Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Poverty mapping in small areas under a twofold nested error regression model

Poverty maps at local level might be misleading when based on direct (or area‐specific) estimators obtained from a survey that does not cover adequately all the local areas of interest. In this case, small area estimation procedures based on assuming common models for all the areas typically provide much more reliable poverty estimates. These models include area effects to account for the unexplained between‐area heterogeneity. When poverty figures are sought at two different aggregation levels, domains and subdomains, it is reasonable to assume a twofold nested error model including random effects explaining the heterogeneity at the two levels of aggregation. The paper introduces the empirical best (EB) method for poverty mapping or, more generally, for estimation of additive parameters in small areas, under a twofold model. Under this model, analytical expressions for the EB estimators of poverty incidences and gaps in domains or subdomains are given. For more complex additive parameters, a Monte Carlo algorithm is used to approximate the EB estimators. The EB estimates obtained of the totals for all the subdomains in a given domain add up to the EB estimate of the domain total. We develop a bootstrap estimator of the mean‐squared error of EB estimators and study the effect on the mean‐squared error of a misspecification of the area effects. In simulations, we compare the estimators obtained under the twofold model with those obtained under models with only domain effects or only subdomain effects, when all subdomains are sampled or when there are unsampled subdomains. The methodology is applied to poverty mapping in counties of the Spanish region of Valencia by gender. Results show great variation in the poverty incidence and gap across the counties from this region, with more counties affected by extreme poverty when restricting ourselves to women.
The Effect of Ease of Use, Reliability, Efficiency, Convenience and Security Towards Customer Loyalty through Customer Satisfaction and Corporate Image on Shopee E-commerce Customers in Surabaya, Indonesia

: There are many demands of the community's needs for the conveniences provided by a technology. In this millennial century, regional differences are not an obstacle for humans in creating relationships where interaction can be done anywhere and anytime. In this era, rapid technological advances have had a major impact on modern business systems, namely by using electronic devices (e-commerce) in trading activities (Santoso, 2018). The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of factors that can influence Customer Loyalty on Shopee customers in Surabaya. This type of research is quantitative research. The data collection method uses literature and questionnaires. The method used in this study will refer to references that can carry out a simultaneous analysis process associated with a multi-variable research model namely Structural Equation Model (SEM) using AMOS 22.0 software. The population in this study is Shopee customers in Surabaya. The sample used was Shopee customers in Surabaya who made purchases or used Shopee in the past six months.
What are ecosystem services? ON TRANSFORMATIVE TABLES AND THE SEARCH FOR SUPPLY AND DEMAND

: This article contributes to exposing inner workings of academic research on Ecosystem Services (ES) and their indicators. A self-reflexive study in a lab of environmental economics for more than two years reveals how previous research on agroecological practices in Europe is reinterpreted in order to identify the delivery of ES. We document the difficulties encountered in the transformation process. We show that ES are operationalized through table-concepts. Two tables are used: the first one to extract data from their initial context and purify them from concepts and concerns in environmental sciences; and the second one to subsequently recomplexify these data into a new context of supply and demand. At the end of this process, the newly generated data have little to do with the scientific context from which they are originally derived. We describe the resistances to these transformations as well as the various strategies we employed to address the difficulties we encountered. By carefully tracing the transformations in our study we show the particular nature of ES, how they selectively rely on concepts from both environmental sciences and economics, and the way they hierarchize and hybridize some of these concepts. While some of our findings may be specific to the context of our study, which has concentrated on European, anthropogenic and agricultural environments, we believe that they provide a unique insight into the nature of ES.
Biosystems Diversity

The Bada Valley is one of the Lore Lindu Megalithic Cultural Heritage areas, which is one of the first four biosphere re- serves in Indonesia. The Bada Valley area offers cultural attractions that combine with nature in the form of cultural landscapes such as handicrafts from bark, hilly landscapes that offer panoramic beauty, and preserve dozens of megalithic sites from prehis- toric times as well as tourist cruising areas. The area is surrounded by densely forested mountains and forms one of the most important water catchment areas for the Watershed. However, there is a lack of studies on the vascular flora. No data on plant diversity has been reported, including plant inventory, plant identification, vegetation composition, and biodiversity analyses (diversity index, evenness index, and plant species richness index). The study aimed to determine the diversity index, evenness index, and plant species richness index in the Bada Valley cultural area, Poso Regency, Central Sulawesi. This study used an exploring technique with purposive sampling. Additional information was recorded in the form of the collector’s name, collec- tion number, collection date, location, and habitus, which were recorded in the observation sheet that had been prepared. Identification of plants was carried out using the procedure for observing plant morphological characters, which included special fea- tures in each class and family or genus down to the species level. The results of the study found the vegetation composition for herbaceous strata (555 individuals), trees (91 individuals), shrubs (64 individuals), and vines (57 individuals). The diversity index value of each stratum is different for trees (H’ = 1.20), herbs (H’ = 1.92), shrubs (H’ = 1.32), and vines (H’ = 0.62). The diversity of plants in the Bada Valley in the tree, herb, and shrub strata was moderate (1.0 < H’ < 3.0), and the encroaching plant stratum had low diversity (H’ < 1.0). The evenness index at the level of shrubs, vines, herbs, and trees has values of 0.95, 0.90, 0.83, 0.61, respectively. The species richness index of plants in the Bada Valley is in a low category (R < 3.5), with R values for herbaceous plants (1.42), trees (1.33), shrubs (0.72), and vines (0.24). Information on plant biodiversity is used as a database for ecotourism development in the Bada Valley Cultural Heritage area. Research data can be used to support the local government in regulating the utilization of the Bada Valley Cultural Heritage area.
The Inﬂuence of Talent Management and Job Engagement on Job Satisfaction and Organization Citizenship Behaviour with Person-Organization Fit as a Mediation Variable at PERUMDA Tirta Sakti

