Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Some lessons learned about teaching, research, and academic disputation

In teaching I learned the importance of student assent to learn, and the power of students to withhold that assent. In research I learned the importance of being open to surprises and changes of mind, looking closely at all your evidence and not sweeping any of it under the rug. In academic disputation I learned about tribal isolation and siloing across disciplines in the field of education, and the difficult but important matter of trying to avoid “othering” those with whom you disagree. I also learned a great deal from my early experience in Lawndale [on Chicago's West Side], recognizing over time that in trying to help kids and adults there I had received much more from them than I gave. [Download the PDF and read more]
The Association Between MGP Gene Polymorphisms and Coronary Artery Disease

Objectives: Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is associated with coronary atherosclerosis. There is a significant relation between coronary artery wall calcification and coronary artery disease (CAD). The measure of coronary artery calcification is an indicator of subclinical atherosclerosis. In some studies, it has been shown that coronary artery calcification is independent from conventional cardiovascular risks, which suggests data about prognosis. Matrix Gla protein (MGP) is an important protective modulator against calcification since it is an inhibitor of tissue calcification. In this respect, we aimed to establish the relationship between the distributions of nucleotide alterations found in promoter and coding regions of the MGP gene in patients with CAD and patients with normal coronary. Methods: DNA samples (n=115) were obtained from 58 patients with CAD and 57 healthy controls. The DNA samples obtained were analyzed by a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method using three sets of primer pairs, which cover the coding (Thr83Ala in exon 4) and promoter regions (T-138C and G-7A) of the MGP gene. Amplified regions were analyzed by a Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) method for possible polymorphisms. Results: The chi-square analysis of the results revealed that there is no relationship between the observed polymorphisms and CAD. Conclusions: In this study, we investigated the relationship between MGP gene polymorphism and CAD. However, according to our findings, there was no statistically significant difference between the CAD and the control group.
Chatbots and virtual assistant in Indian banks

: This paper discusses the adoption of chatbots and virtual Assistants by different category of banks (private sector banks and public sector banks) in India. The research paper presents a brief introduction of banking industry in India, history, characteristics, and architecture of chatbots and virtual assistants. The research paper also included basic features, way to connect, services offered, accuracy, technology providers of chatbots and virtual assistants implemented by Indian banks. Research paper concluded that Indian banks are aggressively investing in chatbots and virtual assistant technology but features are limited. Most of the questions answered by chatbots/ virtual assistant are routine for which data is already available on websites of the banks. Secondly, awareness of chatbots/ virtual assistants is very low among the customers and employees of the banks. It necessitates enhancement of existing capabilities of chatbots/ virtual assistant deployed by Indian banks and awareness with respect to usefulness among employees and customers
Keeping Them Honest: The Long-term Effects of Protestant Missionaries on Honesty and Corporate Tax Avoidance in Modern China

Can Protestantism make people more honest? If yes, what does this mean for corporate behaviors and economic performance? Marshalling large and unique datasets on the 1920 Protestant diffusion in China, and the financial reports of about 125,000 Chinese industrial firms from 1999 to 2007, we find significant effects of historical Protestant activities on current corporate tax avoidance. We use disaster frequency as the instrumental variable to establish causality. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies and a peer-to-peer lending dataset containing the credit scores of over one million Chinese borrowers, we further find that individual honesty is the key social capital fostered by Protestantism in reducing tax avoidance. Our empirical results show that people from cities with more intense Protestant activities historically tend to have higher credit scores and trust others more. Our analyses suggest that religion may play a significant role in shaping individual and corporate behaviors, and that such effects tend to persist.
Health Risks of Firearm Ownership: A Patient Screening and Education Intervention

