Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Comprehensive Bioinformatics Analysis of TIMP2 in Multiple Malignancies

Background: Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP2), an endogenous inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases, has been disclosed to participate in the development and carcinogenesis of multiple malignancies. However, the prognosis of TIMP2 in different cancers and its correlation with tumor microenvironment and immunity have not been clarified.Methods: In this study, we conducted a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis to evaluate the prognostic and therapeutic value of TIMP2 in cancer patients by utilizing a series of databases, including ONCOMINE, GEPIA, cBioPortal, GeneMANIA, Metascape, and Sangerbox online tool. The expression of TIMP2 in different cancers were analyzed by Oncomine, TCGA and GTEx databases and mutation status of TIMP2 in cancers was then verified using cBioportal database. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of the TIMP family was exhibited by GeneMANIA. The prognosis of TIMP2 in cancers was performed though GEPIA database and cox regression. Additionally, the correlations between TIMP2 expression and immunity (immune cells, gene markers of immune cells, TMB, MSI, and neoantigen) were explored using Sangerbox online tool.Results: The transcriptional level of TIMP2 in most cancerous tissues were significantly elevated. Survival analysis revealed that elevated expression of TIMP2 was associated with unfavorable survival outcome in multiple cancers. Enrichment analysis demonstrated the possible mechanisms of TIMPs and their associated genes mainly involved in pathways including extracellular matrix (ECM) regulators, degradation of ECM and ECM disassembly, and several other signaling pathways. Conclusions: Our findings systematically dissected that TIMP2 was a potential prognostic maker in various cancers and use the inhibitor of TIMP2 may be an effective strategy for cancer therapy to improve the poor cancer survival and prognostic accuracy, but concrete mechanisms need to be validated by subsequent experiments.
Digital Certificate Verification Scheme for Smart Grid using Fog Computing (FONICA)

Smart Grid (SG) infrastructure is an energy network connected with computer networks for communication over the internet and intranets. The revolution of SGs has also introduced new avenues of security threats. Although Digital Certificates provide countermeasures, however, one of the issues that exist, is how to efficiently distribute certificate revocation information among Edge devices. The conventional mechanisms, including certificate revocation list (CRL) and online certificate status protocol (OCSP), are subjected to some limitations in energy efficient environments like SG infrastructure. To address the aforementioned challenges, this paper proposes a scheme incorporating the advantages and strengths of the fog computing. The fog node can be used for this purpose with much better resources closer to the edge. Keeping the resources closer to the edge strengthen the security aspect of smart grid networks. Similarly, a fog node can act as an intermediate Certification Authority (CA) (i.e., Fog Node as an Intermediate Certification Authority (FONICA)). Further, the proposed scheme has reduced storage, communication, processing overhead, and latency for certificate verification at edge devices. Furthermore, the proposed scheme reduces the attack surface, even if the attacker becomes a part of the network.
IN-SERVICE TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THEIR PRE-SERVICE ART EDUCATION PROGRAM IN UGANDA

This research aimed to determine IVATs’ perceptions of the effectiveness of their pre-service visual arts program in equipping them with the professional skills needed in VA teaching. Prompted by the persistent complaints about the teachers’ lack of competencies that they should have acquired during their pre-service art teacher preparation, it specifically examined the VAC focusing on content, teaching methods, resources and assessment in VA and their relationship to the content gap IVATs are observing in VA teaching at the secondary school level. A qualitative approach was used to solicit participants’ views about the effectiveness of their pre-service teacher education. The research was supported by the constructivist and interpretive philosophies which offer IVATs as well as tutors with the opportunity to construct their knowledge through social interaction, communication, and inquiry learning. The research was carried out at Makerere University-School of Education, which was conveniently selected because all the IVATs who participated in this research were students in this University. The researchers used a probabilistic sampling technique which uses a simple random sampling. A lottery method was used to select the desired number of 30 out of the 42 IVATs in total. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from 5 focus groups of second and third year IVATs. Findings revealed that there was inadequate content coverage, less use of active teaching methods, and concentration on summative assessment. The researchers recommended that the M.o. E.S together with NTCs restructure the VAC to allow adequate content coverage, use of active teaching methods and use of formative assessment for they equip the learners with knowledge and skills required in VA teaching. Keywords: in-service visual arts teachers, constructivism, qualitative research, visual arts education
Soil microbial community responding to moderately elevated nitrogen deposition in a Japanese cool temperate forest surrounded by fertilized grasslands

