Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Price determination of ETS allowances through the switching level of coal and gas in the power sector

This paper discusses the opportunities that exist for reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions by switching from coal to gas‐fired units in electricity generation, ‘forced’ by the European Union Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) price level of CO2. It attempts to find efficient GHG cost profiles leading to a reasonable GHG emission reduction.
Governance Issues on Earning Management: A Case of Manufacturing Industry

Earnings management is a technique used by the management of an organization to intentionally manipulate a company’s profits in such a way that the figures suit the agreed target and to generate financial results that provide an excessively optimistic view of the company’s operation and finances. Due to poor performance, companies are using different strategies to exploit and provide a positive picture of financial and management profitability to look better in the eyes of shareholders and stakeholders, and this is generally referred to as earnings management. This study aims to examine the potential factors of pressure (financial stability and financial target), opportunity (board independence and audit committee), and arrogance (CEO duality and the CEO’s picture) that cause earnings management in manufacturing companies in Malaysia. This study used organizations as the unit of analysis while manufacturing companies from the Public Listed Companies (PLCs) were chosen as the research sample. This study found that the proxies of board independence, audit committee, and CEO’s picture have a positive relationship with earnings management. Adversely, the indicators of financial stability, financial target, and CEO duality have negative effects on the incidence of earnings management.
Bioactive lipids and their metabolism: New therapeutic opportunities for Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurological disorder characterized by motor dysfunction, which can also be associated with non‐motor symptoms. Its pathogenesis is thought to stem from a loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta and the formation of Lewy bodies containing aggregated α‐synuclein. Recent works suggested that lipids might play a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of PD. In particular, the so‐called ‘bioactive’ lipids whose changes in the concentration may lead to functional consequences and affect many pathophysiological processes, including neuroinflammation, are closely related to PD in terms of symptoms, disease progression and incidence. This study aimed to explore the molecular metabolism and physiological functions of bioactive lipids, such as fatty acids (mainly unsaturated fatty acids), eicosanoids, endocannabinoids, oxysterols, representative sphingolipids, diacylglycerols and lysophosphatidic acid, in the development of PD. The knowledge of bioactive lipids in PD gained through preclinical and clinical studies is expected to improve the understanding of disease pathogenesis and provide novel therapeutic avenues.
Effects of dry needling on function, hypertonia and quality of life in chronic stroke: a randomized clinical trial

Background: Persons with stroke commonly have impairments associated with a reduction in functionality. Motor impairments are the most prevalent, causing an impact on activities of daily life. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a session of dry needling (DN) applied to the upper extremity muscles on the sensorimotor function, hypertonia, and quality of life of persons with chronic stroke. Methods: A randomized, sham-controlled clinical trial was performed. Participants were randomly assigned into an intervention group that received a single session DN in the biceps brachii, brachialis, flexor digitorum superficialis and profundus, extensor digitorum, adductor pollicis and triceps brachii muscles, or into a control group that received the same treatment but with a sham DN intervention. Treatment outcomes included the Fugl–Meyer Assessment Scale for the upper extremity, the Modified Modified Ashworth Scale, and the EuroQol-5D questionnaire. Measurements were carried out before, immediately after, and 14 days after intervention. Results: Twenty-three persons participated in the study. Significant differences between groups were observed after the intervention in the total wrist–hand motor score (p = 0.023) and sensorimotor score (p = 0.022), for hypertonia in the elbow extensors both after treatment (p = 0.002) and at follow-up (p = 0.018), and in quality of life at follow-up (p = 0.030). Conclusions: A single session of DN improved total wrist–hand motor function and total sensorimotor function in persons with chronic stroke immediately after treatment, as well as quality of life 2 weeks after treatment. Trial registration number: NCT03546517 (ClinicalTrials.gov)
Modeling Uncertainty in Fracture Age Estimation from Pediatric Wrist Radiographs

In clinical practice, fracture age estimation is commonly required, particularly in children with suspected non-accidental injuries. It is usually done by radiologically examining the injured body part and analyzing several indicators of fracture healing such as osteopenia, periosteal reaction, and fracture gap width. However, age-related changes in healing timeframes, inter-individual variabilities in bone density, and significant intra- and inter-operator subjectivity all limit the validity of these radiological clues. To address these issues, for the first time, we suggest an automated neural network-based system for determining the age of a pediatric wrist fracture. In this study, we propose and evaluate a deep learning approach for automatically estimating fracture age. Our dataset included 3570 medical cases with a skewed distribution toward initial consultations. Each medical case includes a lateral and anteroposterior projection of a wrist fracture, as well as patients’ age, and gender. We propose a neural network-based system with Monte-Carlo dropout-based uncertainty estimation to address dataset skewness. Furthermore, this research examines how each component of the system contributes to the final forecast and provides an interpretation of different scenarios in system predictions in terms of their uncertainty. The examination of the proposed systems’ components showed that the feature-fusion of all available data is necessary to obtain good results. Also, proposing uncertainty estimation in the system increased accuracy and F1-score to a final 0.906±0.011 on a given task.
Time-restricted feeding alters the efficiency of mammary tumor growth

