Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gender Differences in Chronic Kidney Disease. Findings from a Two Center Study in Nigeria

Gender differences have been known to exist both in physiologic and pathological states including kidney disease. There is a need to be well acquitted with these differences to enhance preventive and curative strategies for kidney diseases. One hundred and forty-four participants with chronic kidney disease, stage 3 to non-dialytic 5 had urine, blood, and radiological investigations to assess albuminuria, kidney function, and sizes. The findings were compared on a gender basis. Eighty-two males and 62 females participated. The mean age of the males and females were 47.9 ± 16.8 years and 50.5 ± 14.73 years respectively. A greater proportion of participants 65 years and older were females. Chronic interstitial nephritis was more common in females while chronic glomerulonephritis was more common in males. Hyponatremia, metabolic acidosis, and hyperphosphatemia were more common in females. Men used vitamin D analogs and erythropoietin more than women while women used sodium bicarbonate and phosphate binders more than men. Aging (OR-3.28, CI-2.69-387), hyponatremia (OR-4.74, CI-2.10-6.33), hypoalbuminemia ((OR-4.56, CI-3.45-7.49)), and metabolic acidosis (OR-4.14, CI-1.46-4.92) were independently associated with the female gender. Gender differences exist in the risk profile, epidemiology, laboratory findings, and response to treatment of CKD sufferers. Women had more hyponatremia and hyperphosphatemia while men had higher albumin and kidney sizes. Gender partitioned median range cut-offs of some variables would be needed for effective prevention, treatment, and follow-up of CKD sufferers.
Government Debt-Economic Growth Nexus in ASEAN-4 Countries

Given a background of controversial political and theoretical academic debate and diverse empirical result, as Checherita and Rother (2010) concluded government debt and economic growth relationship is a country specific issue. This paper aims to investigate the causal and dynamic effect of government debt on output growth in the context of developing economies with generally medium debt regime in ASEAN-4 countries. Namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand during 1985 to 2019 years. A robust multi-variable vector autoregressive (VAR) model at level is employed to capture the long run relations, and causality is addressed using Toda-Yamamoto (1995) approach. As a by-product of the analysis the effect of government debt on two essential factors of sustainable GDP growth, namely, private capital formation and human capital is examined. The findings of this paper which contrast with the general negative effect found in some empirical studies for developing countries, shows debt does not cause output growth in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand but the reverse is true. GDP response to debt shock is negative, positive and positive, respectively yet statistically insignificant. In other hand, in the Philippines the result shows the economy is debt-driven as debt positively cause GDP without improving private investment or human capital. Overall, the findings support well debt management. Given current debt regime, improvements on tax collection and government fund allocation in terms of priorities and efficiencies must be continued.
Pyrolysis Study of Mixed Polymers for Non-Isothermal TGA: Artificial Neural Networks Application

Pure polymers of polystyrene (PS), low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and polypropylene (PP), are the main representative of plastic wastes. Thermal cracking of mixed polymers, consisting of PS, LDPE, and PP, was implemented by thermal analysis technique “thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA)” with heating rate range (5–40 K/min), with two groups of sets: (ratio 1:1) mixture of PS and PP, and (ratio 1:1:1) mixture of PS, LDPE, and PP. TGA data were utilized to implement one of the machine learning methods, “artificial neural network (ANN)”. A feed-forward ANN with Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) as learning algorithm in the backpropagation model was performed in both sets in order to predict the weight fraction of the mixed polymers. Temperature and the heating rate are the two input variables applied in the current ANN model. For both sets, 10-10 neurons in logsig-tansig transfer functions two hidden layers was concluded as the best architecture, with almost (R > 0.99999). Results approved a good coincidence between the actual with the predicted values. The model foresees very efficiently when it is simulated with new data.
Electrospun Nisin-Loaded Poly(ε-caprolactone)-Based Active Food Packaging

