Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in adults registered in a primary health unit of Porto

Purpose. the study aims to describe the adult’s overall cardiovascular disease risk factors prevalence, including arterial stiffness and physical inactivity. Methods. the cross-sectional study involved 197 adults (males: 42%; mean age: 47 ± 13 years) from a Portuguese health centre. traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors were measured during clinical assessment. Arterial stiffness was evaluated with carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity ( 10 m/s). Physical inactivity (< 30 min/day of moderate to vigorous physical activity) was objectively assessed with accelerometry. the statistical procedures included descriptive analysis (means, medians, and frequencies) and between-gender comparisons (chi-square test and t -test) for cardiovascular disease risk factors. Results. Cardiovascular disease risk factors prevalence was as follows: dyslipidaemia: 71%, physical inactivity: 51%, hypertension: 43%, metabolic syndrome: 36%, arterial stiffness: 31%, smoking: 29%, and obesity: 20%. the prevalence of cardio-vas cular disease risk factors increases with age and is higher in males than in females. the prevalence of hypertension and metabolic syndrome was higher in participants with a lower educational level. the majority of hypertensive patients were more physically inactive (56.5%) than active (43.5%; p = 0.044). Conclusions. the overall prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors was high, with 1/3 having augmented arterial stiffening and half being physically inactive.
Hope Cultures in Organizations: Tackling the Grand Challenge of Commercial Sex Exploitation

Many organizations struggle with tackling grand challenges. Research has shown that coordinating and collaborating are central to these endeavors, but the emotions inherent in doing so have been overlooked. From a two-year narrative ethnographic study of an organization tackling the grand challenge of commercial sex exploitation, we build a key theoretical insight about the role of hope culture in the pursuit of grand challenges. We define hope culture as a set of assumptions, beliefs, norms, and practices that propagate hopeful thoughts and behaviors in pursuit of an organization’s goals. We show that when a hope culture is stronger, organizations more vibrantly engage with the grand challenge—the well-being of organizational members flourishes, and organizations ambitiously pursue their goals. When the strength of a hope culture flags, the opposite occurs. Two core mechanisms appear to drive the strength of a hope culture in these contexts: (1) narrative sensemaking of “triggering” organizational events and (2) emotional contagion. Our results demonstrate how hope cultures wax and wane in strength over time, operating as double-edged swords in organizations seeking to tackle grand challenges, with both positive and negative downstream implications. We offer rich, much-needed theory about the emotional realities of tackling grand challenges, as well as necessary guidance on how organizations might hope for a brighter future in the face of adversity.
Effectiveness of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy Reduces Leg Cramps in Patients of Lumbar Degenerative Disorders: A Retrospective Study

Background The extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) has been fully utilized in orthopedics, but there are few studies in the treatment of lower limb spasm and pain caused by lumbar degenerative disorders (LDD). This study assesses the influence of ESWT in patients with LDD. Methods From October 2017 to June 2019, 126 patients with LDD were enrolled. All patients received shock wave therapy, once every two days for four weeks in total. Each treatment consisted of 2,000 shocks with a frequency of 8-10 shocks per second. To analyze the therapeutic progress, the following tests were performed (before and after therapy; 1- and 3-month follow-up) to assess pain and functional efficiency: (1) Visual Analog Scale (VAS), (2) the frequency and duration of muscle cramps, and (3) Fugl-Meyer (LL). Results Mean BMI of the participants was 26.1 ± 3.0 kg/m2. There was no statistically significant difference in terms of age or BMI between the groups (p > 0.05). Although all scoring parameters improved in both groups, the improvement in the ESWT group was more pronounced in pain (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). A review of the LMA scores of our patients demonstrated moderate functional limitations before treatment and increased functional status after treatment in all patients, while overall functional status was fully improved in patients of the ESWT group (p < 0.001). Conclusion The ESWT is particularly effective effect for patients with LDD. The use of ESWT has a significant long-term influence on the reduction of pain, leg cramps, and the improvement of the general functional state in relation to the conventional motor improvement program.
Identification of genes and gene expression associated with dispersal capacity in the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Dispersal flights by the mountain pine beetle have allowed range expansion and major damage to pine stands in western Canada. We asked what the genetic and transcriptional basis of mountain pine beetle dispersal capacity is. Using flight mills, RNA-seq and a targeted association study, we compared strong-flying, weak-flying, and non-flying female beetles from the recently colonized northern end of their range. Nearly 3,000 genes were differentially expressed between strong and weak flying beetles, while weak fliers and nonfliers did not significantly differ. The differentially expressed genes were mainly associated with lipid metabolism, muscle maintenance, oxidative stress response, detoxification, endocrine function, and flight behavior. Three variant loci, two in the coding region of genes, were significantly associated with flight capacity but these genes had no known functional link to flight. Several differentially expressed gene systems may be important for sustained flight, while other systems are downregulated during dispersal and likely to conserve energy before host colonization. The candidate genes and SNPs identified here will inform further studies and management of mountain pine beetle, as well as contribute to understanding the mechanisms of insect dispersal flights.
Facial Expressions

