Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Statistical Methods and Machine Learning Algorithms for Investigating Metabolic Syndrome in Temporomandibular Disorders: A Nationwide Study

The objective of this study was to analyze the associations between temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) components, consequences, and related conditions. This research analyzed data from the Dental, Oral, Medical Epidemiological (DOME) records-based study which integrated comprehensive socio-demographic, medical, and dental databases from a nationwide sample of dental attendees aged 18–50 years at military dental clinics for 1 year. Statistical and machine learning models were performed with TMDs as the dependent variable. The independent variables included age, sex, smoking, each of the MetS components, and consequences and related conditions, including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), obesity, cardiac disease, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), transient ischemic attack (TIA), stroke, deep venous thrombosis (DVT), and anemia. The study included 132,529 subjects, of which 1899 (1.43%) had been diagnosed with TMDs. The following parameters retained a statistically significant positive association with TMDs in the multivariable binary logistic regression analysis: female sex [OR = 2.65 (2.41–2.93)], anemia [OR = 1.69 (1.48–1.93)], and age [OR = 1.07 (1.06–1.08)]. Features importance generated by the XGBoost machine learning algorithm ranked the significance of the features with TMDs (the target variable) as follows: sex was ranked first followed by age (second), anemia (third), hypertension (fourth), and smoking (fifth). Metabolic morbidity and anemia should be included in the systemic evaluation of TMD patients.
Reconstituting Water? Climate Change, Water Policy Reform and Community Relations in South Australian Remote Towns

Water is a principal medium of exchange within communities facing changing climate patterns and the ‘new dry’. For some parts of the globe water has been taken-for-granted, uncontested, yet for others highly variable, scarce and a measure of global and national inequalities. Australia as a large and diverse landmass is emblematic of those varied water contexts, yet as a whole, and after the recent ‘100-year drought’, water has become heavily regulated and marketised, and its material and symbolic meanings transformed. This has led us to ask: “What happens when water becomes marked or recognised as a scarce resource for all, indeed a site of contest and potential human conflict? How do the attempts to control water, through its market currency and environmental value, change the character of communities, the identities and interpersonal relationships that constitute the regional context? ” After all, water is about far more than a material resource, it is also a cultural medium that is implicated the most fundamental aspects of life. In this study we explore the ways in which South Australian's living in the arid north of the state, above the Goyder Line, live and identify through the changing relations of water. Those changing relations are the changing availability and governance of water, nested within an ever-present public concern about climate change. We draw upon interviews with settler community members from a 200 square kilometre region across 7 towns or stations. Alongside the growing dry has been the developing commodification of water, having the effect of reducing local autonomy in the management and decision making about water conservation, supply and use. This paper considers the ways that these changes have transformative effects upon the differences and solidarities within local community relations.
Acta Polytechnica CTU Proceedings

In this study, we investigated specimens of artificial bone foams, developed by the research group for surgical simulators at the UAS Linz, which are used to mimic the haptic feedback of physiologic and pathologic bone for more realistic surgery training. Specimens with two kinds of mineral filler material as well as different amounts of foaming agent were tested in an environmental in-situ loading stage developed by the ITAM CAS and scanned via X-ray micro-computed tomography. In this in-situ stage, specimens can be immersed in liquid and tested under temperature-controlled conditions. Consequently, a total amount of 12 specimens was subjected to compression loading; half of them immersed in water at 36.5 ◦C and half in dry condition. Results showed that there is no significant influence of liquid immersion to the compression outcome. However, foams with less amount of foaming agent appeared to have smaller pores resulting in higher compression strength.
An Efficient Linear Programming-Based Time-Optimal Feedrate Planning Considering Kinematic and Dynamics Constraints of Robots

This letter investigates the time-optimal trajectory generation for a six-degrees-of-freedom articulated robot moving along a given parametric path. In the generation procedure, besides the velocity, acceleration, and joint torque, the jerk is also constrained to enhance the smoothness of the robot's motion. Meanwhile, the trajectory generation is formulated as a convex optimization problem with a nonlinear objective function and constraints. Then, the problem is solved with a typical linear programming (LP) approach by discretizing the continuous path into many sampling points. Specifically, the time-optimal problem is formulated as maximizing the sum of the velocities at all discrete points instead of minimizing time. Moreover, the time-optimal trajectory generation with nonlinear jerk constraints is decoupled into two sub-LP problems, and the solution of the first sub-LP is employed to scale the nonlinear constraints. Finally, the proposed method is verified through robotic experiments. The results indicate that the smoothness of the generated trajectory improves significantly. Also, the trajectory planning accuracy and computational efficiency are increased by 36% and 62%, respectively.
Acupuncture therapy for Parkinson’s disease: a case report demonstrating symptomatic improvement without medication