Packaging for fresh fruits and vegetables with additional properties such as inhibition of pathogens grown can reduce food waste. With its biodegradability, poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) is a good candidate for packaging material, especially in the form of an electrospun membrane. The preparation of nonwoven fabric of PCL loaded with food additive, antimicrobial nisin makes them an active packaging with antispoilage properties. During the investigation of the nonwoven fabric mats, different concentrations of nisin were obtained from the solution of PCL via the electrospinning technique. The obtained active porous PCL loaded with varying concentrations of nisin inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Packages made of PCL and PCL/nisin fibrous mats demonstrated a prolongation of the fruits’ freshness, improving their shelf life and, consequently, their safety.
Magneto Chemically Reacting Micropolar Nanofluid Flow in Existence of Heat Source/Sink

The purpose of the current study is to focus on magneto hydrodynamic micropolar nanofluid flow together with heat source/sink towards a linearly stretching sheet that has been investigated numerically. The whole analysis has been carried out considering the influence of the Brownian motion and thermophoresis in existence of a chemical reaction of order one between base fluid and nanoparticles. A similarity transformation technique has been imposed to convert non-linear leading system of partial differential equations toward system of ordinary ones and then they are solved with the help of Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg method with shooting procedure. The physical traits of the problem like dimensionless temperature profiles, concentration profiles, and rate of heat and mass transfers are demonstrated using tabular and graphical outlines.
Insights into the Allosteric Effect of SENP1 Q597A Mutation on the Hydrolytic Reaction of SUMO1 via an Integrated Computational Study

Small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO)-specific protease 1 (SENP1) is a cysteine protease that catalyzes the cleavage of the C-terminus of SUMO1 for the processing of SUMO precursors and deSUMOylation of target proteins. SENP1 is considered to be a promising target for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and prostate cancer. SENP1 Gln597 is located at the unstructured loop connecting the helices α4 to α5. The Q597A mutation of SENP1 allosterically disrupts the hydrolytic reaction of SUMO1 through an unknown mechanism. Here, extensive multiple replicates of microsecond molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, coupled with principal component analysis, dynamic cross-correlation analysis, community network analysis, and binding free energy calculations, were performed to elucidate the detailed mechanism. Our MD simulations showed that the Q597A mutation induced marked dynamic conformational changes in SENP1, especially in the unstructured loop connecting the helices α4 to α5 which the mutation site occupies. Moreover, the Q597A mutation caused conformational changes to catalytic Cys603 and His533 at the active site, which might impair the catalytic activity of SENP1 in processing SUMO1. Moreover, binding free energy calculations revealed that the Q597A mutation had a minor effect on the binding affinity of SUMO1 to SENP1. Together, these results may broaden our understanding of the allosteric modulation of the SENP1−SUMO1 complex.
Measuring Traffic Enforcement Programme Efficiency using Perception of Being Caught (POBC)

Aside from being seen as the best indicator of an enforcement programme's efficiency, the "perception of being caught" (POBC) is also proven to be an effective means to gauge traffic law compliance among Malaysian road users. Therefore, the ultimate aim of this study is to produce a trend analysis of road users' POBC for committing traffic offences during festive seasons between the years 2008 and 2015. This study utilises secondary data from previous POBC studies covering the three main periods; i.e., before, during and after the implementation of OPS Bersepadu Enforcement Programme for Chinese New Year (CNY) and Hari Raya Aidilfitri (HRA) in Malaysia. Although the OPS Bersepadu programme has been around for years, this particular study shall only analyse the data from 2008 until 2015. Previous OPS Bersepadu studies have involved some 42,171 Malaysian road users and were conducted at selected locations along federal roads and expressways. The inferential statistics have documented significant difference and mean scores during the 8-year period. Further, the success of OPS Bersepadu has been at a moderate level, although such a programme is still being continued. Overall, this study finds that POBC is one of the most well-known tools for assessing an enforcement programme's efficiency. In addition, it also highlights the importance of enhancing current traffic enforcement programmes to increase the POBC level among road users.
A Proposal, Design, and Analysis of Planar Feed Gasket Antennas with Modified Substrate for Multiband Vehicular Applications