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of talent management and labor force participation on job satisfaction and OCB using per-sonal organization as a mediating variable. The population of this study was 145 employees PERUMDA Tirta Sakti. The sample for this survey consisted of 97 respondents. Data collection using a questionnaire using a 5-criteria Likert scale. Data analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM) uses partial least squares (PLS) software. Thus, talent management had a positive effect on job satisfaction (p = 0.000), talent management had a positive effect on employee OCB (p = 0.003), and job engagement had a positive effect on job satisfaction. positive effect (p = 0.010), work engagement has a positive effect on employee OCB (P = 0.000), P-O Fit has a positive effect on job satisfaction (P = 0.000), P-O Fit Employee OCB (0.000), talent management via P-O Fit has a positive effect on job satisfaction (P = 0.000), and talent management provided by P-O Fit has a positive effect on OCB. effective (p = 0.000).
A chromEM-staining protocol optimized for cardiac tissue

Three-dimensional (3D) chromatin organization has a key role in defining the transcription program of cells during development. Its alteration is the cause of gene expression changes responsible for several diseases. Thus, we need new tools to study this aspect of gene expression regulation. To this end, ChromEM was recently developed: this is an electron-microscopy staining technique that selectively marks nuclear DNA without altering its structure and, thus, allows better visualization of 3D chromatin conformation. However, despite increasingly frequent application of this staining technique on cells, it has not yet been applied to visualize chromatin ultrastructure in tissues. Here, we provide a protocol to carry out ChromEM on myocardial tissue harvested from the left ventricles of C57BL/6J mice and use this in combination with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to measure some morphological parameters of peripheral heterochromatin in cardiomyocytes. This protocol could also be used, in combination with electron tomography, to study 3D chromatin organization in cardiomyocytes in different aspects of heart pathobiology (e.g., heart development, cardiac aging, and heart failure) as well as help to set-up ChromEM in other tissues.
A versatile system for Hall effect measurements at high temperature

We present a fast Hall effect measurement system that can be used at high temperature. The use of a homogeneous high field permanent magnet in a Halbach configuration allows fast measurements in various DC and AC current fields with step and continuous measurement modes. The results are presented of measurements on platinum film at room temperature and Ge and BiCuSeO between 300 K and 650 K.
Intercultural communication competence among migrant workers in Malaysia: a critical review and an agenda for future research

Intercultural communication competence (ICC) has been identified as an important area of study, given today's increasing diversity in many societies. While it is acknowledged that there are already ICC studies and models available in the literature, most, if not all, address the ICC of expatriates or sojourners. Studies, as well as models that specifically address the ICC of migrant workers, are scanty. Hence, this study intends to highlight the crucial need for a better understanding of the issues related to ICC by providing a comprehensive and critical review of studies on ICC. This enables the proposition of a conceptual framework for ICC that is specific to migrant workers working in Malaysia due to their crucial importance to the country's economy. The proposed conceptual framework considers include sensation seeking, ethnocentrism, attitude toward other cultures, and motivation to engage in intercultural communication as the antecedents of ICC. Meanwhile, cross-cultural adjustment is proposed as a consequence of ICC. The proposed conceptual model would be useful in bridging the budding literature of ICC by highlighting the skills needed by migrant workers, which will, consequently, facilitate their adjustment and enable them to perform their work successfully in Malaysian culture.
Editorial: Novel therapeutic strategies for chronic kidney disease: from bench to bedside