ABSTRACT Disruption of circadian rhythms has detrimental host consequences. Indeed, both clinical and foundational science demonstrate a clear relationship between disruption of circadian rhythms and cancer initiation and progression. Because timing of food intake can act as a zeitgeber (i.e., entrainment signal) for the circadian clock, and most individuals in the developed world have access to food at all times of the day in a “24/7” society, we sought to determine the effects of timing of food intake on mammary tumor growth. We hypothesized that restricting access to food to during the inactive phase would accelerate tumor growth. Adult female Balb/C mice received a unilateral orthotopic injection of murine mammary carcinoma 4T1 cells into the ninth inguinal mammary gland. Beginning on the day of tumor injection and continuing until the end of the experiment, mice were food restricted to their active phase (ZT12 (lights off)- ZT0 (lights on), inactive phase (ZT0 – ZT12), or had ad libitum access to food. Mice that were food restricted to their inactive phase displayed a significant increase in body mass on days 7 and 14 of tumor growth relative to active phase or ad libitum fed mice. Additionally, mice fed during their inactive phase demonstrated a 20% reduction in food consumption relative to mice fed during their active phase and a 17% reduction in food consumption relative to ab libitum fed mice. Tumor volume was not significantly different between groups. However, food restricting mice to their inactive phase increased mammary tumor growth efficiency (i.e., mg of tumor mass per gram of food intake) relative to mice fed during the active phase and approached significance (p = .06) relative to ad libitum fed mice. To determine a potential explanation for the increased tumor growth efficiency, we examined rhythms of activity and body temperature. Mice fed during the inactive phase displayed significantly disrupted daily activity and body temperature rhythms relative to both other feeding regimens. Together, these data demonstrate that improperly timed food intake can have detrimental consequences on mammary tumor growth likely via disrupted circadian rhythms.
The execution of public–private partnership projects in the UAE

There are few public–private partnership (PPP) projects in the UAE, but the number is increasing. Recently government and public bodies have intensified their interest in PPPs to encourage more involvement of the private sector in the country’s development. The aim of the research is to evaluate the UAE experience in using PPP projects focusing on the critical success and failure factors for PPPs in the UAE. Three case studies were examined to identify the critical success factors and the failure factors. The results have shown that political support is the most important success factor followed by having a strong private consortium. The most important factor that causes PPP projects to fail in this context is when the consortium lacks the appropriate knowledge and skills. Hence, private consortia need to ensure that they assemble the relevant skills and knowledge of how to set up and manage a PPP as well as the crucial knowledge pertaining to the local business environment and political drivers.
Pilot Study of Application Status for the Improvement of Weather Information in the Korean Peninsula: Focus on Extreme Heat Watch and Warnings

The extreme heat watch and warnings (EHWW) which is constructed as a part of the climate change adaptation took effect in the summer of 2008, but active response actions failed to be taken because of low perception among citizens. Therefore, a survey investigation targeting citizens residing in Busan and the Gyeongnam province was conducted in order to know the perception regarding EHWW issued by the Korea Meteorological Administration, to identify the main media through which information is acquired, and to propose an improvement measures which may enhance the usefulness and the degree of satisfaction of weather information. The results are as follows; The perception regarding EHWW was not very high as it remained at 59.8% in terms of percentile. Although the statistical significance was not fulfilled in the categories of gender or occupation, significant differences did exist among age groups. The main medium through which citizens acquired information regarding EHWW was the television, which was followed in order by the internet, acquaintances, short message service (SMS), radio, newspapers, the 131 weather hotline, and other media. The usefulness of EHWW was somewhat high (67.2%), and female students were found to utilize the information to a higher degree than male students. The statistics on the level of satisfaction regarding the weather information (65.4%) revealed that most respondents were satisfied. Housewives, professional, and the elder age groups exhibited great satisfaction, leading to the conclusions that the level of perception and interest regarding to the special weather reports (SWR) have an impact on satisfaction of SWR.
Polylactide Films with the Addition of Olive Leaf Extract—Physico-Chemical Characterization

