Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Has there been a “refugee crisis”? New insights on the recent refugee arrivals in Germany and their integration prospects

Approximately 1.2 million refugees arrived in Germany between 2015 and 2016. The national and international public discourse surrounding the arrival of these refugees covers the full spectrum of opinions. These opinions range from sceptical assessments regarding the 2015 influx as a “refugee crisis” to optimistic appraisals considering the immigration of refugees to be a solution to demographic change and labour shortages. These views are often driven by ideology and emotions rather than grounded in evidence. In this paper, we use data from a unique, nationally representative household survey of refugees who came to Germany between 2013 and 2016 to describe who these refugees are, focusing particularly on demographic and skill characteristics relevant for their successful and sustainable economic integration. We also discuss German public policies and institutional environments to promote refugees’ integration. Our descriptive analysis shows that the processing of asylum applications and the overall provision of accommodations, safety-nets, and integration programs by German authorities have advanced the refugees’ integration process, although the initial shortcomings have been widespread. Over the years, German institutions have generally been open to helping refugees and other immigrants gain ground in Germany. However, there are still challenges for policymakers. One such issue is the gender gap that is reflected in the support for female refugees with childcare obligations, which delays their language acquisition and slows their integration. Nevertheless, the empirical evidence has - contrary to the expectations - given no indications that the influx of refugees in 2015 led to a “refugee crisis” in Germany.
On solidarity and volunteering during the COVID-19 crisis in Denmark: the impact of social networks and social media groups on the distribution of support

ABSTRACT This paper unfolds how informal civil society quickly mobilised citizen-to-citizen support when government and non-government organisations locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper focuses on two elements of the mobilisation: the role of social networks and social media groups. It reveals that the vast majority of this support was distributed through existing social networks and, therefore, not available to those lacking social connections. However, we also find that social media groups played an important role in the mobilisation, that support organised on social media does not diverge significantly in commitment or kind from support organised in other settings. The paper concludes by discussing the potential of social media to mitigate the impact of social networks on the distribution of support, pointing to some of the potential barriers to social media groups’ successful facilitation of support to those without a social network.
Supporting the well-being of student veterans and service members: Contextual factors and self-determination

The present study investigated the well-being of student veterans and service members (SVSMs), a rapidly-growing subpopulation of college students in the U.S. with unique needs and lived experiences, through the lens of Self-Determination Theory (SDT). SDT posits that contextual factors relate to well-being via perceived satisfaction of three basic psychological needs (i.e., competence, autonomy, and relatedness) and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation. A path model tested these SDT-stipulated relations in a sample of 182 SVSMs from the three Regent universities in Iowa, incorporating four SVSM-specific contextual factors (i.e., Office of veterans and military services (OVMS) support, veteran-friendly campus perception, veteran identity centrality, and positive regard for veteran identity). The model yielded a good fit; however, not all of the hypothesized relations were significant. Veteran-friendly campus perception and positive regard for veteran identity emerged as robust direct predictors of psychological need satisfaction and indirect predictors of well-being (i.e., globally and specific to the academic domain). OVMS support had a significant relationship only with perceived relatedness, and veteran identity centrality did not have significant direct or indirect relations with any of the psychological needs or well-being. Perceived competence was a robust mediator of multiple relations between contextual factors and well-being, and perceived relatedness also mediated some of the relations between contextual factors and well-being. The predictive utility of volitional autonomy and academic intrinsic motivation was not supported in the present study. Conclusions, implications, and future directions for research are discussed.
Adaptive Fuzzy Iterative Learning Control for High-Speed Trains With Both Randomly Varying Operation Lengths and System Constraints

In this article, a new adaptive fuzzy iterative learning control (AFILC) method is proposed for the tracking control of nonlinear uncertain high-speed train (HST) operation systems that have both randomly varying iteration lengths and speed and input force constraints. To cope with unknown time-varying basic resistance coefficients, an adaptive learning control law and two fully projected parameter learning laws are designed. The nonparametric and unknown additional resistance in the HST operation system is compensated and integrated into the control law by means of a newly constructed adaptive iterative learning fuzzy system. Moreover, due to the complex operation environment and various uncertainties, disturbances and emergencies, trains are often early or late compared with the prearranged timetable rather than being strictly on time in the repeated operations of each day, which leads to randomly varying operation lengths for actual HST running. Furthermore, as the traveling speed of modern HSTs increases, both the train's speed and input force should be constrained to guarantee the safe operation. Fortunately, the proposed AFILC can not only actively manipulate the position, speed, and input force of the train into prespecified and constrained ranges for safe operation but can also make both the position and speed tracking control errors converge to zero over the whole desired and scheduled time interval, even if the actual time interval varies in each operation of the HST. Simulations on a practical train operation system similar to China Railway High-speed (CRH)-3 train are further presented to demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed method.
Development of feeding regimes with some crop residues: maize offal, cowpea husk, poultry litter and groundnut haulms in a semi-arid environment of Nigeria

