Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Association between Differentiation of Self and Life Satisfaction among Chinese Emerging Adults: The Mediating Effect of Hope and Coping Strategies and the Moderating Effect of Child Maltreatment History

Background: Differentiation of self (DoS) is a core construct in Bowen family systems theory. At the interpersonal level, it represents the capacity to maintain rational thinking rather than reacting emotionally, especially while under stress. Previous studies have demonstrated the positive association between DoS and life satisfaction. The current study aims to investigate the mediating roles of hope and coping strategies on this association, and whether the mediation mechanism was moderated by participants’ experience of child maltreatment. Methods: The current sample consisted of 447 Chinese college students recruited from three Chinese universities. DoS, life satisfaction, hope and coping strategies, as well as childhood maltreatment history, were measured via self-report. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed mediation and moderation effect. Results: Participants who were maltreated in childhood (n = 149) exhibited significantly lower levels of DoS, hope, and positive coping strategies than the comparison group (n = 298) at baseline and lower life satisfaction at the 3-month follow-up. Structural equation modeling analysis showed that coping strategies mediated the association between DoS and life satisfaction for both the maltreated and comparison groups. Hope appeared to have a significant mediating effect only among those in the comparison group. Conclusions: The current findings lend support to Bowen’s theoretical statement regarding the role of DoS on psychological well-being, with an incorporated viewpoint of Snyder’s hope theory.
Experimental investigation of energy properties for Stigonematales sp. microalgae as potential biofuel feedstock

ABSTRACT Microalgae has been considered potential biofuel source from the last decade owing to its versatile perspectives such as excellent capability of CO2 capture and sequestration, water treatment, prolific growth rate and enormous energy content. Thus, energy research on microalgae is being harnessed to mitigate CO2 and meet future energy demands. This study investigated the bioenergy potential of native blue-green microalgae consortium as initial energy research on microalgae in Brunei Darussalam. The local species of microalgae were assembled from rainwater drains, the species were identified as Stigonematales sp. and physical properties were characterised. Sundried biomass with moisture content ranging from 6.5% to 7.37% was measured to be used to determine the net and gross calorific value and they were 7.98 MJ/kg-8.57 MJ/kg and 8.70 MJ/kg-9.45 MJ/kg, respectively. Besides that, the hydrogen content, ash content, volatile matter, and bulk density were also experimented and they were 2.56%-3.15%, 43.6%-36.71%, 57–38%-63.29% and 661.2 kg/m3-673.07 kg/m3, respectively. Apart from experimental values, other physical bioenergy parameters were simulated and they were biomass characteristic index 61,822.29 kg/m3-62,341.3 kg/m3, energy density 5.27 GJ/m3-5.76G J/m3 and fuel value index 86.19–88.54. With these experimental results, microalgae manifested itself a potential source of biofuel feedstock for heat and electricity generation, a key tool to bring down the escalated atmospheric greenhouse gases and an alternation for fossil fuel.
Contract-Based Charging Protocol for Electric Vehicles With Vehicular Fog Computing: An Integrated Charging and Computing Perspective

Electric vehicles (EVs), one of the most effective solutions to reduce gas emission and realize fossil fuels replacement, are enjoying growing popularity from governments to customers. The development of EVs leads to significant advances in vehicle automation and electrification, but meanwhile poses additional heavy charging and data processing burden on current smart grid. Considering the mutual demand and supply relationship between EVs and smart grid in both charging and computing tasks, we integrate vehicular fog computing (VFC) and smart EV charging for joint optimization and propose an integrated charging and computing (IC2) architecture for EV-included smart grid. In the proposed IC2 architecture, charging stations are profit-driven third-party power prosumers that also help compute tasks offloaded by smart grid while EVs act as both energy consumers and computation providers. We employ the contract theory to provide a multiattribute contract-based charging protocol for EVs and charging stations in an information asymmetry scenario. To obtain the optimal contract, we derive KKT conditions and design a convex–concave-procedure-based contract optimization algorithm. We also design a heuristic offloading algorithm to assign heterogeneous tasks toward different EVs. Numerical results indicate that the proposed multiattribute contract-based charging-computing scheme can effectively benefit both the charging stations and EVs, and meanwhile improves the task computation capability in EV-integrated smart grid.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COFFEE CROP PRODUCTIVITY AND VEGETATION INDEXES DERIVED FROM OLI / LANDSAT-8 SENSOR DATA WITH AND WITHOUT TOPOGRAPHIC CORRECTION