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a life-threatening disease associated with an increased risk of end-stage renal disease, cardiovascular disease, and premature death. Due to the rise in the ageing population and its risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes mellitus and hypertension, the prevalence of CKD has been increasing rapidly in recent years. CKD is projected to become the fifth most common cause of death globally by 2040 (Foreman et al., 2018). Although current treatment regimens have shown some positive results in delaying the progression of CKD, the risk of kidney failure requiring kidney replacement therapy, as well as cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in CKD patients, remains very high, imposing enormous medical and financial burdens on patients and society. This Research Topic aims to provide an update on potential therapeutic strategies for various CKD and the new developments in a wide range of novel treatment approaches. Kidney fibrosis is a final common pathologic feature of CKD, irrespective of the aetiology, which is characterized by excessive production and deposition of extracellular matrix components in the kidney interstitial space (Li et al., 2022). Myofibroblast is the main contributor to kidney fibrosis (Moeller et al., 2021). Although the cellular origin of kidney myofibroblasts remains an open field of investigation, resident fibroblasts are increasingly recognized as the predominant source of myofibroblasts due to the great advances in genetic lineage tracing techniques. Resident fibroblasts play a key role in the development and progression of kidney fibrosis by producing excessive extracellular matrix proteins (Moeller et al., 2021). A better understanding of the heterogeneity of kideny fibroblasts and the molecular mechanisms of fibroblast activation is favoured to discover new therapeutic approaches for kidney disease. Huang S et al. provided a contribution by investigating the role of megakaryocytic leukemia 1 (MKL1), a master regulator of myofibroblast activation (Li et al., 2019; Mao et al., 2020), in three different fibrosis models. By generating the resident fibroblast conditional MKL1 knockout mice, they confirmed that the cellular origin of myofibroblasts is predominantly from resident fibroblast transition. Moreover, they found that MKL1 deletion in resident fibroblasts alleviated kidney fibrosis, myocardial fibrosis, and pulmonary fibrosis, indicating that resident fibroblast-specific MKL1 is a key mediator to drive a pro-fibrogenic response in vivo. OPEN ACCESS
Advantage of precision metagenomics for urinary tract infection diagnostics

Background Urinary tract infections (UTIs) remain a diagnostic challenge and often promote antibiotic overuse. Despite urine culture being the gold standard for UTI diagnosis, some uropathogens may lead to false-negative or inconclusive results. Although PCR testing is fast and highly sensitive, its diagnostic yield is limited to targeted microorganisms. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) is a hypothesis-free approach with potential of deciphering the urobiome. However, clinically relevant information is often buried in the enormous amount of sequencing data. Methods Precision metagenomics (PM) is a hybridization capture-based method with potential of enhanced discovery power and better diagnostic yield without diluting clinically relevant information. We collected 47 urine samples of clinically suspected UTI and in parallel tested each sample by microbial culture, PCR, and PM; then, we comparatively analyzed the results. Next, we phenotypically classified the cumulative microbial population using the Explify® data analysis platform for potential pathogenicity. Results Results revealed 100% positive predictive agreement (PPA) with culture results, which identified only 13 different microorganisms, compared to 19 and 62 organisms identified by PCR and PM, respectively. All identified organisms were classified into phenotypic groups (0–3) with increasing pathogenic potential and clinical relevance. This PM can simultaneously quantify and phenotypically classify the organisms readily through bioinformatic platforms like Explify®, essentially providing dissected and quantitative results for timely and accurate empiric UTI treatment. Conclusion PM offers potential for building effective diagnostic models beyond usual care testing in complex UTI diseases. Future studies should assess the impact of PM-guided UTI management on clinical outcomes.
Translating theory into practice: assessing the privacy implications of concept-based explanations for biomedical AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has achieved remarkable success in image generation, image analysis, and language modeling, making data-driven techniques increasingly relevant in practical real-world applications, promising enhanced creativity and efficiency for human users. However, the deployment of AI in high-stakes domains such as infrastructure and healthcare still raises concerns regarding algorithm accountability and safety. The emerging field of explainable AI (XAI) has made significant strides in developing interfaces that enable humans to comprehend the decisions made by data-driven models. Among these approaches, concept-based explainability stands out due to its ability to align explanations with high-level concepts familiar to users. Nonetheless, early research in adversarial machine learning has unveiled that exposing model explanations can render victim models more susceptible to attacks. This is the first study to investigate and compare the impact of concept-based explanations on the privacy of Deep Learning based AI models in the context of biomedical image analysis. An extensive privacy benchmark is conducted on three different state-of-the-art model architectures (ResNet50, NFNet, ConvNeXt) trained on two biomedical (ISIC and EyePACS) and one synthetic dataset (SCDB). The success of membership inference attacks while exposing varying degrees of attribution-based and concept-based explanations is systematically compared. The findings indicate that, in theory, concept-based explanations can potentially increase the vulnerability of a private AI system by up to 16% compared to attributions in the baseline setting. However, it is demonstrated that, in more realistic attack scenarios, the threat posed by explanations is negligible in practice. Furthermore, actionable recommendations are provided to ensure the safe deployment of concept-based XAI systems. In addition, the impact of differential privacy (DP) on the quality of concept-based explanations is explored, revealing that while negatively influencing the explanation ability, DP can have an adverse effect on the models’ privacy.
Glucose metabolism and its role in the maturation and migration of human CD1c+ dendritic cells following exposure to BCG