The aim of this work was to obtain and characterize polylactide films (PLA) with the addition of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as a plasticizer and chloroformic olive leaf extract (OLE). The composition of OLE was characterized by LC-MS/MS techniques. The films with the potential for using in the food packaging industry were prepared using a solvent evaporation method. The total content of the phenolic compounds and DPPH radical scavenging assay of all the obtained materials have been tested. Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR) allows for determining the molecular structure, while Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) indicated differences in the films’ surface morphology. Among other crucial properties, mechanical properties, thickness, degree of crystallinity, water vapor permeation rate (WVPR), and color change have also been evaluated. The results showed that OLE contains numerous active substances, including phenolic compounds, and PLA/PEG/OLE films are characterized by improved antioxidant properties. The OLE addition into PLA/PEG increases the material crystallinity, while the WVPR values remain almost unaffected. From these studies, significant insight was gained into the possibility of the application of chloroform as a solvent for both olive leaf extraction and for the preparation of OLE, PLA, and PEG-containing film-forming solutions. Finally, evaporation of the solvent from OLE can be omitted.
Analysis of lossy dielectric guides by transverse magnetic field finite elements method

Recently a transverse magnetic field formulation of the finite element method for solving lightwave propagation in lossless optical waveguides was demonstrated using only two components of the magnetic field. We extend this formulation to include loss in the waveguides, and compare the results from this formulation with those of other formulations for three different types of waveguides. Our results from the new approach show good agreement with those from previously published data. No perturbation technique is needed to arrive at these results. >
Frontiers in Dentistry

Article type: Original Article Objectives: This study aimed to develop a new method for measurement of florescence and compare the fluorescence of some clinical dental ceramics in different thicknesses. Materials and Methods: Forty-eight samples of feldspathic (Vita VM9, A2), IPS e.max (Ivoclar HT, A2), zirconia (Korox Zircostar, A2) and Enamic (Vita A2) ceramics were used in this study in 0.5 and 1 mm thicknesses. The fluorescence of the samples was measured by using a developed technique. The results were analyzed by twoway ANOVA and Duncan post-hoc test. P<0.05 was considered significant. Results: Enamic, feldspathic and e.max ceramics had significantly different fluorescence in descending order (P=0.000). Fluorescence of ceramics increased with an increase in their thickness from 0.5 to 1 mm (P=0.007). Conclusion: The results confirmed the applicability of the presented method for measurement of fluorescence of dental ceramics. While, the thickness of restoration determines the concentration of the fluorescent agent, some additional technical information is required for justification of the observed trend in the studied ceramics.
Coupling between neighboring CPWs in MMICs

Coupling between neighboring coplanar waveguides (CPWs) is simulated and measured. Simulation is based on two-dimensional (2-D) electromagnetic analysis and a network description. The investigations show that, in general, coupling may be neglected (lower than -30 dB) if the distance between the CPWs is more than twice their ground-to-ground spacing. However, this does not hold in the conductor-backed case with a connection between CPW ground and backside metal. Then, one finds sharp resonance peaks in the coupling exceeding -10 dB.
Beyond mechanization: Work and technology in a postindustrial age

Human skill and judgment are needed now more than ever to effectively run today's complex computerized production systems. In this thought-provoking study of work, worker, and machine in the postindustrial age, Hirschhorn points out that factories will become places of learning where the worker must be able to diagnose and solve an array of problems generated by error-prone machine systems.With numerous examples he shows that the new technology can fail in unexpected ways and that human judgment has become increasingly important. The new technology also blurs the line between managing and working, requiring workers - craftsmen, machine operators, or engineers - to become generalists who will have to deal with unstructured and open-ended problems. Hirschhorn links theory to the shop floor, examining such issues as the role of unions and the economics of the job shop and describes a new type of factory setting where supervisors are teachers and workers are organized into teams paid according to how much they have learned.Larry Hirschhorn is Senior Researcher, Management and Behavioral Science Center, University of Pennsylvania.
Modelling spatio‐temporal soil moisture dynamics in mountain tundra