The reflectance values of a coffee crop are influenced by several factors such as planting direction, crop spacing, time of the year, plant age and topography which reduces the accuracy of the estimates derived from remote sensing data. In this context were evaluated the relationships between coffee productivity and values of NDVI, SAVI and NDWI vegetation indexes with and without topographic reflectance correction for different coffee phenological phases for the crop years 2013/2014 (low productivity) and 2014/2015 (high productivity). The evaluations were made through the standard deviation of vegetation indices (VIs), linear relationship between the cosine factor and the VIs and between VIs and coffee productivity. The best phenological phases of coffee to determine productivity from spectral indexes were the stages of dormancy and flowering. The results indicated that the NDVI was the best index to estimate the productivity of coffee trees with coefficient of determination (R2) that ranged from 0.58 to 0.90. There was an increase in R2 between productivity and NDVI with topographic correction in the dormancy phase in the year of low productivity; between productivity and NDVI with topographic correction in the flowering phase in the year of high productivity; and between productivity and SAVI and NDWI with topographic corrections in the flowering phase in the year of high productivity.
Critical Risk Factors of Joint Venture Projects in the Oil and Gas Industry between Malaysia and Thailand

Oil and Gas (O&G) industry is one of the riskiest, most dynamic and challenging industries and plays a vital role in every nation’s economy. Like any other major industry, O&G is exposed to a host of both predictable and unpredictable risks. Joint venture projects (JVP) are often regarded as risky businesses as there is a high failure rate among them because of the complexities involved. This paper aims to identify the critical risk factors (CRFs) of JVPs for O&G between Malaysia and Thailand. Via systematic literature review (SLR) the risk factors for O&G and JVPs around the globe are identified and a set of questions relating to them designed and used in a pilot study. A total of 15 respondents from different background experiences working in O&G JVPs were requested to answer the designed questionnaire during the pilot study. The data collected involves 170 respondents currently working or have worked in O&G JVPs. The relative importance index (RII) for each risk factor’s (RF) value was quantified and the RFs ranked based on the value. A RII value exceeding 60% is considered to have agreement and of importance to the respondents. The RII value can be used as an indicator to rank the RFs from the most to the least critical. The CRF categories determined in this study are environmental, cultural and social, and organisation. Under environmental, the main CRFs are losses due to fluctuations in exchange rates/interest rates. For cultural and social, the main CRFs are problems associated with cultural differences and cooperation. Organisational issues are related to organisational fit, incompetent project management team, difficulty in finding and keeping skilled workers, and low worker productivity.
Essays on Empirical Asset Pricing

vii Chapter 1: Introduction . 1 Chapter 2: Illiquidity and Volatility Timings of Mutual Fund Managers: Holding Based Evidence . 4 2.
How Is CYP17A1 Activity Altered in Autism? A Pilot Study to Identify Potential Pharmacological Targets