The Sierpinski Gasket fractal antennas can provide the best generic multiband behaviour among the several planar feed monopole antennas available for use in automotive applications. The Gasket geometries used in antennas can be classical, scale perturbed, or both scale and flare perturbed. When used in the planar feed configuration, the classical and perturbed Gasket fractal antennas suffer from considerable reflections at one or more multiband frequencies, rendering these frequencies unsuitable for usage. Therefore, a design modification in these antennas is essential. A novel design modification has been proposed in the Sierpinski Gasket fractal antennas in the present research work by utilizing metamaterial engineered substrates. It has been found that the metamaterials not only reduce reflections but these materials also lower Gasket antenna frequencies, thereby, facilitating reduction in the antenna size. The findings have been validated through the experimental investigations. The comprehensive design analysis presented in the present paper shall prove highly beneficial to the antenna designers in rapidly customizing the vehicular antennas.
Single switch quasi-resonant ZVS converter with tapped inductor

This paper presents a quasi-resonant zero-voltage switching boost converter with tapped inductor. Thanks to the use of a tapped inductor, a high voltage gain is achieved. A resonant circuit ensures that the converter transistor is switched at zero voltage. Soft transistor switching enables increase of converter operation frequency. The control is done by pulse width modulation and constant turn off time of the transistor. The softswitching technique enables the converter to operate at higher frequencies. We provide a detailed discussion of the operation of the converter and present its control characteristics. Next, we discuss the importance of optimally choosing the values of resonant elements. Finally, the results of laboratory tests are presented. Słowa kluczowe: ZVS, tapped inductor, quasi-resonant, boost converter.
Light Scattering and Turbidimetry Techniques for the Characterization of Nanoparticles and Nanostructured Networks

Light scattering and turbidimetry techniques are classical tools for characterizing the dynamics and structure of single nanoparticles or nanostructured networks. They work by analyzing, as a function of time (Dynamic Light Scattering, DLS) or angles (Static Light Scattering, SLS), the light scattered by a sample, or measuring, as a function of the wavelength, the intensity scattered over the entire solid angle when the sample is illuminated with white light (Multi Wavelength Turbidimetry, MWT). Light scattering methods probe different length scales, in the ranges of ~5–500 nm (DLS), or ~0.1–5 μm (Wide Angle SLS), or ~1–100 μm (Low Angle SLS), and some of them can be operated in a time-resolved mode, with the possibility of characterizing not only stationary, but also aggregating, polymerizing, or self-assembling samples. Thus, the combined use of these techniques represents a powerful approach for studying systems characterized by very different length scales. In this work, we will review some typical applications of these methods, ranging from the field of colloidal fractal aggregation to the polymerization of biologic networks made of randomly entangled nanosized fibers. We will also discuss the opportunity of combining together different scattering techniques, emphasizing the advantages of a global analysis with respect to single-methods data processing.
Understanding Rape Myth Acceptance: The Impact of Ambivalent Sexism and Conservatism in Surabaya

This study aims to analyze the impact of ambivalent sexism and conservatism on rape myth acceptance. Using a quantitative survey approach, this study assessed rape myth acceptance in a sample from Surabaya to represent urban societies in Indonesia. Ambivalent sexism towards women is constructed with hostile sexism (women are cunning) and benevolent sexism (women are weak and should be protected), measured by the Extended Ambivalent Sexism Inventory(α = .88). The Conservatism Scale measured beliefs to maintain traditional values and oppose changes (α = .77). Rape myth acceptance was measured by a vignette scale developed by researchers with two scenarios: the victim is familiar or non-familiar to the perpetrator (α = .87). Data from 381 respondents aged 18-40 years were collected and analyzed using Pearson correlation, ANOVA, t-test, and hierarchical linear regression. Results show that rape myth acceptance familiar scenario is influenced by conservatism and hostile sexism(R2 = .11;F(4,380) = 12.49p< . 001). Rape myth acceptance non-familiar scenario is also influenced by conservatism and hostile sexism(R2 = .15;F(4,380) = 17.14,p< . 001). Individuals who hold hostile sexism attitude toward womenand rigidly maintain traditional values tend to believe in rape myths. This research encourages structured and sustainable social interventions to dismantle rape myth acceptance, conservatism, and sexism towards women in Indonesian society.
Robust M Tests for Distribution Symmetry with Time Series Data