： Johaass ◎ n （ 1973 ｝ Showed that human movements such as walking can be recognized from a sma 口 number ofdotsfixed at various pa rts of the body （biological motion ） ， We inve 試 igate whether peopie can also recognize facial exp re Sgons of emotion f 蹲 m movement of a small number of dots and the ro 罰 of motion in 麺 mation on 爬｝ cognition o ギ facial expressions ． Our results reveal that motion of as few as 18 dots attached to appropriate Iocations on a human face provides sufficient information to recognize facial expressbns
ENERGY EFFICIENT LIGHTING DESIGN - A CASE STUDY OF JIGME NAMGYEL ENGINEERING COLLEGE

This study focuses on efficient lighting design in Jigme Namgyel Engineering College (JNEC), under the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB). To carry out the detailed study and review of the existing lighting scheme, Relux simulation software was used and it is one of the high-performance software to simulate electric and daylight for illumination design and study. The study was based on the existing lighting scheme and a comparative study employing different luminaires (fluorescent lamp and LED) was performed succeeded by designing an efficient illumination lighting scheme. Further to increase energy saving during the daytime, daylight has been integrated with all the lighting schemes studied. The simulation result exhibits that the average illuminance for the existing lighting scheme is 161lx which does not meet the standard lx level for given infrastructures. Two new lighting schemes using fluorescent lamps and LED lamps were suggested following the standard lx level recommended at the workplace. The comparative life cycle cost analysis of the proposed lighting scheme resulted in 59.9% energy saving potential and accounted for a payback period of 2years when employing LED lamps instead of existing illumination fixtures.
Molecular connectivity between extra-cytoplasmic sigma factors and PhoP accounts for integrated mycobacterial stress response

The main purpose of this study is to understand how mycobacteria can sense numerous stress conditions and mount an appropriate stress response. Recent studies suggest that at low pH M. tuberculosis encounters reductive stress, and in response, modulates redox homeostasis by utilizing the phoPR regulatory system. However, the mechanism of integrated regulation of stress response remains unknown. To probe how PhoP contributes to redox stress response, we find that a PhoP-depleted M. tuberculosis shows a significantly enhanced susceptibility to redox stress relative to the WT bacilli. In keeping with these results, PhoP was shown to contribute to mycothiol redox state. Because SigH, one of the alternative sigma factors of mycobacteria, is known to control expression of redox inducible genes, we probed whether previously-reported PhoP-SigH interaction accounts for mycobacterial redox stress response. We had shown that under acidic conditions PhoP functions in maintaining pH homeostasis via its interaction with SigE. In striking contrast, here we show that under redox stress, direct recruitment of SigH, but not PhoP-SigH interaction, controls expression of mycobacterial thioredoxin genes, a major mycobacterial anti-oxidant system. Together, these unexpected results uncover novel stress-specific enhanced or reduced interaction events of sigma factors and PhoP, as the underlying mechanisms of an adaptive programme, which couples low pH conditions and mycobacterial thiol redox homeostasis. Significance M. tuberculosis encounters reductive stress under acidic pH. To investigate the mechanism of integrated stress response, we show that PhoP plays a major role in mycobacterial redox stress response. We observed a significant correlation between phoP-dependent and redox-active expression of thioredoxin genes, a major mycobacterial antioxidant system. Further probing on functioning of regulators reveals that while PhoP controls pH homeostasis via its interaction with SigE, direct recruitment of SigH, but not PhoP-SigH interaction, controls expression of thioredoxin genes. These strikingly contrasting results showing enhanced PhoP-SigE interaction under acidic pH and reduced PhoP-SigH interaction under redox conditions, uncover the underlying novel mechanism of mycobacterial adaptive program, coupling low pH with maintenance of redox homeostasis.
PalmHashNet: Palmprint Hashing Network for Indexing Large Databases to Boost Identification