The experiment was designed to develop a feeding regime using 4 local feedstuffs and to determine their rumen degradation at different time interval. The feed ingredients used where maize offal, cowpea husk (energy source), groundnut haulms and poultry litter (protein source). The formulation was based on the ratio 60:40 of energy to protein sources. Ten formulations F1–F10 were developed. The dry matter (DM) content of the formulation was within the range of (89.60–99.8%), crude protein (4.37–15.80%), crude fibre (25.5.00-46.00%), and gross energy (12.13-13.18 GE MJ/Kg DM). Three grams of the samples were weighed into the nylon bags and incubated for 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48 and 72 hours respectively. There were significant differences in the DM disappearance of the formulations. All the formulations used in this study recorded above 50% dry matter degradability at 48 hours period of incubation. This implies that the formulations were highly degradable in the rumen and warrant them to be used as rations for ruminants. In conclusion, when local feed ingredients are mixed in the right proportion, it can contribute significantly to the nutritional requirement of ruminants. Key words : Maize offal, cowpea husk, poultry litter, groundnut haulms, DM disappearance.
Poverty, parental depression, parental self-efficacy, social support, and the home learning environment of toddlers : an application of the family stress model

Background: Family poverty and the home learning environment (HLE) of toddlers both have significant impacts on children’s future cognitive and academic outcomes. Families facing poverty experience economic hardships and pressures that may lead to difficulty providing a quality HLE. The family stress model was developed to help explain how poverty influences child adjustment through economic pressure and behaviours. There is evidence of its utility in explaining the investments parents make in their children’s learning, but it is not yet known whether the family stress model may be used to predict the HLE of toddlers. In addition, two parental protective factors, parental self-efficacy and social support, may play a role in disrupting the negative effects of depression related to poverty on the HLE. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between economic hardship (low family income), economic pressure (financial difficulty), parental depression, parental self-efficacy, parental social support, and the HLE (shared book reading and storytelling) of toddlers. Methods: We used logistic regression analysis to perform a secondary data analysis on 423 parent participants of children ages 14-24 months from the Toddler Development Instrument Phase 2 Pilot Implementation Study conducted by the Human Early Learning Partnership at the University of British Columbia. Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants from community-based organization partners across 19 communities in British Columbia, Canada. Findings: After accounting for parental education and child sex, we found: 1) economic hardship and economic pressure were independently negatively associated with the HLE; 2) parental depression was negatively associated with the HLE, and appeared to fully mediate the impact of economic pressure on the HLE; 3) parental self-efficacy was positively associated with the HLE, but social support was not; 5) neither parental self-efficacy nor social support moderated the negative association between parental depression and the HLE. Conclusion: The family stress model predicted those families providing a higher quality HLE for toddlers, but did not predict families providing a poorer quality HLE. Economic hardship, economic pressure, parental depression, parental self-efficacy and parental education were associated with the HLE. Practitioners should focus attention on these factors when supporting family HLEs.
Cooperative Spectrum Sensing Optimization in Energy-Harvesting Cognitive Radio Networks

This article focuses on the issue of cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) in a mobile energy-harvesting cognitive radio network (EH-CRN), where secondary transmitters (STs) are powered by the radio-frequency (RF) signal emitted from primary transmissions. Only the STs with sufficient energy participate in CSS, and send their local sensing decisions to a fusion center (FC), which makes a final decision on the state of the spectrum by a general <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-out-of-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M(k)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> fusion rule. The target of this article is to develop an optimal CSS strategy in terms of final decision threshold <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$ </tex-math></inline-formula> that maximizes the expected achievable throughput of the EH-CRN, subject to a collision constraint and an energy causality constraint. We first show that the EH-CRN can be divided into an energy-deficit state and a spectrum-deficit state depending on the final decision threshold. The final decision threshold has a negative correlation with the number of STs participating in CSS in the energy-deficit state, and has no impact on that in the spectrum-deficit state. We then derive the collision probability and the expected achievable throughput of the EH-CRN, both of which are indicated to be determined by the active probability of a ST, the state of the spectrum, and the spectrum access opportunity. By tackling the tradeoff between the active probability and spectrum access opportunity introduced by the final decision threshold, we derive the optimal final decision threshold that maximizes the expected achievable throughput of the EH-CRN while protecting primary transmissions to a predefined extent. Extensive numerical simulations are conducted to illustrate the performance versus the final decision threshold. One of the main findings indicates that the optimal range of final decision threshold in the energy-deficit state could be acquired by the number of reporting received at the FC.
Mobile applications used to limit alcohol consumption – a literature review

