thymoma (M2) and patients with thymoma-associated MG (M1) was undertaken by using high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq), and disease-related differentially expressed genes were validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). ResultsRNA-Seq demonstrated 60 significantly upregulated and 65 significantly downregulated genes in M2 compared with M1. Five disease-related differentially expressed genes were identified and validated by qRT-PCR analysis. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses were performed to predict the functions of aberrantly expressed genes. Recombination activating 1 (RAG1), RAG2, BCL2-like 11, phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit alpha isoform and repressor element-1-silencing transcription factor might play roles in MG pathogenesis involving the primary immunodeficiency signaling pathway, signaling pathways regulating pluripotency of stem cells and forkhead box O signaling pathway.ConclusionThe aberrantly expressed genes of BMMCs in M1 or M2 patients demonstrate the underlying mechanisms governing the pathogenesis of MG.
Evaluating the Impact of Environmental Education on Ecologically Friendly Behavior of University Students in Pakistan: The Roles of Environmental Responsibility and Islamic Values

With increasing global environmental problems, considerable evidence now suggests that environmental education can influence students’ ecologically friendly behavior significantly. Addressing increased environmental problems requires better understanding of the relations between focused and explicit environmental education, environmental responsibility, and religious values. The current study examined the relationship between environmental education and ecologically friendly behavior, utilizing insights from resource conservation theory. The relationship between the variables mentioned above was examined to determine the mediating effect of environmental responsibility and the moderating effect of Islamic values. Through a cross-sectional approach, data were gathered from 413 university students. The data were analyzed using analytical techniques such as “structural equation modeling” and “PROCESS. ” The study’s findings support the predicted conceptual model, indicating that environmental education was positively related to environmentally friendly behavior. Furthermore, environmental responsibility partially mediated the relationship above, whereas Islamic values positively moderated the relationships between environmental education and ecologically friendly behavior as well as between environmental education and environmental responsibility. These findings emphasize the critical role of environmental education and Islamic values in comprehending the ecological behaviors of Muslim students.
Resurrecting and Appending Identities: The Role of Nonprofits in Managing Stigmatized Identity

Homelessness is an issue that impacts more than half a million people in the United States every day. Nonprofits are often on the front lines of efforts to aid individuals without homes. In this study, we focus on an area underexplored in the nonprofit literature, stigma, to explore the nonprofit’s role as a critical catalyst in managing stigma within and among client beneficiaries. Based on our interpretive analysis of interviews and observations of the nonprofit Running for Change (RFC), we delineate how RFC created conditions under which beneficiaries without homes could resurrect former identities and append new identities for themselves as part of the stigma management process. Our work carries implications for prior research on nonprofit organizing related to constituent participation and beneficiary empowerment and opens up new pathways for nonprofit partitioners to think about the agentic capacities of beneficiaries.
How Are Rural Youths’ Agricultural Skills? Empirical Results and Implications in Southwest China

Global agriculture is facing an aging workforce and successor crisis, while the degradation of rural youths’ agricultural skills, which is indeed a concrete manifestation of young agricultural labor loss, has received little attention. Based on data from 1902 questionnaires in rural Southwest China, this study draws on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the degradation of their skills to deepen the insights into the relationship between rural youth and agriculture. We found that rural youth have much lower agricultural skills than rural middle-aged and elderly residents, and their agricultural skills vary depending on gender, age, and occupation. Rural young non-agricultural workers’ large proportion among rural youth and low skills are the main sources of the reduction in rural youths’ skills. According to ordered logistic regression analysis, rural young non-agricultural workers who are older, have less education per person in their household, and have a larger cultivated land size have higher skills. As for rural students, 65.44% of the rural students have no skills, age and family’s agricultural income are significant positive influencing factors of their agricultural skills, and female youth have higher agricultural skills. The results provide references for policymakers to formulate targeted policies to cultivate rural young agricultural successors.
Yield and Nutrients Leaf Content of Butterhead Lettuce (Lactuca Sativa) in Response to Fish Nutrient Solution in a Small Scale of Aquaponic Systems

This study was conducted over 52 days to evaluate the potential of using the nutrient solution produced from different fish stocking densities on the yield and nutrients leaf content of lettuce cultivated in decoupled recircula - tion aquaponic systems (DRAPS). In this study, three stocking densities of tilapia were used 8, 10 and 12 kg m -3, respectively. The result showed the highest total yield 448 g m -2 was obtained at a low stocking density. Also, it has been showing that with an increased fish stocking density, the leaf nutrient content of butterhead lettuce for potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, iron and copper was increased. While for the nitrogen, phosphorus and manganese, the higher leaf content was obtained at lower stocking density. Considering the lettuce yield, leaf nutrient contents and nitrogen dynamics, the stocking density of 8 kg m⁻³ could be suggested as the ideal stocking density for DRAPS.
Business or Pleasure? A Comparison of Migrant and Non-Migrant Uber Drivers in Australia