Background: Increasing evidence exists that higher levels of androgens can be found in individuals with autism. Evidence yields to a susceptible role of Cytochrome P450 17A1 (CYP17A1) with its catalyzation of the two distinct types of substrate oxidation by a hydroxylase activity (17-alpha hydroxylase) and C17/20 lyase activity. However, to what extent steps are altered in affected children with autism versus healthy controls remains to be elucidated. Methods: Urine samples from 48 boys with autism (BMI 19.1 ± 0.6 kg/m2, age 14.2 ± 0.5 years) and a matched cohort of 48 healthy boys (BMI 18.6 ± 0.3 kg/m2, 14.3 ± 0.5 years) as well as 16 girls with autism (BMI 17.5 ± 0.7 kg/m2, age 13.8 ± 1.0 years) and a matched cohort of 16 healthy girls (BMI 17.2 ± 0.8 kg/m2, age 13.2 ± 0.8 years) were analyzed for steroid hormone metabolites by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results: The activity of 17-alpha Hydroxylase increased by almost 50%, whereas activity of 17/20 Lyase activity increased by around 150% in affected children with autism. Furthermore, the concentration of Cortisol was higher as compared to the average increase of the three metabolites TH-Corticosterone, 5α-TH-Corticosterone and TH-11β-DH-Corticosterone, indicating, in addition, a stimulation by the CRH-ACTH system despite a higher enzymatic activity. Discussion: As it was shown that oxidative stress increases the 17/20-lyase activity via p38α, a link between higher steroid hormone levels and oxidative stress can be established. However, as glucocorticoid as well as androgen metabolites showed higher values in subjects affected with autism as compared to healthy controls, the data indicate, despite higher CYP17A1 activity, the presence of increased substrate availability in line with the Cholesterol theory of autism.
Recovery Measures for the Tourism Industry in Andalusia: Residents as Tourist Consumers

The pandemic caused by the coronavirus continues to test barriers around the world. In this sense, the tourism industry has become the sector most affected by the crisis with more than 900 million euros in losses. Recovery will require a great effort, especially in countries where the sector accounts for a large share of the economy and employment. This study analyzes the perceptions and proposals of the residents of the autonomous community of Andalusia. A total of 658 surveys were conducted during the closure. A quantitative and qualitative thematic analysis was carried out using SPSS and NVivo Pro programs. The findings provide significant insights into the economic recovery of society after the pandemic. The Andalusians have opted for local tourism so that the residents become the consumers of the tourist products of their territory. The deployment of new technologies and marketing campaigns should provide the basic strategies for structural changes and innovations. The residents demand a united Europe and disagree with the statements of some political leaders. The conclusions have practical and theoretical implications for tourist destinations.
Ultra Fast Linear State Estimation Utilizing SCADA Measurements

This paper presents a closed-form and non-iterative solution for the long-studied SCADA-based state etimation problem, where unsynchronized traditional measurements from remote terminal units are used. In this regard, a novel reformulation of the problem is introduced, where unknowns are expressed as complex variables in terms of unsynchronized SCADA measurements. To this end, it is assumed that bus voltage amplitudes as well as current amplitudes and active and reactive power flows/injections are available. The resulting system of equations is solved by the classic linear weighted least-squares method. In contrast to the traditional approaches, several drawbacks, such as initialization, and issues with convergence (especially for large-scale systems) are resolved, without using synchrophasors. The method is validated on a 3-bus test network and applied to the IEEE 118-bus test system, as well as 1341-bus and 9241-bus European high-voltage transmission networks.
Arm swing during skating at different skiing speeds affects skiing mechanics and performance

Arm swing has been shown to lead to greater maximal speed and movement economy in cross‐country skiing. The current study aimed to investigate how arm swing alters skiing mechanics and contributes to performance and acceleration of the athlete's centre of mass (COM). While skiing on snow, seven highly skilled cross‐country skiers simulated V2‐alternate skating without using ski poles and with double or single arm swing and without arm swing. During leg push‐off the linear momentum of the body increased due to arm swing. Simultaneously, linear momentum of the arm(s) decreased in arm swing trials, indicating a transfer of momentum from arms to the rest of the body and being more prevalent with double arm swing compared to single arm swing (all P < 0.05). Greater maximal skiing speeds were reached with single and double arm swing, while the forward lean angle, the force leading to acceleration of COM in skiing direction, and the force effectiveness increased (all P < 0.05). The effects of less mass moving in single arm swing could be compensated by carrying out the arm swing faster, almost aligned in skiing direction and with a “long arm” pattern, indicating how arm swing can be conducted efficiently.
Decreasing flood hazard evaluated in Turkey using nonstationary models