Background Parkinson’s disease (PD) often necessitates immediate medical intervention following diagnosis. In recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in clinical investigations assessing the efficacy of acupuncture in PD, with many studies reporting positive outcomes. Ethical guidelines commonly endorse pharmaceutical therapies for PD, leading ongoing research to combine acupuncture with standard drug-based treatments. At present, there is a conspicuous absence of dedicated clinical research exclusively examining the independent impact of acupuncture on PD treatment. Case In a clinical observation, we documented a case involving a 75-year-old male displaying progressive, characteristic PD symptoms, including evident limb tremors, rigidity, bradykinesia, fatigue, and additional non-motor symptoms. The patient received a confirmed diagnosis of PD. Due to the refusal of the patient to take medication, we exclusively administered acupuncture therapy. The outcomes indicated a noteworthy enhancement in the clinical symptoms of the patient solely through acupuncture intervention. Conclusion This case affirms that using acupuncture in isolation significantly improved both the motor and non-motor symptoms in the patient. Acupuncture could potentially serve as an alternative therapy for patients who decline or are intolerant to anti-Parkinson drugs. However, further studies are needed to assess its long-term efficacy. This case report obtained approval from the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (Ethics number: K-2023-127).
MULTIDISCIPLINARY: APPLIED BUSINESS AND EDUCATION Job Satisfaction and Work Commitment of Hospitality Industry Employees in Dapitan City

This study investigated the relationship between job satisfaction and work commitment among Dapitan City’s hospitality industry employees. It used a descriptive research method utilizing a questionnaire as the principal tool for gathering data. Data were statistically treated using frequency, weighted mean, Mann-Whitney U-Test, Kruskal-Wallis H-Test, and Spearman Rank-Or-der Correlation. The study revealed that employees were satisfied with their salary (existence), work environment (relatedness), and the way they were mentored in the performance of their jobs (growth). Most of the employees were committed to their work as they identified that the establishment had a deep sense of personal meaning to them (affective); that, for now, choosing to remain in the organization is motivated by both necessity and desire (contin-uance); and the establishment deserves their loyalty (normative). A significant difference resulted in job satisfaction when analyzed according to civil status. Moreover, when analyzed according to educational attainment and employment status, a significant difference was identified in employees' work commitment. Finally, it was discovered that among hospitality industry employees in Dapitan City, job satisfaction and work commitment have a considerably high positive relationship. Hospitality industry stakeholders and employees are encouraged to support educational advancement and enhance management practices to minimize employee turnover. Legislators and policymakers are encouraged to enact policies and measures in line with the improvement and advancement of hospitality industry employees.
MULTIDISCIPLINARY: APPLIED BUSINESS AND

This manuscript explored the integration of positive psychological science in the context of treatment and rehabilitation of persons who use drugs (PWUDs). Banking on the psychological needs of PWUDs based on the initial investigation conducted by Masanda et. , al. (2022), this study endeavors to design a Positive Psychology Intervention (PPI) program that aims to harness the Character Strengths and Virtues (CSV) of the PWUDs as supplemental to their drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation. Guided by Positive Psychology, only the exclusive psychologically relevant data were included in creating the comprehensive psychological program. Specifically, the session activities of PPI are designed to enhance the following CSVs of the PWUDs: conformity, hope, self-ac-ceptance, assertiveness, self-esteem, self-regulation, openness to change, motivation, personal strength, patience, happiness, and belongingness. The designed PPI is a 14-session program intended to be delivered once a week within three months. It was subjected to the scrutiny of three expert psychologists with decades of forensic psychological experience. Based on their judgments guided by the evaluation standards stipulated by Yarbrough et al. (2010), the designed PPI serves the psychological needs of the PWUDs in terms of their drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation, with its session activities deemed as realistic, prudent, diplomatic, and frugal. The program also shows and conveys technically adequate activities relative to drug addiction that merits good service. Finally, the PPI also secures legal and ethical requirements with due regard for the welfare of the PWUDs and other stakeholders. Pertinent implications and recommendations germane to the designed program are provided.
The Effects of Agriculture and Snow Impurities on Climate and Air Pollution in California