Despite evidence of sub-standard working conditions and low rates of pay, drivers working on the Uber platform report varying levels of job-satisfaction. In order to better understand driver experience most research conducted to date differentiates driver experience by driver investment (time) on the platform. While this approach offers insight into driver motivations, it obfuscates key socio-political aspects of the globalised labour market; namely the precarity of many migrant workers. We present findings from a mixed methods study into migrant and non-migrant drivers on the Uber platform in Queensland, Australia. Specifically, our data illustrates key differences between migrants and non-migrants’ motivations to drive, their dependency on the platform, and their sense of autonomy and agency. Our findings suggest that migrant drivers experience greater levels of job insecurity, specifically around factors of job tenure, agency, and personal safety.
Tree Species Mapping on Sentinel-2 Satellite Imagery with Weakly Supervised Classification and Object-Wise Sampling

Information on forest composition, specifically tree types and their distribution, aids in timber stock calculation and can help to better understand the biodiversity in a particular region. Automatic satellite imagery analysis can significantly accelerate the process of tree type classification, which is traditionally carried out by ground-based observation. Although computer vision methods have proven their efficiency in remote sensing tasks, specific challenges arise in forestry applications. The forest inventory data often contain the tree type composition but do not describe their spatial distribution within each individual stand. Therefore, some pixels can be assigned a wrong label in the semantic segmentation task if we consider each stand to be homogeneously populated by its dominant species. Another challenge is the spatial distribution of individual stands within the study area. Classes are usually imbalanced and distributed nonuniformly that makes sampling choice more critical. This study aims to enhance tree species classification based on a neural network approach providing automatic markup adjustment and improving sampling technique. For forest species markup adjustment, we propose using a weakly supervised learning approach based on the knowledge of dominant species content within each stand. We also propose substituting the commonly used CNN sampling approach with the object-wise one to reduce the effect of the spatial distribution of forest stands. We consider four species commonly found in Russian boreal forests: birch, aspen, pine, and spruce. We use imagery from the Sentinel-2 satellite, which has multiple bands (in the visible and infrared spectra) and a spatial resolution of up to 10 meters. A data set of images for Leningrad Oblast of Russia is used to assess the methods. We demonstrate how to modify the training strategy to outperform a basic CNN approach from F1-score 0.68 to 0.76. This approach is promising for future studies to obtain more specific information about stands composition even using incomplete data.
Assessing the impact of corporate governance on financial performance of listed companies in Vietnam

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated research model and construct research hypotheses based on an extensive review of the published empirical research, theoretical foundations and financial performance measures relating to corporate governance. Literature indicates there is no ‘one size fits all’ governance mechanism. Four elements were found to be suitable for examining corporate governance. For selecting financial performance measures, the most meaningful results could be attained through a combination of ROA/ROE, Tobin’s Q, Company’s share price, alongside the CG Index.
Optic Disc Preprocessing for Reliable Glaucoma Detection in Small Datasets

Glaucoma detection is an important task, as this disease can affect the optic nerve, and this could lead to blindness. This can be prevented with early diagnosis, periodic controls, and treatment so that it can be stopped and prevent visual loss. Usually, the detection of glaucoma is carried out through various examinations such as tonometry, gonioscopy, pachymetry, etc. In this work, we carry out this detection by using images obtained through retinal cameras, in which we can observe the state of the optic nerve. This work addresses an accurate diagnostic methodology based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to classify these optical images. Most works require a large number of images to train their CNN architectures, and most of them use the whole image to perform the classification. We will use a small dataset containing 366 examples to train the proposed CNN architecture and we will only focus on the analysis of the optic disc by extracting it from the full image, as this is the element that provides the most information about glaucoma. We experiment with different RGB channels and their combinations from the optic disc, and additionally, we extract depth information. We obtain accuracy values of 0.945, by using the GB and the full RGB combination, and 0.934 for the grayscale transformation. Depth information did not help, as it limited the best accuracy value to 0.934.
Is There a Relationship Between Otological Symptoms and Temporomandibular Joint Disorders A Retrospective Study