An assessment of changing flood hazard in the river basins of Turkey is currently lacking. This study evaluates the drivers of flood flows using distributional regression models. The generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape (GAMLSS), a flexible framework well‐suited to probabilistic nonstationary modeling, is applied to annual instantaneous maximum flows (AIMF) from 12 gauging stations located in the upper, middle and lower parts of the Euphrates basin, the most important river basin in the Middle East. First, the Pettitt test was used to detect abrupt changes in the AIMF data series, and the Mann–Kendall test to evaluate temporal trends. Significant change points for two stations and significant decreasing temporal changes for seven stations were observed. Three strictly positive, continuous distributions (namely, Gamma, Lognormal, and Weibull) were then fitted to the AIMF data series and the distribution parameters were specified as functions of both time and physically based covariates (precipitation, temperature, and climate oscillation indices). Among the candidate distributions, the Lognormal was found to be the most appropriate for describing flood flows across the basin. Annual precipitation, seasonal temperature and annual oscillation indices were the most relevant covariates. Among the climate indices, the East Atlantic Oscillation was most relevant in the lower part of the basin, the Southern and North Atlantic Oscillations in the middle, and the East Atlantic‐West Russia pattern in the upper part. The models were then employed to estimate and compare historical stationary flood quantiles with nonstationary quantiles (identified with physically based covariates) under various return periods (10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 years). Results indicate that flood processes can be better described by employing distributional regression models with physical covariates and this study can serve as a reference for regional water resources management in the basin and possibly for other river basins.
Tc52 Amino-Terminal-Domain DNA Carried by Attenuated Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Induces Protection against a Trypanosoma cruzi Lethal Challenge

ABSTRACT In this work we immunized mice with DNA encoding full-length Tc52 or its amino- or carboxy-terminal (N- and C-term, respectively) domain carried by attenuated Salmonella as a DNA delivery system. As expected, Salmonella-mediated DNA delivery resulted in low antibody titers and a predominantly Th1 response, as shown by the ratio of IgG2a/IgG1-specific antibodies. Despite modest expression of Tc52 in trypomastigotes, the antibodies elicited by vaccination were able to mediate lysis of the trypomastigotes in the presence of complement and inhibit their invasion of mammal cells in vitro. The strongest functional activity was observed with sera from mice immunized with Salmonella carrying the N-term domain (SN-term), followed by Tc52 (STc52), and the C-term domain (SC-term). All immunized groups developed strong cellular responses, with predominant activation of Th1 cells. However, mice immunized with SN-term showed higher levels of interleukin-10 (IL-10), counterbalancing the inflammatory reaction, and also strong activation of Tc52-specific gamma interferon-positive (IFN-γ+) CD8+ T cells. In agreement with this, although all prototypes conferred protection against infection, immunization with SN-term promoted greater protection than that with SC-term for all parameters tested and slightly better protection than that with STc52, especially in the acute stage of infection. We conclude that the N-terminal domain of Tc52 is the section of the protein that confers maximal protection against infection and propose it as a promising candidate for vaccine development.
Unmet Information Needs of Patients with Rheumatic Diseases: Results of a Cross-Sectional Online Survey Study in Germany

To effectively self-manage a chronic disease, patients require specific education. In clinical routines, rheumatologists and other healthcare professionals often cannot devote the necessary time to adequately educate their patients. Digital technologies such as mobile applications represent promising tools to overcome this problem. This study aims to identify unmet information needs of patients with rheumatic diseases to inform the conception of a mobile education application. An online national survey was developed together with rheumatic patients and rheumatologists and distributed between June and September 2021 via social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter), QR code and email. Self-reported rheumatic patients, rheumatologists, specialized rheumatology nurses (SRN) and self-reported relatives of rheumatic patients were eligible to participate in the survey. Three major topics were addressed: (1) How well do patients feel informed about disease-relevant topics; (2) how important do patients rate different disease-relevant topics; and (3) patient willingness to adopt digital education services. Responses of 254 patients and 53 SRN were analyzed. Most patients were female (91%; n = 231), the median age was 48 years and the most common disease was rheumatoid arthritis (23%; n = 59). Only 24% of patients perceived their disease education level as very good or good compared to an SRN estimate of 42%. The three information topics rated as most important (very/important) were: individual disease (98%), medication (94%) and coping techniques (91%). In total, 89% of patients asserted that they would very likely, likely or rather likely use digital education tools in the future to learn about their condition, and 82% of SRN would very likely, likely or rather likely recommend digital information services to their patients. These findings depict currently unmet patient information needs and a high willingness of patients and SRN to use digital education services. A mobile education application is currently adapted based on these results and will be evaluated in a multicenter study.
Well-Being and Stress of Children in Teaching by Digital Means during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case in Santarém, Brazilian Amazonia

