Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of boron citrate supplementation on cardiometabolic factors, inflammatory biomarkers and anthropometric measures in obese patients: study protocol for a randomised, double-blind clinical trial

Introduction Obesity is a chronic disease with serious health consequences, but weight loss is difficult to maintain through lifestyle intervention alone. The efficacy and safety of boron citrate (BC), a novel therapeutic approach, in patients with obesity are not known. The current trial will take place to determine the effects of BC supplementation on cardiometabolic factors, inflammatory biomarkers, anthropometric measures and body composition in obese patients. Methods and analysis This double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised clinical trial will involve 60 eligible obese participants aged 18–60 years. Participants will randomly be allocated to receive either BC capsules (containing 10 mg of boron) in the intervention group or placebo capsules (containing 10 mg of maltodextrin) in the placebo group for 12 weeks. Moreover, physical activity and dietary recommendations will be provided for both groups. To assess the dietary intakes of participants, a 3-day food record (2 days of the week and 1 day of the weekend) will be filled. Cardiometabolic factors, inflammatory biomarkers including tumour necrosis factor α, C reactive protein, interleukin-6 and interleukin-10 levels, anthropometric measures and body composition will be assessed at the baseline and end of the intervention. The findings of this study will provide evidence for the effectiveness of BC in the management of obesity. Ethics and dissemination There are so far no reported adverse effects associated with the use of boron. This trial was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (approval number: IR.TBZMED.REC.1401.350). Positive as well as negative findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals. Trial registration number IRCT20220806055624N1.
Signals of astronomical climate forcing in the exposure topography of the North Polar Layered Deposits of Mars

Using high‐resolution topography, we link the stratigraphy of layered ice deposits at the north pole of Mars to astronomically driven climate variability. Observations of trough exposures within these deposits are used to construct virtual ice cores at 16 sites, to which we apply wavelet analysis to identify periodicities in layer properties. To confidently relate these periodicities to climatic forcing, we identify overlapping dominant stratigraphic wavelengths and compare their ratios to that of the two dominant modes of insolation variability. The average ratio of stratigraphic wavelengths in the profiles is 1.9 ± 0.1, lower than the ratio of 2.3 between dominant insolation periodicities. A similar analysis of synthetic stratigraphic profiles created with a climate‐driven model of ice and dust accumulation shows that this lower stratigraphic ratio is a natural consequence of time‐variable ice accumulation rates.
Social Consumer Relation Management Using Social Media as a Marketing Scheme in University

Social media or called as ‘socmed’ is an online media that is frequently used by humans to improve in activities, which include promoting study programs of university. Most universities require a marketing scheme to promote certain study programs by using socmed. This study aims to investigate marketing strategies of universities using social costumer relation management (SCRM) and socmed. This is a qualitative study with a narrative model design. This study included about 2000 students from universities in South Sumatra, Lampung, Bengkulu, and Bangka Belitung, Indonesia. The samples were collected by proportional random sampling approach to attain the number of informants and data were collected through online interview questionnaire. Furthermore, the data were analyzed using coding approaches (open, axial, and selective coding) and value stream analysis. The findings revealed that SCRM can be an alternative marketing scheme for universities that utilize socmed to disseminate information owing to access easiness, complete and updated information, and attractive appearance.
Planning And Evaluation of Technological System Development in Public Street Lighting to Support Sustainable Development of The Integrated City of Batam

Developing a smart public street lighting system involves the integration of advanced technologies to improve energy efficiency, reduce operational costs, enhance safety, and enable intelligent functionalities. This research discusses the planning and evaluation of the development of a smart public street lighting system in the Batam City area with the aim of increasing the sustainability of the smart city. The research method used is a case study to gain an in-depth understanding of existing lighting systems and involve relevant stakeholders, such as local governments, technical experts and local communities. The evaluation results show that the development of a smart public street lighting system has a positive impact on the sustainability of smart cities, increasing energy efficiency, safety and community participation. The integration of local wisdom and maritime aspects in planning intelligent public street lighting systems also makes an important contribution to the identity and sustainability of Batam City. This research recommendations for further development, strengthening local wisdom, collaboration and partnerships with the private sector, as well as expanding implementation to other regions.
Development of multi-input multi-output converter for decarbonization energy system