ABSTRACT To examine the hypothesis that the soil microbial community in a nitrogen (N) limited forest responds to moderately elevated N deposition (< 10 kg ha−1 yr−1), correlations between N deposition and soil microbial properties were analyzed in a cool temperate forest surrounded by normally fertilized pasture grasslands in northern Japan. Three experimental plots were established in forest edges adjacent to the grasslands, and the other three plots were in forest interiors at least 700 m away from the grasslands. N deposition in each plot was measured from May to November 2018. In August 2018, we collected litter and surface soil samples from all plots to measure net N mineralization and nitrification rates as indicators of microbial activity, and microbial biomass and various gene abundances (i.e., bacterial 16S rRNA gene, fungal ITS region, and bacterial and archaeal amoA genes) as indicators of microbial abundance. N deposition in forest edges was 1.4-fold greater than that in forest interiors, whereas maximum N deposition was 3.7 kg ha−1. N deposition was significantly correlated with net N mineralization and nitrification rates and 16S rRNA and bacterial amoA gene abundances. Microbial community structures analyzed for bacterial 16S rRNA gene and fungal ITS region amplicons were different between litter and soil samples but were similar between the forest edge and interior, although this analysis was made only for single pair of the two plots in the forest edge and interior. N deposition was also correlated with the soil C/N ratio and nitrate and ammonium contents. Thus, it was suggested that some soil microbial activities and abundances in an N limited forest likely responded to moderately elevated N deposition. These findings provide primary information on soil microbial response to moderately elevated N deposition.
Relationship between Managers’ Support and Training Application with Motivation to Learn as Mediator

Mohamad, N. I. , Ismail, A. , & Nor, A. M. (2021). Relationship Between Managers’ Support and Training Application with Motivation to Learn as Mediator. Etikonomi, 20(1), 119 – 136. https://doi.org/10.15408/etk.v20i1. 15231. Abstract This study aims to assess the association between managers’ support, motivation to learn, and training application. The survey method utilizes to collect data from employees at Central Government Agencies in Putrajaya, Malaysia. The SmartPLS was employed to evaluate the quality of survey questionnaire data and test the research hypotheses. SmartPLS path analysis model’s findings displayed that managers’ support affects training application by the mediation with motivation to learn. This finding provides essential recommendations that practitioners may use to understand different motivations to learn and formulate a training master plan that may inspire employees to maintain and accomplish their organizations’ strategies and goals in times of global competition and economic uncertainty.
A guide to minimize contamination issues in microbiome restoration studies

Many restoration ecology studies now incorporate an environmental microbiome component, made possible mainly via advanced DNA sequencing technologies. Environmental microbiomes are important for successful restoration as they support many ecosystem functions and services that are a target of restoration interventions. However, since microbes are ubiquitous in most environments, including laboratories and researchers, there are contamination risks. If these risks are not adequately managed, the conclusions drawn from these microbiome restoration studies could be compromised. Here, we provide a user guide for restoration ecologists on how to navigate microbiome contamination risks at each stage of a study, from planning and sampling to data analysis and publishing. The two main categories of contamination we discuss are cross‐contamination—contamination between samples—and external contamination—contamination from reagents and environmental sources. We also consider the impact of batch effects, where sampling and/or processing order could leave a signal in the data. Without adequate control, these contamination issues can undermine the results of microbiome restoration studies. We hope that this guide will help minimize the effect of contamination and improve the quality of data and studies going forward.
Reduced Precision DWC: An Efficient Hardening Strategy for Mixed-Precision Architectures

Duplication with Comparison (DWC) is an effective software-level solution to improve the reliability of computing devices. However, it introduces performance and energy consumption overheads that could be unsuitable for high-performance computing or real-time safety-critical applications. In this article, we present Reduced-Precision Duplication with Comparison (RP-DWC) as a means to lower the overhead of DWC by executing the redundant copy in reduced precision. RP-DWC is particularly suitable for modern mixed-precision architectures, such as NVIDIA GPUs, that feature dedicated functional units for computing with programmable accuracy. We discuss the benefits and challenges associated with RP-DWC and show that the intrinsic difference between the mixed-precision copies allows for detecting most, but not all, errors. However, as the undetected faults are the ones that fall into the difference between precisions, they are the ones that produce a much smaller impact on the application output and, thus, might be tolerated. We investigate RP-DWC impact into fault detection, performance, and energy consumption on Volta GPUs. Through fault injection and beam experiment, using three microbenchmarks and four real applications, we show that RP-DWC achieves an excellent coverage (up to 86 percent) with minimal overheads (as low as 0.1 percent time and 24 percent energy consumption overhead).
Progress of the Oil Spill Risk Analysis (OSRA) Model and Its Applications