This paper discusses the effects of irrigation and albedo change due to agriculture on California climate and air pollution and the effects of black carbon and soildust impurities within snow on California climate and snowmelt. High-resolution irrigation, landuse, soil, albedo, and emissions data were used with the nested global-through-urban GATOR-GCMOM model to examine these issues. With respect to agriculture, results suggest that irrigation alone increased nighttime temperatures but decreased daytime temperatures to a greater extent causing a net decrease in near-surface air temperatures averaged over irrigated and nonirrigated land in California and parts of Nevada by about 0.03 K during August 2006. The conversion of native land in the 1800s to agriculture was found to increase the surface albedo of the northern and middle San Joaquin Valley and to decrease the albedo of the southernmost valley, resulting in a net cooling over land due to irrigation plus agriculture of 0.04 K. Maximum local decreases in August-averaged temperatures were about 0.7 K, occurring in the San Joaquin Valley. Since agriculture alone caused a net summer cooling of the San Joaquin Valley, observed historic warming of the valley may be due to other factors, such as anthropogenic greenhouse gas and particle buildup. Irrigation from agriculture also increased land-averaged soil moisture by about 5%, the relative humidity by about 0.4%, cloud optical depth by about 5.5%, cloud fraction by about 2.9%, drizzle by about 5.5%, and downward thermal-infrared radiation by about 0.16%. Irrigation reduced primary pollutant concentrations when precipitation or drizzle was imminent or present but increased such pollution when precipitation was absent. Thus, in polluted, irrigated regions with low rainfall, such as eastern Los Angeles, daytime and spray irrigation should be replaced with nighttime and subterranean or drip irrigation to the extent that this is not already done, to minimize evaporation and the positive feedback of evaporative cooling to air pollution. Reducing evaporation has the collateral benefit of increasing water available for a growing population. Absorption of solar radiation by black carbon and soildust in snow during February reduced land (snow plus nonsnow) albedo by about 0.3%, reduced land-averaged snow depth by about 0.5%, increased ground temperatures over land by about 0.11 K, increased soil moisture by about 0.07%, and increased the relative humidity by about 0.04% over land. These results imply that impurities in snow decrease water supply by increasing sublimation and hasten meltwater release. Although the effects of impurities on snow melting should be greater in April than in February due to warmer temperatures and greater solar radiation in April, snow area is much lower in April than in February, so newly-deposited impurities from Asia may have a lesser aggregate impact on snowmelt by the time they arrive in April, than local impurities, which are deposited over a larger snow area and over a longer
Sun City progress report : policy effects on photovoltaic adoption for city planning.

This progress report documents the Sun City modeling approach, intended to be an analytic tool for city planners. It is midway in development and this report provides the design basis to provide the mathematics for policy considerations applied to PV market acceleration. It assesses the effects on market diffusion for nine commonly used policies: cash incentives, third party financing, group purchase programs, community solar projects, feed-in-tariffs, property assessed clean energy financing, low interest loans, property and sales tax incentives, and streamlined PV permitting processes. Generic forms of all of these policies are modeled in a system dynamics PowerSim Studio model using a concept called the photovoltaic favorability (PVF). PVF is equal to the difference between the ratio of conventional electricity costs to levelized electricity costs of a PV system and four barrier ratios. The barriers are present to model inhibiting influences on human decisions and financial limitations. They include down payment costs, month to month payment costs of financing, time to net profit, and time to lower payments. Each barrier term is divided by a tolerance term which represents the potential that consumers of the region can typically invest. PVF is quantified across a range of limited budget financing and cash incentives options which are then consumed from greatest PVF to least PVF. Finding the overall PVF requires iteration on a variation of the Bass diffusion model. This iterative scheme is tied in a feed-back loop to local and national PV learning curves which in turn quantify reductions in the cost of PV for future time steps based on user input learning rates. The modeling has been wrapped into a graphical user interface which will allow city planners to easily compare and demonstrate multiple scenarios. Data for the DOE sponsored Solar America Cities and for Albuquerque, New Mexico has been entered into the model in order to minimize data collection efforts by city planners.
Discovering Polarized Communities in Signed Networks

Signed networks contain edge annotations to indicate whether each interaction is friendly (positive edge) or antagonistic (negative edge). The model is simple but powerful and it can capture novel and interesting structural properties of real-world phenomena. The analysis of signed networks has many applications from modeling discussions in social media, to mining user reviews, and to recommending products in e-commerce sites. In this paper we consider the problem of discovering polarized communities in signed networks. In particular, we search for two communities (subsets of the network vertices) where within communities there are mostly positive edges while across communities there are mostly negative edges. We formulate this novel problem as a "discrete eigenvector'' problem, which we show to be NP-hard. We then develop two intuitive spectral algorithms: one deterministic, and one randomized with quality guarantee $\sqrtn $ (where n is the number of vertices in the graph), tight up to constant factors. We validate our algorithms against non-trivial baselines on real-world signed networks. Our experiments confirm that our algorithms produce higher quality solutions, are much faster and can scale to much larger networks than the baselines, and are able to detect ground-truth polarized communities.
Predictors of forgiveness in cancer patients after treatment