BACKGROUND There is significant health risk associated with firearm ownership. To address this risk a primary care-based intervention was designed and implemented to screen for firearm ownership, educate patients on the risks of gun ownership, and provide patients with resources for reducing associated health risks. METHODS A mixed methods study design was employed. Four primary care providers (PCP) practicing in family health volunteered to participate in this intervention. Focus groups with participating PCPs were conducted prior to the intervention to solicit recommendations for intervention protocol and assess participating PCPs current understanding of the health risks of firearm ownership, and after the intervention to obtain feedback regarding intervention impact, barriers encountered, and recommendations for intervention improvement. INTERVENTION Based on participating PCPs’ feedback from the preintervention focus group a handout containing a firearm ownership screening questionnaire and firearm risk patient education was created. Patients presenting to an outpatient family health clinic for annual preventative health care visits between July 29, 2019 and August 30, 2019 were screened for firearm ownership and educated on health risks of firearm ownership. RESULTS Over a period of one month a total of 126 patients were screened for firearm ownership and educated on the risks of firearm ownership. The majority of patients who owned firearms (93.8%) and those who did not (82.0%) reported being aware of the risks of firearm ownership. HEALTH RISKS OF FIREARMS 5 In addition, the majority of patients who owned firearms (90.8%) and those who did not (96.7%) responded “No” when asked if they wanted additional information on the health risks of firearm ownership and ways to reduce this risk. Significant intervention barriers identified during the postintervention focus group were knowledge adequacy, right to privacy, right to bear arms, and fear of the government / authorities. Factors identified as perpetuating firearm ownership include pride in firearm ownership and firearms as a symbol of one’s heritage. CONCLUSIONS Despite the barriers encountered in the course of conducting this study in Rochester, New Hampshire, the intervention was generally well received by patients in a State which produced approximately 1/7th of all firearms manufactured in the United States in 2017. We have demonstrated that this intervention can be performed at negligible cost in terms of time and money. This intervention could be readily adapted to suit different communities, providing health care professionals across the country with a favorable cost/benefit means to address a public health crisis.
Emulation of Loss Free Resistor for Single-Stage Three-Phase PFC Converter in Electric Vehicle Charging Application

In this article, the modular three-phase ac–dc converter using single-phase isolated Ćuk rectifier modules for charging of electric vehicles is discussed. The converters are designed and analyzed for the continuous conduction mode (CCM). This article is based on a new concept of adaptive sliding-mode-based loss-free resistor (ASLFR). ASLFR is a control scheme, which allows dual aim of power factor correction along with tight voltage regulation; hence, the adopted topology serves as a fitting single-stage solution for balanced three-phase systems. Complete theory is developed for the application, and the effectiveness of the scheme is well-established. Various studies to confirm the robustness of the system to any load and line variation are carried out. Moreover, a qualitative analysis is also made to show the expediency of the proposed ASLFR. Simulation as well as experimental studies are claimed theoretically.
Water availability, quality, and use in rural communities of the Chilean Coastal Range

Water availability, use, and quality in dispersed rural communities in a rural watershed within the Chilean Coastal Range were investigated through participatory research involving the local community, also called “citizen science. ” Research included the quantification of recharge water and water use at the household level; monitoring of water quality of streams, community water intakes, and household faucets; and the determination of land use and water quality interactions. A group of mainly women along with the children of three local rural elementary schools were involved in the principal aspects of the research, from design to implementation and remediation options. The study area receives considerable, but highly variable, rainfall, and the hydrogeological setting does not offer enough interannual natural storage to cope with increasing demand and variable water viability. Our results also showed that chemical quality of the water is relatively good, except for the high concentration of iron (Fe; >0.3 mg L−1), manganese (Mn; >0.1 mg L−1), and turbidity (>5 nephlometric turbidity units [NTU]). From the microbiological point of view, the water is of poor quality. The low water quality could be related to the lack of maintenance of water collection systems, nonmaintenance of septic tanks, animal traffic, and low coverage of associated riparian vegetation. In the present approach the involvement of children in research helped to stimulate the improved management of both land and water resources by the community, and this practice could be applied in small rural watersheds in developed or developing countries.
Changes in Wave Energy in the Shelf Seas of India during the Last 40 Years Based on ERA5 Reanalysis Data

Ocean wave energy is one of the cleanest renewable energy sources around the globe, but wave energy varies widely from place to place and from time to time. The long-term variability of wave power at 20 locations in the Indian shelf seas from 1979 to 2018 is described here using the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts recently released ERA5 reanalysis hourly data. The variability is calculated on a yearly and monthly basis for the locations based on the coefficient of variation. The annual average wave power varied from 2.3 (at location 16 in the western Bay of Bengal) to 11 kW/m (at location 2 in the northeastern Arabian Sea). Along the western shelf seas, the maximum value of wave power is during the southwest monsoon period and along the east coast, it is during the tropical cyclone period. The standard deviation in wave power is more than the mean value at locations along the northern shelf seas of India, indicating a large variability in wave power in an annual cycle. The west coast locations are shown to have a slightly higher increasing trend with an average of 0.024 kW/m per year, while the increasing trend in wave power of east coast locations is with an average of 0.015 kW/m per year. The study also examines the variation in wave power from deep to shallow water at 2 locations using the wave characteristics obtained from the numerical model SWAN. The electric power output from a few wave energy converters are calculated for all the locations and found that the southernmost locations have a steady and higher percentage of power production.
A systematic review of ergonomic risk factors associated with computer work-related musculoskeletal disorders in office workstations