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is responsible for managing the development of US Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) energy and mineral resources. Because oil spills may occur from offshore oil and gas activities, BOEM conducts oil spill risk analysis (OSRA) prior to oil and gas lease sales. Since the 1970s, BOEM has developed and applied the OSRA model to evaluate the risk of potential oil spills to environmental resources. This paper summarizes some of the OSRA model progress and applications in the past decade: (1) calculation of the risk of catastrophic oil spills (with a volume over one million barrels), which concludes that the return period of a catastrophic oil spill in OCS areas is estimated to be 165 years; (2) a more efficient way to estimate the probability of oil spill contact to environmental resources in the Gulf of Mexico; (3) weathering calculations in OSRA, which enhances the accuracy of the OSRA model results; and (4) application of OSRA to the Ixtoc I oil spill as an example of how the OSRA model simulates large oil spills for oil spill preparedness and response.
Synthesis of metallophthalocyanines with four oxy-2,2-diphenylacetic acid substituents and their structural and electronic properties

Abstract The synthesis and characterization of new copper-, magnesium- and cobalt- phthalocyanine complexes are reported. It appears that these complexes are not aggregated in THF in the concentration range of 1×10−5–1×10−6 m. Additional structural and electronic data about the new complexes were obtained by calculations with the application of density functional theory at B3LYP/6-31G(d, p) level.
High temperature spin-polarized semiconductivity with zero magnetization in two-dimensional Janus MXenes

Searching for two-dimensional (2D) materials with room-temperature magnetic order and high spin-polarization is essential for the development of next-generation nanospintronic devices. A new class of 2D magnetic materials with high Neel temperature, fully compensated antiferromagnetic order (zero magnetization) and completely spin-polarized semiconductivity is proposed for the first time. Based on the density functional theory calculations, we predict these properties for asymmetrically functionalized MXenes (Janus Cr2C) – Cr2CXX′ (X, X′ = H, F, Cl, Br, OH). The valence and conduction bands in these materials are made up of opposite spin channels and they can behave as bipolar magnetic semiconductors with zero magnetization. A Neel temperature as high as 400 K has been found for Cr2CFCl, Cr2CClBr, Cr2CHCl, Cr2CHF, and Cr2CFOH materials. Remarkably, the spin carrier orientation and induced transition from bipolar magnetic semiconductors to half-metal antiferromagnets can be easily controlled by electron or hole doping. The band gap of Janus MXenes can be effectively tuned by the selection of a pair of chemical elements/functional groups terminating the upper and the lower surfaces. The spin-polarized semiconductivity with zero magnetism is preserved when MXenes are put on the SiC(0001) support. The results presented herein open a new road towards the construction of 2D high-temperature spin-polarized materials with antiferromagnetism potentially suitable for spintronic applications.
Analysis of Height-to-Width Ratio of Commercial Streets with Arcades Based on Sunshine Hours and Street Orientation

By extracting and simplifying the characteristics of commercial streets with arcades (Qilou) in Nanning, the tissue map of Qilou streets which reflects the urban morphology, including the road network form, block scale, building scale and other characteristics in a hot and humid area is obtained. In addition, the sunshine simulation is performed by using sunshine design software in an environment comprising streets with arcades to simulate street sunlight environments under various conditions. The relationship among street height-to-width ratio, sunshine hours, and street orientation angle is achieved by nonlinear fitting analysis. Then, a model is established to adjust the street height-to-width ratio based on sunshine requirement and street orientation. The finding indicated that when the street is north–south, it is suggested that the street height-to-width ratio is 0.95–1.13 to reduce sunshine hours effectively, and when the street is east–west, it is proposed that one side of the street should have a recessed space to improve the thermal conditions. The results of this study can serve as the specific guidelines that can be adopted in the redesign and reformation of commercial streets with arcades to achieve thermal comfort of Qilou streets in hot and humid areas.
Improving educational quality through active learning: Perspectives from secondary school teachers in Malawi

Addressing the learning crisis in low-income contexts remains a major concern. This paper analyses how active teaching and learning pedagogy (ATL) was implemented in secondary schools in Malawi to improve learning outcomes. Based on interviews with teachers and headteachers from five schools, the paper seeks to explore how ATL was understood and implemented, and what challenges were experienced from the perspectives of trained and untrained teachers. The findings reveal that ATL was positively viewed by all participants, as it was considered beneficial in improving students’ academic performance and skills development. All participants identified some key implementation challenges, including large classes, lack of materials, the use of English, long distance to school and poverty. The paper underscores the need to move away from a polarised view of pedagogy (direct instruction against ATL) and conceptualise active learning on a continuum.
Cyclicality in non-state violence: theory and evidence