The aim of the present study was to investigate the level of forgiveness in the context of emotional experience and existential aspects of the life of cancer patients after treatment.One hundred and twenty-eight cancer patients aged 22-83 years completed methods administered to measure forgiveness (Heartland Forgiveness Scale), hope (Adult Dispositional Hope Scale), positive and negative affect (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule), anxiety (General Anxiety Disorder-7), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), and gratitude (Grati-tude Questionnaire GQ-6) and questions measuring the perceived importance of the spiritual aspect of life and the practice of religious faith.Levels of forgiveness were related to levels of hope, gratitude, positive and negative affect, depression, anxiety, and rating of the importance of the spiritual aspect of life. Using a regression model, the rate of forgiveness was significantly predicted by gratitude and anxiety.It was concluded that gratitude and anxiety could explain 35.4% of the variance in forgiveness.
Analysis of Transcriptomic Differences in the Ovaries of High- and Low-Laying Ducks

The egg-laying performance of Shan Ma ducks (Anas Platyrhynchos) is a crucial economic trait. Nevertheless, limited research has been conducted on the egg-laying performance of this species. We examined routine blood indicators and observed higher levels of metabolic and immune-related factors in the high-egg-production group compared with the low-egg-production group. Furthermore, we explored the ovarian transcriptome of both high- and low-egg-production groups of Shan Ma ducks using Illumina NovaSeq 6000 sequencing. A total of 1357 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, with 686 down-regulated and 671 up-regulated in the high-egg-production (HEP) ducks and low-egg-production (LEP) ducks. Several genes involved in the regulation of ovarian development, including neuropeptide Y (NPY), cell cycle protein-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1), and transcription factor 1 (E2F1), exhibited significant differential expressions at varying stages of egg production. Pathway functional analysis revealed that the DEGs were primarily associated with the steroid biosynthesis pathway, and the neuroactive ligand–receptor interaction pathway exhibited higher activity in the HEP group compared to the LEP group. This study offers valuable information about and novel insights into high egg production.
Protein identification for stroke progression via Mendelian Randomization in Million Veteran Program and UK Biobank

Background: Individuals who have experienced a stroke, or transient ischemic attack, face a heightened risk of future cardiovascular events. Identification of genetic and molecular risk factors for subsequent cardiovascular outcomes may identify effective therapeutic targets to improve prognosis after an incident stroke. Methods: We performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for subsequent major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) (Ncases=51,929, Ncntrl=39,980) and subsequent arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) Ncases=45,120, Ncntrl=46,789) after first incident stroke within the Million Veteran Program and UK Biobank. We then used genetic variants associated with proteins (pQTLs) to determine the effect of 1,463 plasma protein abundances on subsequent MACE using Mendelian randomization (MR). Results: Two variants were significantly associated with subsequent cardiovascular events: rs76472767 (OR=0.75, 95% CI = 0.64-0.85, p= 3.69x10-08) with subsequent AIS and rs13294166 (OR=1.52, 95% CI = 1.37-1.67, p=3.77x10-08) with subsequent MACE. Using MR, we identified 2 proteins with an effect on subsequent MACE after a stroke: CCL27 (effect OR= 0.77, 95% CI = 0.66-0.88, adj. p=0.05), and TNFRSF14 (effect OR=1.42, 95% CI = 1.24-1.60, adj. p=0.006). These proteins are not associated with incident AIS and are implicated to have a role in inflammation. Conclusions: We found evidence that two proteins with little effect on incident stroke appear to influence subsequent MACE after incident AIS. These associations suggest that inflammation is a contributing factor to subsequent MACE outcomes after incident AIS and highlights potential novel targets.
Early coronary angioplasty fails to lower all‐cause mortality in patients with out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest without ST‐segment elevation: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract Introduction Out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is defined as the loss of functional mechanical activity of the heart in association with an absence of systemic circulation, occurring outside of a hospital. Immediate coronary angiography (CAG) with percutaneous coronary intervention is recommended for OHCA with ST‐elevation. We aimed to evaluate the effect of early CAG on mortality and neurological outcomes in OHCA patients without ST‐elevation. Methods This meta‐analysis and systemic review was conducted as per principles of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐analysis (PRISMA) group. A protocol was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO, Ref No. = CRD42022327833). A total of 674 studies were retrieved after scanning several databases (PubMed Central, EMBASE, Medline, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials). Results A total of 18 studies were selected for the final analysis, including 6 randomized control trials and 12 observational studies. Statistically, there was no significant difference in primary outcome, i.e., mortality, between early and delayed CAG. In terms of the grade of neurological recovery as a secondary outcome, early and delayed CAG groups also showed no statistically significant difference. Conclusion Early CAG has no survival benefits in patients with no ST elevations on ECG after OHCA.