We propose a class of robust M tests for distribution symmetry of time series data. The proposed tests are robust to the estimation effect of replacing the unknown location parameter with its consistent estimator and are constructed by extending the M tests of Kuan and Lee (2006) and Lee (2007) to tests that permit non-differentiable odd functions. As compared with the skewness-coefficient-based test of Bai and Ng (2005, BN), our tests do not require consistent estimation of any nuisance parameters in the asymptotic variance and hence circumvent the problems arising from such consistent estimation. Moreover, with bounded odd functions and some robust location estimators, the proposed tests can even be robust to lack of any higher-order moments. Our simulations also reveal that the proposed tests are properly sized and, with proper odd functions, they are quite powerful for leptokurtic data. Our empirical study on US stock index returns also shows that the BN test produces conflicting results for NYSE. For DJIA and NASDAQ that are highly leptokurtic, distribution asymmetry is captured by the proposed tests but not the BN test.
The Comparison Effect of NaOH and KOH as The Leaching Solution for Silica from Two Different Coal Fly Ashes

One of the environmental problems is the waste from the coal combustion process from coal power plants or other industries that use coal as an energy source. The combustion process produces coal fly ash, which will accumulate in the environment. Subsequently, much research about the utilization of coal fly ash has been developed. Silica extraction from coal fly ash is one of the methods that can be used to utilize coal fly ash. This study carried out silica extraction using the Direct Alkaline Leaching (DAL) method. The coal ash was contacted with alkaline solvents (KOH and NaOH) with the variations of concentrations and the leaching time. The leaching solution filtrate will be precipitated with the addition of HCl. The characteristics of this silica from CFA and CFA B were analyzed by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Based on the results, it could be known that each of the coal fly ashes has different results for both alkaline solvents. CFA A has relatively less silica extraction results in both types of solvents. Meanwhile, CFA B gave higher silica extraction results with coal fly ash and solvent contact time for one hour.
Mortalidade neonatal e fatores de risco no estado do Paraná: tendência temporal no período de 2000 a 2016

Analisar as séries das taxas de mortalidade neonatal no estado do Paraná e fatores de risco entre os anos de 2000 a 2016. Trata-se de um estudo ecológico-descritivo-analítico utilizando modelos de regressão Quasi-Poisson e Gaussiano. Foram considerados os fatores sexo e idade da criança; idade e escolaridade da mãe. As taxas de mortalidade neonatal e neonatal precoce foram, em média, maiores para meninos em aproximadamente 2,6 e 2,4 mortes a cada 1.000 nascidos vivos, respectivamente, houve redução de uma morte a cada oito anos para meninas e uma morte a cada quatro anos para meninos em ambas as taxas. A cada cinco anos a taxa de mortalidade neonatal precoce decresceu 16% para mães até 19 anos e 12% para mães com mais de 19. Para a taxa de mortalidade neonatal houve queda de 11% a cada cinco anos nas duas faixas etárias. Entre mães com têm até sete anos de estudo houve queda de 6% na taxa de mortalidade neonatal e 11% na precoce, a cada cinco anos. Em todos os casos a taxa de mortalidade neonatal tardia não foi significativa. Houve queda significativa na taxa de mortalidade neonatal no estado do Paraná no período avaliado, com a mortalidade neonatal precoce despontando como o principal componente no decaimento; a mortalidade neonatal tardia manteve-se constante. Em média, o risco de morte neonatal é maior para os meninos; para bebês cujas mães têm até dezenove anos e entre recém-nascidos de mães com até sete anos de escolaridade.
Designing the Partially Porous Journal Bearings of an Aerostatic Spindle

The aerostatic journal bearings are widely used in ultra-precision machine tools. Due to remarkable ability of the porous medium in flow restriction, the porous aerostatic journal bearings are better than other types of aerostatic bearings in load carrying capacity, stiffness, damping and dynamic stability. The partially porous aerostatic journal bearing has the advantages of easy production and low cost. Moreover, the gap between the porous insert and the spindle can be adjusted to reduce the eccentricity due to high speed rotation. In this study, the effects of the size of the porous insert and the thickness of the air gap between the spindle and the housing on the gap pressure, the stiffness and the load carrying capability of the partially porous aerostatic journal bearing were figured out for performance evaluation.
Modélisation, expérimentation et optimisation multicritère d'un procédé de copolymérisation en émulsion en présence d'un agent de transfert de chaîne