Palmprint identification aims to establish the identity of a given query sample by comparing it with all the templates in the database and locating the most similar one. It becomes computationally expensive as the size of the database grows. It is because the number of comparisons becomes proportional to the number of templates stored in the database. The process needs to be accelerated to get a response in real-time, especially for large databases. This paper proposes a palmprint database indexing approach called PalmHashNet that generates highly discriminative embeddings to create a fixed-size candidate list for comparison to make identification a constant time operation. Acquired palmprint images are fed to the feature extraction network, which is pre-trained using softmax loss. A margin is added to the softmax loss to minimize the intra-class distance between samples belonging to the same class. It ensures that the features have high intra-class and low inter-class similarity. k-means and locality sensitive hashing (LSH) is investigated for index table creation. In this setting, cluster centers for k-means and hash values in the case of LSH serve as indices. The features are extracted for a given query palmprint and compared with the index values. The candidates lying in the most similar bin are retrieved for identification. The advantage of the proposed approach is that the query palmprint is compared with a small percentage of database instead of the whole. The proposed approach offers probabilistic guarantees for query identification in the selected bin. Experiments are conducted on four widely used palmprint databases viz. CASIA, IITD-Touchless, Tongji-Contactless and Hong Kong Polytechnic University Palmprint II (PolyU II). A penetration rate of 0.022%, 1.032%, 4.555%, and 0.39% at 100% hit rate is achieved on these databases, respectively. It makes the identification process approximately 4500, 96, 21, and 256 times faster on the respective databases.
Consistent Forcing Scheme in the Simplified Lattice Boltzmann Method for Incompressible Flows

Considering the fact that the lattice discrete effects are neglected while introducing a body force into the simplified lattice Boltzmann method (SLBM), we propose a consistent forcing scheme in SLBM for incompressible flows with external forces. The lattice discrete effects are considered at the level of distribution functions in the present forcing scheme. Consequently, it is more accurate compared with the original forcing scheme used in SLBM. Through Taylor series expansion and ChapmanEnskog (CE) expansion analysis, the present forcing scheme can be proven to recover the macroscopic NavierStokes (N-S) equations. Then, the macroscopic equations are resolved through a fractional step technique. Furthermore, the material derivative term is discretized by the central difference method. To verify the results of the present scheme, we simulate with multiple forms of external force interactions including the spaceand time-dependent body forces. Hence, the present forcing scheme overcomes the disadvantages of the original forcing scheme and the body force can be accurately imposed in the present scheme even when a coarse mesh is applied while the original scheme fails. Excellent agreements between the analytical solutions and our numerical results can be observed. AMS subject classifications: 76M28
A Review of the Motion Planning and Control Methods for Automated Vehicles

The motion planning and control method of automated vehicles, as the key technology of automated vehicles, directly affects the safety, comfort, and other technical indicators of vehicles. The planning module is responsible for generating a vehicle driving path. The control module is responsible for driving the vehicle. In this study, we review the main methods and achievements in motion planning and motion control for automated vehicles. The advantages and disadvantages of various planning and control methods are comparatively analyzed. Finally, some predictions and summaries based on the existing research results and trends are proposed. Through this analysis, it is believed that various types of algorithms will be further integrated in the future to complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses. The next area of research will be to establish more accurate vehicle models to describe vehicle motion, improve the generalization-solving ability of algorithms, and enhance the planning and control of integrated ‘human-vehicle-road’ traffic systems.
SSPipeline: A pipeline for estimating and characterizing uncertainty in coastal storm surge levels

Effective management of coastal risks demands projections of flood hazards that account for a wide variety of potential sources of uncertainty. Two typical approaches for estimating flood hazards include (1) direct physical process-based modeling of the storms themselves and (2) statistical modeling of the distributions and relevant characteristics of extreme sea level events. Recently, flexible and efficient mechanistically-motivated models for sea-level change have become widely used for characterizing uncertainty in projections of mean sea levels [Oppenheimer and Alley, 2016]. In order to complement these models for mean sea levels, there is also a need for fast and flexible estimates of extreme sea levels, and corresponding uncertainties. This is the motivating factor in the focus within the SSPipeline (Storm Surge Pipeline) project, that characterizes uncertainty in estimates of extreme sea levels, using a statistical modeling approach. Specifically, the SSPipeline project ingests and processes raw sea-level data and fits a statistical distribution to the extreme sea levels, which in turn permits estimation of the probabilities associated with these extremes.
Genome-Wide Analysis of the Homeobox Gene Family and Identification of Drought-Responsive Members in Populus trichocarpa

Homeobox (HB) genes play critical roles in the regulation of plant morphogenesis, growth and development. Here, we identified a total of 156 PtrHB genes from the Populus trichocarpa genome. According to the topologies and taxonomy of the phylogenetic tree constructed by Arabidopsis thaliana HB members, all PtrHB proteins were divided into six subgroups, namely HD-ZIP, ZF-HD, HB-PHD, TALE, WOX and HB-OTHERS. Multiple alignments of conserved homeodomains (HDs) revealed the conserved loci of each subgroup, while gene structure analysis showed similar exon–intron gene structures, and motif analysis indicated the similarity of motif number and pattern in the same subgroup. Promoter analysis indicated that the promoters of PtrHB genes contain a series of cis-acting regulatory elements involved in responding to various abiotic stresses, indicating that PtrHBs had potential functions in these processes. Collinearity analysis revealed that there are 96 pairs of 127 PtrHB genes mainly distributing on Chromosomes 1, 2, and 5. We analyzed the spatio-temporal expression patterns of PtrHB genes, and the virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) of PtrHB3 gene resulted in the compromised tolerance of poplar seedlings to mannitol treatment. The bioinformatics on PtrHB family and preliminary exploration of drought-responsive genes can provide support for further study of the family in woody plants, especially in drought-related biological processes. It also provides a direction for developing new varieties of poplar with drought resistance. Overall, our results provided significant information for further functional analysis of PtrHB genes in poplar and demonstrated that PtrHB3 is a dominant gene regulating tolerance to water stress treatment in poplar seedlings.
Useful Energy Prediction Model of a Lithium-ion Cell Operating on Various Duty Cycles