Soil moisture has a fundamental influence on the processes and functions of tundra ecosystems. Yet, the local dynamics of soil moisture are often ignored, due to the lack of fine resolution, spatially extensive data. In this study, we modelled soil moisture with two mechanistic models, SpaFHy (a catchment‐scale hydrological model) and JSBACH (a global land surface model), and examined the results in comparison with extensive growing‐season field measurements over a mountain tundra area in northwestern Finland. Our results show that soil moisture varies considerably in the study area and this variation creates a mosaic of moisture conditions, ranging from dry ridges (growing season average 12 VWC%, Volumetric Water Content) to water‐logged mires (65 VWC%). The models, particularly SpaFHy, simulated temporal soil moisture dynamics reasonably well in parts of the landscape, but both underestimated the range of variation spatially and temporally. Soil properties and topography were important drivers of spatial variation in soil moisture dynamics. By testing the applicability of two mechanistic models to predict fine‐scale spatial and temporal variability in soil moisture, this study paves the way towards understanding the functioning of tundra ecosystems under climate change.
Drinking Water Insecurity in Southwest Coastal Bangladesh: How Far to SDG 6.1?

Substantial progress has been seen in the drinking water supply as per the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), but achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly SGD 6.1 regarding safely managed drinking water with much more stringent targets, is considered as a development challenge. The problem is more acute in low-income water-scarce hard-to-reach areas such as the southwest coastal region of Bangladesh, where complex hydrogeological conditions and adverse water quality contribute to a highly vulnerable and insecure water environment. Following the background, this study investigated the challenges and potential solutions to drinking water insecurity in a water-scarce area of southwest coastal Bangladesh using a mixed-methods approach. The findings revealed that water insecurity arises from unimproved, deteriorated, unaffordable, and unreliable sources that have significant time and distance burdens. High rates of technical dysfunction of the existing water infrastructure contribute to water insecurity as well. Consequently, safely managed water services are accessible to only 12% of the population, whereas 64% of the population does not have basic water. To reach the SDG 6.1 target, this underserved community needs well-functioning readily accessible water infrastructure with formal institutional arrangement rather than self-governance, which seems unsuccessful in this low-income context. This study will help the government and its development partners in implementing SDG action plans around investments to a reliable supply of safe water to the people living in water-scarce hard-to-reach coastal areas.
Sagu Sabu Program to Improve Teachers’ Coursebook Writing Skills

Creativity and innovation are the hallmarks of 21st-century teachers. Teachers are required to actively foster their creativity so that innovative teacher products will emerge as works that are beneficial to themselves, schools, society, the nation, and the country. A number of teaching staff or teachers in Indonesia have not thought creatively even though the government has provided opportunities for them to be creative in various fields, such as writing coursebooks, developing teaching materials, making learning media, and increasing other academic productivity. One of the weaknesses they have is that they are not productive in writing coursebooks or textbooks, even though writing books is an integral part of teaching and learning activities. Increasing the productivity of textbooks for teachers through the Sagu Sabu program is an effective effort that greatly helps teacher achievement in schools because so far teachers have been passive writing textbooks for their own needs, even for mass publication efforts. The purpose of this study is to increase teacher productivity in writing subject books. This study uses a one-cycle action research type. This involved 10 teachers of SMAN 12 Semarang City. The research instruments used were two SurveyMonkey application questionnaires, field notes, and FGD. An action to increase teacher productivity in writing coursebooks is the Sagu Sabu program. Based on the research data obtained, it is known that before the Sagu Sagu program was implemented, there were no teachers who wrote coursebooks at all (0%) while after the program was implemented there were 4 teachers who succeeded in writing coursebooks, even though the percentage was very high. It was still very small (30.76%) when compared to the total number of participants. Besides, based on the responses to a questionnaire about the Sagu Sabu program, 84.62% agreed that this program is very important to increase teacher creativity in writing course books and lead them to become productive writers. The conclusion is that the Sagu Sabu program is very effective in helping increase teacher productivity in writing coursebooks so that teachers can have innovative works that are very beneficial for themselves and the school's reputation. Therefore it is highly recommended for policymakers in schools and the government to make this program a success so that more and more teachers will be productive in writing coursebooks.
A low-complexity combinatorial RNS multiplier

A novel very large scale integration architecture and the corresponding design methodology for a combinatorial adder-based residue number system (RNS) multiplier are presented in this paper. The proposed approach to residue multiplier design, exploits the nonoccurring combinations of input bits to reduce the number of 1-bit full adders (FAs) required to compose an RNS multiplier. In particular, input bits which cannot be simultaneously asserted for any input residue value are organized into couples or triplets, which can be processed by OR gates instead of 1-bit adders, therefore reducing the RNS multiplier complexity. By comparing the performance and hardware complexity of the proposed residue multiplier to previously reported designs, it is found that the introduced architecture is more efficient in the area/spl times/time product sense. In fact, it is shown that a performance improvement in excess of 80% can be achieved in certain cases.