L'objectif de cette etude est de developper une methodologie permettant de determiner et de mettre en \oe{}uvre les conditions operatoires optimales du procede fed-batch de copolymerisation en emulsion du styrene et de l'acrylate de butyle en presence d'un agent de transfert de chaine (CTA). Elle vise particulierement a optimiser la production et les caracteristiques physico-chimiques de particules de latex a proprietes d'usage ciblees. Apres une etude experimentale de l'impact des differents facteurs, le modele mathematique du procede a ete developpe traduisant l'effet particulier de l'agent de transfert de chaine sur la cinetique de polymerisation et mettant l'accent sur une les bilans de population. Une approche basee sur l'analyse de l'estimabilite des parametres a ensuite permis de selectionner 21 parametres parmi les 49 parametres du modele mathematique dont les valeurs ont ete identifiees grâce a un algorithme genetique. Le modele mathematique valide en modes batch et fed-batch a ensuite ete exploite pour l'optimisation multicritere du procede orientee vers la maximisation de la production de particules de latex possedant une morphologie de type coeur-ecorce avec un profil de temperature de transition vitreuse predefini. L'ensemble des solutions du front de Pareto a ete obtenu grâce a un algorithme evolutionnaire developpe et teste a cet effet. La meilleure alternative obtenue grâce a un outil d'aide a la decision a ete implementee experimentalement et comparee avec succes aux predictions du modele mathematique
Towards de-Westernism in citizenship studies: implications from China

ABSTRACT Modern citizenship is Western-centric, featuring Weberianism and Marshallianism as core paradigms. That orthodox view obscures the diversity of citizenship. Over the past three decades, three trends in citizenship studies have challenged this ‘orthodox consensus’: the diversification of the subjects and contents of citizenship rights; ‘citizenship after Orientalism’, which advocates bringing oriental societies into citizenship studies; and ‘acts of citizenship’, which shifts the core of citizenship from rights to acts. Sharing ‘de-Westernism’ as a goal, these approaches promote the study of citizenship from a wider range of perspectives. The Chinese experience of citizenship shows that de-Westernism needs to be taken further. We need to adopt even more diverse perspectives to further de-Westernise and enrich our understanding of citizenship. In this paper, ‘contextualism’ and the ‘tree of citizenship’ are advocated as more strongly de-Westernised perspectives.
Beating the seeing limit - adaptive optics on large telescopes.

Observations with ground based telescopes suffer from atmospheric turbulence. Independent of the telescope size the angular resolution in the visible is equivalent to that of a telescope with a diameter of 10–20 cm. This effect is caused by the turbulent mixing of air with different temperature in the atmosphere. Thus, the perfectly plane wave from a star at infinity is aberrated before it enters the telescope. In the following, we will discuss the physical background of imaging through turbulence, using Kolmogorov statistics, and the different techniques to sense and to correct the wave-front aberrations with adaptive optics. We will also present a simulation method for time-evolving turbulence. The requirements for the control loop of an adaptive optics system are discussed including formulas for the limiting magnitude of the guide star as a function of the wave-front sensing method, of the quality of the wave-front sensor camera, and of the degree of correction. In the discussion of tip-tilt correction by tracking the intensity peak rather than the intensity centroid some new aspects will be presented of the relationship between the properties of the wave-front, and the image intensity distribution. Also, a new method will be discussed to measure and distinguish individual turbulent layers in order to increase the isoplanatic angle. A short introduction to deformable mirror technology and the principles of adaptive optics with laser guide stars will be followed by examples of adaptive optics systems. Here, we will demonstrate how the image improvement is done in practice. Two tip-tilt systems and ALFA, the adaptive optics system with a laser guide star of the Calar Alto 3.5-m telescope will be presented in detail.