Authors’ contribution/Wkład pracy autorów: Study design/Koncepcja badania: Ł. Wieczorek, J.I. Klingemann; Data collection/Zebranie danych: Ł. Wieczorek, J.I. Klingemann; Data interpretation/Interpretacja danych: Ł. Wieczorek; Acceptance of final manuscript version/ Akceptacja ostatecznej wersji pracy: Ł. Wieczorek, J.I. Klingemann; Literature search/Przygotowanie literatury: Ł. Wieczorek; Funds collection/Pozyskanie środków (finansowania): Ł. Wieczorek, J.I. Klingemann.
Cue-reactivity in the ventral striatum characterizes heavy cannabis use, whereas reactivity in the dorsal striatum mediates dependent use

Background Animal models of addiction suggest that the transition from incentive-driven to habitual and ultimately compulsive drug use is mediated by a shift from ventral to dorsal striatal cue-control over drug seeking. Previous studies in human cannabis users reported elevated trait impulsivity and cue-reactivity in striatal circuits, however, these studies were not able to separate addiction-related from exposure-related adaptations. Methods To differentiate the adaptive changes, the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined behavioral and neural cue-reactivity in dependent (n = 18) and non-dependent (n = 20) heavy cannabis users and a non-using reference group (n = 44). Results Irrespective of dependence status, cannabis users demonstrated elevated trait impulsivity as well as increased ventral striatal reactivity and striato-frontal coupling in response to drug cues. Dependent users selectively exhibited dorsal-striatal reactivity and decreased striato-limbic coupling during cue-exposure. An exploratory analysis revealed that higher ventral caudate cue-reactivity was associated with stronger cue-induced arousal and craving in dependent users, whereas this pattern was reversed in non-dependent users. Conclusions Together the present findings suggest that an incentive sensitization of the ventral striatal reward system may promote excessive drug use in humans, whereas adaptations in dorsal striatal systems engaged in habit formation may promote the transition to addictive use.
Fibroblast growth factors: Potential novel targets for regenerative therapy of osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disorder and is the leading cause of disability of people, which negatively impact people's physical and mental health. Although OA causes great socioeconomic burden and individual suffering, no effective treatment options are provided so far. This is partially resulted from poor regenerative activity of articular cartilage and our incomplete understanding of the underlying mechanism of OA. Traditional drug therapies such as acetaminophen and opioids are effective in relieving pain but do not reverse cartilage damage and are often associated with adverse events. Therefore, it is necessary to find effective OA drugs. In recent years, novel regenerative therapies have received much attention because they can effectively promote tissue repair and regeneration. The fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling has been suggested to involve in cartilage homeostasis for decades. The current research shows that sprifermin/recombinant FGF18 significantly reduces the loss of cartilage thickness and volume without serious side effects, thus warrants a continued research for potential new medications of OA. This review mainly highlights the current research progress on FGFs and FGF receptors as a potential therapeutic target for OA.
Polytherapy in schizophrenia in light of the literature data

The use of several drugs is quite common in the treatment of diseases, such as hypertension and epilepsy. Since the 1990s, there has been a tendency to use simultaneously two or more antipsychotic drugs to treat schizophrenia patients. It is estimated that 30–40% of patients are treated with two or more antipsychotic drugs. This was also confirmed by research carried out in Poland. This is despite the fact that the standards of pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia consistently recommend the use of monotherapy. There are also doubts about the safety of polytherapy. So far, it has not been clearly shown whether this is more effective than monotherapy. A recently published meta-analysis showed that only the combined use of clozapine and aripiprazole is more effective than other monotherapy and polytherapy. It has not yet been confirmed that the combined use of two antipsychotic drugs was associated with a higher risk of metabolic syndrome symptoms and QTc segment prolongation. The paper presents data on the scale of the phenomenon of polytherapy as well as publications on the effectiveness and safety of such proceedings as compared to monotherapy. Due to the ambiguity of the results, it is difficult to make clear recommendations regarding the management of monotherapy ineffectiveness. The work ends with a few questions that concern doubts about how to treat patients with schizophrenia to make the treatment rational.
A new genus and three new species of mangrove slugs from the Indo-West Pacific (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Euthyneura: Onchidiidae)