ABSTRACT What explains recurrent fluctuations in violence within militant groups? Temporal swings in the number of attacks perpetrated are common, but lack a general explanation. I provide evidence of cycles in attacks, and provide a theory of why organizational levels of violence vary serially. First, due to the contradictions of non-state violence, there exist, simultaneously, upward and downward pressures on its use. By “contradictions,” I mean that violence is both beneficial and detrimental to an organization. It can secure public support and government concessions, but can also tarnish a group’s reputation and invite retaliatory violence. Second, since the relative strength of each type of pressure (upward or downward) varies inversely with how much it is accommodated, organizations face disincentives to pause at high or low levels of violence. Groups that shift tactics to accommodate one pressure find they have activated another. For example, a group that curtails violent attacks to avoid government repression finds it lacks media attention. These pressures incentivize a reprise in violence, causing the up-and-down pattern to repeat. Finally, the cyclical pattern is reinforced by endogenous interactions between militants’ political environments and their decision-making processes. I provide suggestive support for the arguments by examining the Basque group ETA.
PCC-RPL: An efficient trust-based security extension for RPL

ABSTRACT RPL is a de facto routing protocol for IoT (Internet of Things). In this paper, an efficient IDS (intrusion detection system) is proposed to solve a major security vulnerability of RPL, which is called fabricated parent change. We show that many well-known attacks and security breaches are carried out via this vulnerability. The proposed method, which is called PCC-RPL (Parental Change Control RPL), prevents unsolicited parent changes by utilizing the trust concept. In PCC-RPL, all parents monitor their children behavior continuously. When a malicious activity is detected by the parent, it decreases the child's trust level and informs the root by sending a suspicion message. Our simulation results indicate that PCC-RPL can detect almost all common RPL attacks with an acceptable accuracy compared to a well-known method. Low control overhead, low energy consumption, short attack detection delay, and high precision are the main features of the proposed scheme.
Analysis of Aid Absorption in Burkina Faso: Could Donors’ Coordination Play an Effective Role?

This study assesses absorption level of aid in Burkina Faso and analyzes the factors that determine this level. The analysis postulates that the level in absorbing aid is low and assumes that this level is determined by the multiplicity of donors and by mechanisms used to coordinate aid. To test this assumption, the study uses secondary data collected from 10 sectors of public administration over the period 2000-2019. Aid allocated to these sectors represented at least 75% of total aid received by the country during this period. The assessment indicate that about 58.46% of aid allocated to these sectors was effectively spent. Factors determining this absorption level were estimated using a Tobit model. The results conclude that the limiting factors lie both in donors’ behavior and in aid coordination mechanisms. Thus, better donors’ coordination could be an effective mechanism to improve aid absorption in these sectors.
Comparative Analysis of Scene Classification Methods for Remotely Sensed Images using Various Convolutional Neural Network

Remote sensing image (RSI) scene classification has received growing attention from the research community in recent days. Over the past few decades, with the rapid development of deep learning models particularly Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), the performance of RSI scene classifications has been drastically improved due to the hierarchical feature representation learning through traditional CNN. But, we found that these models suffer from characterizing complex patterns in remote sensing imagery because of small inter class variations and large intra class variations. In order to tackle these problems, we have finetuned and proposed three different CNN models namely, Dilated CNN (D-CNN), RSI Scene Classification model (RSISC-16 Net) and fused the features of CNN and RSISC-16Net to improve the performance of RSI scene classification. The aim of proposed CNN models is to incorporate more relevant information by increasing the receptive field of convolutional layer. In addition, we have performed feature fusion of two CNN models and finetuned by varying hyper parameters such as activation function, dropout probability and batch size to reduce over fitting problem and to improve the performance of our proposed work. For evaluating the proposed approach, we have collected 7,000 remote sensing images from NWPU 45-class dataset and the experiments are carried out using different CNN models and results. The obtained accuracy is 89.85%, 94.7% and 96.5% respectively.
Environmental and Social Goals in Spanish SMEs: The Moderating Effect of Family Influence

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the predominant form of firm in the economy worldwide, so it is becoming increasingly important to understand the role they play in the green transition. It is urgent to understand how SMEs establish their goals that reorient their strategies and activities towards the creation of greater environmental value. From a stakeholder perspective, this study analyzes the environmental and social goals that create value in SMEs. We identify family influence as an important determinant for the establishment of environmental goals in SMEs that has not been sufficiently studied. We tested the hypotheses in a sample of 132 Spanish SMEs. Our findings indicate that setting social goals and having family characteristics have a direct positive effect on the environmental goals of SMEs. In addition, family influence positively moderates the effect of social goals, increasing its effect in the establishment of environmental goals for the creation of value in SMEs. This is due to the desire of family SMEs to increase their socio-emotional wealth and their transgenerational intention by incorporating the requirements of stakeholders. These findings highlight the importance of particularly considering the family characteristics of SMEs when analyzing the role that SMEs play in the green transition and should also be important for policy makers when designing environmental policies.