Introduction Tuberculosis (TB) still kills over 1 million people annually. The only approved vaccine, BCG, prevents disseminated disease in children but shows low efficacy at preventing pulmonary TB. Myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) are promising targets for vaccines and immunotherapies to combat infectious diseases due to their essential role in linking innate and adaptive immune responses. DCs undergo metabolic reprogramming following exposure to TLR agonists, which is thought to be a prerequisite for a successful host response to infection. We hypothesized that metabolic rewiring also plays a vital role in the maturation and migration of DCs stimulated with BCG. Consequently, we investigated the role of glycolysis in the activation of primary human myeloid CD1c+ DCs in response to BCG. Methods/results We show that CD1c+ mDC mature and acquire a more energetic phenotype upon challenge with BCG. Pharmacological inhibition of glycolysis with 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) decreased cytokine secretion and altered cell surface expression of both CD40 and CCR7 on BCG-challenged, compared to untreated, mDCs. Furthermore, inhibition of glycolysis had differential effects on infected and uninfected bystander mDCs in BCG-challenged cultures. For example, CCR7 expression was increased by 2-DG treatment following challenge with BCG and this increase in expression was seen only in BCG-infected mDCs. Moreover, although 2-DG treatment inhibited CCR7-mediated migration of bystander CD1C+ DCs in a transwell assay, migration of BCG-infected cells proceeded independently of glycolysis. Discussion Our results provide the first evidence that glycolysis plays divergent roles in the maturation and migration of human CD1c+ mDC exposed to BCG, segregating with infection status. Further investigation of cellular metabolism in DC subsets will be required to determine whether glycolysis can be targeted to elicit better protective immunity against Mtb.
DECLINE OF HANDWASHING AND MASKING AMONG THE GENERAL POPULATION IN POST COVID-19 PANDEMIC: INSIGHTS FROM A MIXED METHODS STUDY IN GHANA

COVID-19 has now entered the endemic stage where the virus is widespread with less fatality than it was in 2020. Restrictions and mandates such as handwashing and masking are eased although the pandemic is not yet over. Many have concluded that we have reached a point that marks the end of the pandemic spurring changes in public behavior. However, SARS-CoV-2 is still causing deaths every day and cases have not plateaued at low level. Better knowledge on why people have relented in handwashing and masking is needed to guide the development of effective interventions against future waves of the infection. In this study, we explored factors contributing to this pattern of behavior in Ghana. Questionnaires were administered to 350 respondents, via social media (WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, reedit,) and these were used to determine the level of handwashing and masking at the first stage of study. Screening and scoring of the questionnaires were used to estimate the level of these activities at the second stage. Among all respondents, we identified and selected 279 participants at the second stage: 95 as decliners, 120 non-regulars, and 64 maintainers according to their level of these activities and adapted scoring criteria. For each category, a group of 5 participants were randomly selected to take part in an in-depth interview. The theory of planned behavior guided our analysis. Six themes emerged from the analysis with the acronym, IMPASE; inconvenience and contamination, Mass population, pandemic patterns and regulations, Availability, Safety and infection prevention, environment and activity. These themes appeared to have elements relating to another component of the theory of planned behavior. Collectively, the environment (Subjective norms) and pattern of pandemic and regulation (Perceived behavioral control) interact with each other to ultimately influence handwashing and masking. Declining and non-regularity were associated with inconvenience and contamination. Maintenance is associated with the environment and activity. Thus, public educational campaigns must be intensified to highlight and address these themes. The public health authorities, employers and, essential services could play an important role in enforcing and disseminating such information.
Drivers and Environmental Responses to the Changing Annual Snow Cycle of Northern Alaska

AbstractLinkages between atmospheric, ecological, and biogeochemical variables in the changing Arctic are analyzed using long-term measurements near Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska. Two key variables are the date when snow disappears in spring, as determined primarily by atmospheric dynamics, precipitation, air temperature, winter snow accumulation, and cloud cover, and the date of onset of snowpack in autumn that is additionally influenced by ocean temperature and sea ice extent. In 2015 and 2016 the snow melted early at Utqiaġvik owing mainly to anomalous warmth during May of both years attributed to atmospheric circulation patterns, with 2016 having the record earliest snowmelt. These years are discussed in the context of a 115-yr snowmelt record at Utqiaġvik with a trend toward earlier melting since the mid-1970s (–2.86 days decade–1, 1975–2016). At nearby Cooper Island, where a colony of seabirds, black guillemots, have been monitored since 1975, timing of egg laying is correlated with Utqiaġvik .