This review aims to give an overview of ergonomic risk factors associated with computer work-related musculoskeletal disorders in office workstations. Data from 1990 until 2015 was revised using electronic databases.The overview based on computer work, office risk factors, musculoskeletal disorders, working posture, office components and office environment.Epidemiologic studies show that physical exposure has a moderate and strong association with Computer Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders.Sixteen items of risk factors with significant associations with body part exposure outcomes were identified. Ergonomic risks factors involved awkward postures , repetitive movement, excessive force and office environment.This study describes recommended posture angles as well as appropriate distance between office workers and office equipment.
Survey on WiFi-based indoor positioning techniques

With the rapid development of wireless communication technology, various indoor location-based services (ILBSs) have gradually penetrated into daily life. Although many other methods have been proposed to be applied to ILBS in the past decade, WiFi-based positioning techniques with a wide range of infrastructure have attracted attention in the field of wireless transmission. In this survey, the authors divide WiFi-based indoor positioning techniques into the active positioning technique and the passive positioning technique based on whether the target carries certain devices. After reviewing a large number of excellent papers in the related field, the authors make a detailed summary of these two types of positioning techniques. In addition, they also analyse the challenges and future development trends in the current technological environment.
Design and implementation of an effective web-based hybrid stemmer for Odia language

Stemmer is used for reducing inflectional or derived word to its stem. This technique involves removing the suffix or prefix affixed in a word. It can be used for information retrieval system to refine the overall execution of the retrieval process. This process is not equivalent to morphological analysis. This process only finds the stem of a word. This technique decreases the number of terms in information retrieval system. There are various techniques exists for stemming. In this paper, a new web-based stemmer has been proposed named as “Mula” for Odia Language. It uses the Hybrid approach (i.e. combination of brute force and suffix removal approach) for Odia language. The new born stemmer is both computationally faster and domain independent. The results are favourable and indicate that the proposed stemmer can be used effectively in Odia Information Retrieval systems. This stemmer also handles the problem of over-stemming and under-stemming in some extend.
Study on Global Industrialization and Industry Emission to Achieve the 2 °C Goal Based on MESSAGE Model and LMDI Approach

The industrial sector dominates the global energy consumption and carbon emissions in end use sectors, and it faces challenges in emission reductions to reach the Paris Agreement goals. This paper analyzes and quantifies the relationship between industrialization, energy systems, and carbon emissions. Firstly, it forecasts the global and regional industrialization trends under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) and Shared Socioeconomic Pathway2 (SSP2) scenarios. Then, it projects the global and regional energy consumption that aligns with the industrialization trend, and optimizes the global energy supply system using the Model for Energy Supply Strategy Alternatives and their General Environmental Impact (MESSAGE) model for the industrial sector. Moreover, it develops an expanded Kaya identity to comprehensively investigate the drivers of industrial carbon emissions. In addition, it employs a Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) approach to track the historical contributions of various drivers of carbon emissions, as well as predictions into the future. This paper finds that economic development and population growth are the two largest drivers for historical industrial CO2 emissions, and that carbon intensity and industry energy intensity are the top two drivers for the decrease of future industrial CO2 emissions. Finally, it proposes three modes, i.e., clean supply, electrification, and energy efficiency for industrial emission reduction.
Plant Growth Nullifies the Effect of Increased Water‐Use Efficiency on Streamflow Under Elevated CO2 in the Southeastern United States

Plant response to elevated CO2 concentration is known to increase leaf‐level water‐use efficiency through a reduction in stomatal opening. Recent studies have emphasized that increased plant water‐use efficiency can ameliorate the impact of drought due to climate change. However, there is a potentially counterbalancing impact due to the increased leaf area. We investigate long‐term trends (1951 to 2015) of observed streamflow in the Southeastern United States (SE US) and quantify the contribution of major drivers of streamflow changes using single factor climate modeling experiments from Community Land Model Version 5 (CLM5). The SE US streamflow observations do not exhibit a trend, which is in agreement with the CLM5 control experiment. Using the factorial set of CLM5 experiments, we find that increased leaf area under elevated CO2 leads to decreased runoff and completely counteracts increased runoff due to water‐use efficiency gains under elevated CO2 and land‐use change.
Formation of Clot Analogs Between Co-Flow Fluid Streams in a Microchannel Device