Mangroves of the Indo-West Pacific have remained poorly explored, so even the diversity of the onchidiid slugs, which are some of the most abundant animals in mangroves of the Indo-West Pacific, is not well known. Thanks to several years spent exploring mangroves in the Indo-West Pacific (more than 260 stations), especially in South-East Asia, the diversity of mangrove gastropods can now be addressed through revisions following an integrative taxonomy approach (nomenclature, field observations, comparative anatomy and DNA sequences). A new genus of onchidiid slugs is described, Paromoionchis Dayrat & Goulding gen. nov., which includes five species, three of which are new: Paromoionchis boholensis Dayrat & Goulding gen. et sp. nov., P. daemelii (Semper, 1880) com. nov., P. goslineri Dayrat & Goulding gen. et sp. nov., P. penangensis Dayrat & Goulding gen. et sp. nov. and P. tumidus (Semper, 1880) comb. nov. Paromoionchis gen. nov. is distributed from western India to the subtropical waters of Japan (33° N) and southeastern Australia (33° S). The creation of new taxon names is supported by rigorous nomenclature: the types of all existing species names in the family were examined, the original descriptions carefully studied and nomenclatural issues addressed. The diversity and biogeography of this new genus is discussed in a broader context.
Analysis of Multi-Coil Omnidirectional Energy Harvester

An omnidirectional energy harvester with a multi-coil structure for the wireless power transfer (WPT) system is proposed and analyzed. Compared with the traditional single-direction receivers, this harvester can provide more homogenous output power with relatively high transmission efficiency under arbitrary transmission directions. An analytical solution for mutual inductance calculation in the WPT system with multiple coils is derived. The influence of the mutual inductance under different angle inclinations on the magnetic flux leakage and transmission efficiency is analyzed accordingly. The proposed energy harvester has successfully transmitted over 20 W power with 110 mm, which is over twice of the radii of the receiving coils. The transmission directions can vary over 0°–360° with an efficiency of around 85% and the output power fluctuation within 5%. Thus, the performance is much better than the traditional receiver on both efficiency and stability of output power, especially when transmission direction changes or the receivers have a relatively large misalignment. The proposed energy harvester is particularly attractive for wireless charging of moving devices with 3-D trajectories such as drones or medical equipment.
Tensions between Western ECCD and the Indigenous African Educational System and What This Means for ECCD Practice

Tensions between the current model of Early Childhood Education practiced and the Indigenous or traditional ways of raising children are examined in the context of Ghana and West Africa. Ghana and other West African countries are making efforts to move away from didactic, teacher -directed methods of teaching in early childhood where children are treated as blank slates to be filled with knowledge by the teacher. These efforts are manifested in the multiple early learning theories that have been adopted in curricula to guide practice. However, this paper assesses tensions between the model of early childhood education currently practiced in Ghana (and West Africa more broadly) and Ghanaian Indigenous ways of raising children, which exposes how moving away from the teacher-centered method of teaching is difficult. Drawing on secondary data sources, in the form of a literature review of published articles, government documents, and reports from Non-Governmental Organizations, in this paper we identify that these tensions emerge due to the differences between the current Early Childhood Education program and the Indigenous educational system as well as the marginalization of Indigenous content from the Early Childhood Education program. Keywords : Early childhood education, child-led, teacher-centered, Indigenous, tensions. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-24-13 Publication date: August 31 st 2020
Investigation of a potential role for angiopoietin-like protein 2 in the migration of leukocytes during hibernation in thirteen-lined ground squirrels

Hanson, E.M. Investigation of a potential role for angiopoietin-like protein 2 in the migration of leukocytes during hibernation in thirteen-lined ground squirrels. MS in Biology, August 2014, 83pp. (B. Taylor) Thirteen-lined ground squirrels enter a state of torpor during the winter months, characterized by weight loss, decreased breathing rate, and decreased immune function. Upon entrance into torpor, the squirrels’ white blood cells (WBCs) almost completely disappear from the blood stream, and most levels quickly return to normal within 2 hours post arousal. It is hypothesized that these immune cells are stored in a peripheral organ or tissue during torpor; however the exact mechanism and location remain largely unknown. Angiopoietin-like protein 2 (Angptl2) is a protein primarily secreted by adipose tissue, which results in inflammation and the migration of WBCs to the adipose tissue. Angptl2 secretion is increased by conditions that are present during torpor, oxidative stress, and an increase in adipose tissue, so it was hypothesized that Angptl2 might play a role in the behavior of immune cells during torpor. A chemiluminescent western blot was used to measure and compare Angptl2 levels in plasma of non-hibernating, entering hibernation, torpid, interbout arousal and post arousal ground squirrels. Angptl2 levels were significantly higher in torpid than interbout arousal or post arousal animals. Immunohistochemical staining of adipose tissue found macrophages were approximately twice as abundant in torpid as non-hibernating tissue.