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused and is still causing many infections. An important change brought about by prevention actions was the closing of schools, and the adoption of teaching by digital means in private institutions. In this article, we aim to analyze the subjective well-being and stress of children aged 8 to 12 years in digital education during the COVID-19 pandemic in a city in the Brazilian Amazon. For data collection, we used the Children’s Global Life Satisfaction Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Life Satisfaction for Children (MSLSC), and the Infantile Stress Scale, all via Google Forms. To analyze the data, we used descriptive statistics, correlation between variables and logistic regression. The Family domain obtained higher scores (4.54 ± 0.45). The Infantile Stress Scale showed that the children were in a normal phase, with some of them in an alert and even resistance phase. There was a strong positive correlation between the Family domain (r = 0.70; p-value < 0.05) and the Self domain (r = 0.70; p-value < 0.001). The higher the value of the predictor variable (Family domain), the lower the chances of a child belonging to the Resistance category. Therefore, the Family domain is an important component of children’s well-being, acting as a protective factor against child stress.
Metallothioneins in Dental Implant Treatment Failure and Periodontitis in Patients with Down’s Syndrome: Validation of Results

Metallothioneins (MTs) are low molecular weight cysteine-rich proteins that can bind up to seven zinc ions. Among their numerous functions, MTs appear to act as protectors against oxidative and inflammatory injury. In our first published study, we reported downregulation of the isoforms MT1B (fold distance (FD) −2. 95; p = 0.0024), MT1F (FD −1.72; p = 0.0276), MT1X (FD −3.09; p = 0.0021), MT1H (FD −2.39; p = 0.0018), MT1M (FD −2.37; p = 0.0092), MT1L (FD −2. 55; p = 0.0048), MT1E (FD −2.71; p = 0.0014), MT2A (FD −2.35; p = 0.0072), MT1G (FD −2.24; p = 0.0118), and MT1A (FD −2.82; p = 0.0023) by comparing Down’s syndrome patients with periodontal disease and implant failure to those without periodontal disease and with a positive progression of their implants. In this gene validation study, we intended to verify the results of our first gene expression analysis. Materials and Methods: In our retrospective case–control study, we performed retrotranscription (RT-qPCR) of 11 RNA-to-cDNA samples using the SuperScript™ VILO™ kit (50; reference 1,176,605) from Thermo Fisher. We conducted the study using the real-time PCR technique on the q-PCR ViiA 7 platform from Thermo Fisher. We chose the format of the Taqman Array Plate 16 Plus (reference 4,413,261) from Thermo Fisher, which accommodates 12 genes plus four controls (GAPDH, 18S, ACTB, and HPRT1). We conducted the analysis of the plates using the Thermo Fisher Cloud Web Software. Results: The results obtained through gene validation analysis show that in PD+RI+ patients, the genes encoding the isoforms MT1F (FD 0.3; p = 0.039), MT1X (FD 338; p = 0.0078), MT1E (FD 307; p = 0.0358), and MT2A (FD 252; p = 0.0428) continue to show downregulation, whereas MT1B (FD 2.75; p = 0.580), MT1H (FD 281; p = 0.152), MT1L (FD 354; p = 0.0965), and MT1G (FD 336; p = 0.0749) no longer show statistically significant results.