Introduction: Otological symptoms are often associated with temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD). The exact correlation between these two phenomena is being controversially discussed in the literature for many years. This retrospective study aims to investigate the possible association of otological symptoms with specific TMD findings, as well as stress and chronic pain. Method: We analyzed the anonymized medical records of 56 patients. This included the assessment of the clinical functional status and Manual Structural Analysis (MSA) in accordance to the German Society for Functional Diagnostics and Therapy (DGFDT) and the Graded Chronic Pain Status (GCPS). Results: From all 56 patients with TMD 32 had otological symptoms. The most common TMD symptoms in patients with aural complains were pain by palpation of the m. masseter (81,8283,33%) and m. digastrics venter posterior (81,82% – 100%). Articular sounds were a prevalent finding especially in tinnitus patients (63,64%). An insufficient posterior static occlusion was present in 27,27% – 50% of the cases. Approximately half of the patients with aural complaints mentioned, that they feel stressed. Most of the patients suffered from a functional chronic pain (56,25%). A dysfunctional chronic pain was prevalent in 18,75% of the cases. Conclusion: The results indicate, that TMD patients with aural complaints have most often pain in the areas of m. digasticus venter posterior and m. masseter, so there might be an association of ear symptoms with a pathology of these muscles. However, no causal relationship could be proven. Arthropathology, malocclusion, psychological condition and stress levels are other factors, that seem to have influence. The etiology is multifactorial and remains unclear.
Design, characterization, and performance analysis of Miscanthus fiber reinforced composite for brake application

This study deals with the development of new friction materials by incorporating Miscanthus fiber (5, 10, and 15 weight %, noted Mat1, Mat2, and Mat3, respectively). The friction materials were tested for their physical, mechanical, and microstructural properties as per international standard. The performance analysis was carried out using Chase friction test rig. Results revealed that the biomass is beneficial with good fade, wear resistance, and recovery characteristics, with the same trend of other natural fibers. Therefore, this natural ingredient proved to be useful in the development of brake friction material.
Formation of East Asian Stagnant Slabs Due To a Pressure‐Driven Cenozoic Mantle Wind Following Mesozoic Subduction

The extensive fast seismic anomalies in the mantle transition zone beneath East Asia are often interpreted as stagnant Pacific slabs, and a reason for the widespread tectonics since the Mesozoic. Previous hypotheses for their formation mostly emphasize vertical resistances to slab penetration or trench retreat. In this study, we investigate the origin of these stagnant slabs using global‐scale thermal‐chemical models with data‐assimilation. We find that subduction of the Izanagi‐Pacific mid‐ocean ridge marked the transition of mantle flow beneath western Pacific from being surface‐driven Couette‐type flow to pressure‐driven Poiseuille‐type flow, a result previously unrealized. This Cenozoic westward mantle wind driven by the pressure gradient independently explains seismic anisotropy in the region. We conclude that the mantle wind is the dominant mechanism for the formation of stagnant slabs by advecting them westward while the pressure gradient holds them in the transition zone.
Comprehensive Geophysical Study at Wabar Crater, Rub Al‐Khali Desert, Saudi Arabia

Interest in impact craters on the earth's surface has increased worldwide and is being investigated by using remote sensing, geological, boreholes, geophysical, and laboratory measurements. These measurements are used to build dynamic models to study crater formation. In this work, the near‐crater sediments at the young Wabar crater field in Saudi Arabia have been investigated using magnetic, transient electromagnetic (TEM), seismic, and ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) methods. The main objectives of this research were to (a) explore the possibility of any remnant major pieces of the meteorite, (b) investigate the meteoroid direction, and (c) map the deformational structures associated with the meteorite impact. Our results show five different magnetic anomaly types and three layers in the subsurface. The maximum depth of deformation due to the impact of the meteorite is about 25 m as shown by the seismic travel time tomogram, the quasi‐2D TEM, and the 3D GPR model. TEM survey confirmed the geometrical characteristics of the major crater and located another small crater (known as Philby‐A). The magnetic survey shows no evidence of any remnant major pieces of the meteorite; however, it was used to trace ejecta material containing highly dilute magnetic material. The magnetic carrier is most likely spheres of metal incorporated in the black/green glasses. During the expedition, many small pieces of the meteoroid were found and collected for further geochemical analysis. Based on the geophysical findings, the meteorite direction was found to be from north to south.
Decreased Global EEG Synchronization in Amyloid Positive Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease Patients—Relationship to APOE ε4

The apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that has been linked to changes in brain structure and function as well as to different biological subtypes of the disease. The present study aimed to investigate the association of APOE ε4 genotypes with brain functional impairment, as assessed by quantitative EEG (qEEG) in patients on the AD continuum. The study population included 101 amyloid positive patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (n = 50) and AD (n = 51) that underwent resting-state EEG recording and CSF Aβ42 analysis. In total, 31 patients were APOE ε4 non-carriers, 42 were carriers of one, and 28 were carriers of two APOE ε4 alleles. Quantitative EEG analysis included computation of the global field power (GFP) and global field synchronization (GFS) in conventional frequency bands. Amyloid positive patients who were carriers of APOE ε4 allele(s) had significantly higher GFP beta and significantly lower GFS in theta and beta bands compared to APOE ε4 non-carriers. Increased global EEG power in beta band in APOE ε4 carriers may represent a brain functional compensatory mechanism that offsets global EEG slowing in AD patients. Our findings suggest that decreased EEG measures of global synchronization in theta and beta bands reflect brain functional deficits related to the APOE ε4 genotype in patients that are on a biomarker-verified AD continuum.