Hemodynamics plays an important role in the formation of blood clots, for which changes in hydrodynamic stresses and transport phenomena can initiate or inhibit the clotting process. Fibrin, which is converted from fibrinogen in blood plasma, plays a dominant role in structural mechanics of a clot. Clot analogs are conventionally fabricated in a static in vitro environment whereas clot formation in vivo occurs in the presence of dynamic blood flow. In this paper we demonstrate an ability to produce clot analogs at the boundary between active co-flow fluid streams. The time evolution of clot formation in microchannel flow was investigated using fluorescence imaging of fibrin clots at one-minute intervals. Time-tracking of skewness and kurtosis of fluorescence intensity data was conducted to monitor shape and density distribution changes in the clot. Soft lithography and casting techniques were used to fabricate a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic device which consisted of a Y-shaped microchannel 300 μm wide × 12 μm deep × 10 mm long with two inlets and a single outlet. The first inlet introduced fresh frozen plasma (FFP), which contains fibrinogen and plasma proteins. The second inlet introduced thrombin, which initiated the conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin. Clot analogs were formed at the interface between these two parallel streams. Flow was driven by withdrawal of a syringe pump at flow rates of 50 nL/min and 100 nL/min. Clots that are formed in such an engineered device provide opportunities to recapitulate the flow rates and concentrations of reagents, to mimic in vivo scenarios in which clot density and composition gradients depend on flow conditions.
The complete chloroplast genome sequence of an invasive plant Solanum rostratum (Solanaceae)

Abstract Solanum rostratum is native to Neotropics and southwestern United States and considered as an invasive plant in Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. However, information on the chloroplast (cp) genome of this species is limited. In this study, we present the complete chloroplast genome sequence of S. rostratum obtained by high-throughput nextgeneration sequencing technology. The whole cp genome was 155,559 bp long and comprised 130 genes, including 85 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. The S. rostratum cp genome had a GC content of 37.76%. Based on the concatenated coding sequences of cp PCGs, phylogenetic analysis showed that Phylogenetic tree revealed that S. rostratum and S. elaeagnifolium are closely related to each other within the genus Solanum.
Review on design and control of solid state transformer based microgrids

Solid state transformer (SST) is a high frequency switched power electronic based transformer with high controllability that enables flexible connectivity between existing medium voltage power distribution network, low voltage AC residential system and envisioned DC residential system. The SST is not a direct replacement of a conventional low frequency transformer, but a multi-purpose device that offers improved functionalities. The demanded requirements of the future power systems such as integration of distributed generation, DC loads and storage have enabled the microgrid technology to evolve. This paper is focused on the SST as an intermediary tool for microgrids. An overview of existing and possible SST based microgrid designs and control architectures, their advantages, disadvantages and the identified selection criteria are presented. With a special focus on existing experimental setups, the paper is concluded highlighting the possible areas of research that would enhance the integration of the SSTs into microgrids in the future.
Characteristic Function-Based Estimation of Affine Option Pricing Models

In this paper, we derive explicit expressions for certain joint moments of stock prices and option prices within a generic affine stochastic volatility model. Evaluation of each moment requires weighted inverse Fourier transformation of a function that is determined by the risk-neutral and real-world characteristic functions of the state vector. Explicit availability of such moment expressions allows to devise a novel GMM approach to jointly estimate real-world and risk-neutral parameters of affine stochastic volatility models using observed individual option prices. Moreover, the moment expressions may be used to include option price information into other existing moment-based estimation approaches.
REVIEW ON OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES EMPLOYED IN DISTRIBUTION GENERATION

Distributed Generators are playing a vital role and had achieve lot of attention due to their greater impact on various distribution systems. This approach encourages small scale technologies to produce electricity to the need at consumer end by utilizing the renewable energy sources. Power quality and reliability of distributed power can be attained by proper placing of Distributed Generators at appropriate location. Optimization tools were predominantly increasing their importance in integration of distributed generation. This paper proposes various reviews on recent optimization techniques being used over the years to the problem solving and sizing of DG units. In contrast this paper analyses the economical, technological, environmental etc., which are rapidly growing interest on integration of distributed generation by overcoming all the challenges. At last it presents several optimization techniques of the integration of distribution generation from renewable energy sources.
A case report of 29-year-old male patient with breast carcinoma

normal cancer antigen 15-3 (15 U/mL), estradiol (21.27 pg/mL) and testosterone (7.42 ng/mL) level. Genetic analysis was confirmed as eukaryote without chromosomal abnormality and no mutations of BRCA 1/2 genes. He underwent modified radical mastectomy for his breast cancer and the final pathologic diagnosis was a 3.6 cm invasive ductal Male breast cancer is a rare disease, accounting for about 1% of all breast cancers. Little is known about the etiology of male breast cancer, especially developed in young man. Genetic and hormonal factors have been reported to be involved in its pathogenesis. But, less is known regarding the role of anthropometric or other endocrine risk factors. It’s extremely rare for breast cancer to occur in young male patient because male breast cancer generally occur in old patients. A 29-year-old male was diagnosed with breast cancer in our institution who was with diabetes and obesity. There was no specific risk of genetic or hormonal factors for his breast cancer.