The paper deals with the subject of the prediction of useful energy during the cycling of a lithium-ion cell (LIC), using machine learning-based techniques. It was demonstrated that depending on the combination of cycling parameters, the useful energy (RUEc) that can be transfered during a full cycle is variable, and also three different types of evolution of changes in RUEc were identified. The paper presents a new non-parametric RUEc prediction model based on Gaussian process regression. It was proven that the proposed methodology enables the RUEc prediction for LICs discharged, above the depth of discharge, at a level of 70% with an acceptable error, which is confirmed for new load profiles. Furthermore, techniques associated with explainable artificial intelligence were applied, for the first time, to determine the significance of model input parameters – the variable importance method – and to determine the quantitative effect of individual model parameters (their reciprocal interaction) on RUEc – the accumulated local effects model of the first and second order. Not only is the RUEc prediction methodology presented in the paper characterised by high prediction accuracy when using small learning datasets, but it also shows high application potential in all kinds of battery management systems.
State-of-the-Art Techniques in RF Energy Harvesting Circuits

The exigency for continuous use of electrical devices has created greater demands for electricity along with more efficient transmission techniques. Energy from natural resources can be solar, thermal, vibration, friction, or Radio Frequencies (RF) signals. This state-of-the-art work provides a summary of RF energy harvesting techniques and can be used as a guide for the manufacture of RF energy scavenging modules. The use of Radio Frequency (RF) Energy Harvesting (EH) technique contributes to the development of autonomous energy devices and sensors. A rectenna system includes three main units: the receiving antenna, the impedance matching network, and the rectifier. We thoroughly analyze how to design a rectenna system with special emphasis given on the design of the rectifier. At the same time many works of the last 10 years are presented. This review article categorizes the used topologies depending on the type of antennas, IMNs, and rectifiers and comparatively presents their advantages and disadvantages.
Personality Traits Among Burnout Patients: Differences Between Psychiatric Burnout Patients and Controls with Regard to the Big 5 Personality Traits

DOI: 10.46998/IJCMCR.2021. 14.000326 Abstract Burnout describes a process, that takes years and is accompanied by symptoms like unmanaged stress, emotional exhaustion and reduced performance. Research in connection with personality traits found that extraverted, agreeable, open, conscientious and emotionally stable individuals have a lower risk of burnout and that these traits can predict part of the risk of burnout, as well as avoidance tendencies, such as openness towards problem solving and distancing ability. To investigate these factors, data from 126 diagnosed burnout patients and a set of 402 working adults was analyzed. We used single and multiple linear regression models as well as analyses of variance to compare these two groups. The personality dimensions of the participants were measured with the BFI-10 and the avoidance tendencies with two subscales of the AVEM. Our findings show that burnout patients exhibit a higher score in neuroticism and a lower score in extraversion than the control group. Neuroticism has a significant negative relationship with burnout risk, whereas extraversion has a significant positive relationship with burnout risk. Furthermore, distancing ability and openness to towards problem solving have a positive direct and mediating impact on the risk of developing burnout. With the help of these findings one can evolve new action-oriented and adaptive strategies for patients with burnout or people who are at risk of getting it.
Co-Teaching During Teacher Training Periods: Experiences of Finnish Special Education and General Education Teacher Candidates

ABSTRACT Co-teaching is highlighted as an opportunity to develop inclusive practices. This study aimed to investigate how teacher candidates experienced co-teaching during supervised teacher training periods. Data were collected through pair interviews and questionnaires (N = 22). The analysis was conducted through thematic analysis. Results show that the participants experienced both possibilities and challenges. Generally, they experienced planning and communication as time-consuming but as an opportunity to share ideas and knowledge. They experienced shared responsibilities and equal roles, but in some cases, inequalities appeared. Furthermore, they saw co-teaching as a way to meet diverse needs in the class, but some of the participants had some concerns regarding meeting the individual needs of pupils with individual educational plans (IEPs). Despite challenges, the results show that co-teaching is a valuable element of teacher training. Implications for teacher education are discussed.