Decarbonization energy systems include a range of renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal. These sources generate electricity with minimal carbon emissions and can be used in various applications, including power generation, heating, and transportation. Therefore, the use of a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) converter is becoming increasingly important in decarbonization energy systems. This is because the integration of multiple renewable energy sources, requires a power converter that can manage multiple inputs and outputs efficiently. This paper presents the development of a MIMO converter using a single-phase matrix converter for decarbonization energy systems. The proposed converter is capable of integrating multiple renewable energy sources and can be used in a microgrid application, thus removing the need of multiple converters. The design and analysis of the converter are presented, including the selection of power switches and control strategy. The performance of the converter is evaluated through experimental results, demonstrating its effectiveness in managing multiple inputs and outputs using a single power converter circuit. The results indicate that the proposed converter is a promising solution for decarbonization energy systems, contributing to the development of sustainable energy systems.
Three and higher dimensional autonomous formations : Rigidity , persistence and structural persistence

In this paper, we generalize the notion of persistence, which has been originally introduced for two-dimensional formations, to R for d 3, 11 seeking to provide a theoretical framework for real world applications, which often are in three-dimensional space as opposed to the plane. Persistence captures the desirable property that a formation moves as a cohesive whole when certain agents maintain their distance from certain 13 other agents. We verify that many of the properties of rigid and/or persistent formations established in R2 are also valid for higher dimensions. Analysing the closed subgraphs and directed paths in persistent graphs, we derive some further properties of persistent formations. We also 15 provide an easily checkable necessary condition for persistence. We then turn our attention to consider some practical issues raised in multiagent formation control in three-dimensional space. We display a new phenomenon, not present in R2, whereby subsets of agents can behave 17 in a problematic way. When this behaviour is precluded, we say that the graph depicting the multi-agent formation has structural persistence. In real deployment of control of multi-agent systems, formations with underlying structurally persistent graphs are of interest. We analyse the 19 characteristics of structurally persistent graphs and provide a streamlined test for structural persistence. We study the connections between the allocation of degrees of freedom (DOFs) across agents and the characteristics of persistence and/or structural persistence of a directed graph. 21 We also show how to transfer DOFs among agents, when the formation changes with new agent(s) added, to preserve persistence and/or structural persistence. 23 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
19th International Conference on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes

Air pollutant emissions represent a significant hazard to human health. In addition to the air pollutants regulated in the Air Quality Directive (EU Directive 2008/50/EC), there are other air pollutants in the scientific discussion in view of possible health effects. Here in particular ultrafine particles (UFP) have attracted considerable attention. In recent studies, airports have been identified as a source of increased atmospheric UFP number concentrations and there is a need to further understand the airport contribution to ambient near-ground UFP concentration by means of measuring and modelling. The German Environmental Agency funded the project “Influence of a major airport on temporal and spatial distributions of outdoor air concentrations of ultrafine dust <100 nm to describe the potential exposure in the vicinity including other air pollutants [soot, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10)]”, FE 3716 52 200 0. In this project, total UFP number concentration was estimated using a combination of well-established small-scale (LASAT, LASPORT) and large-scale modelling (EURAD, MADE). Emissions were determined for aircraft traffic, road traffic, airport ground services and regional/mesoscale background using standard national and international inventories (HBEFA, ICAO, GRETA) and specific data obtained from the airport. The dispersion results (series of 3-dimensional hourly mean concentrations apportioned to aircraft, airport, motor traffic and background) were compared to measurements carried out in the vicinity of the airport. The model results suggest that aircraft main engines are the dominant emission source of UFP number at the airport. Long-time averages of UFP number concentration are dominated by the background going further away from the airport, while the airport contribution to hourly mean concentrations can be more pronounced. An important aim of the project was to identify shortcomings of current state-of-the-art emission and concentration modelling of UFP in the context of airports. Here, inconsistent UFP diameter ranges in the applied data bases, models and measurements are of relevance, likewise differences in the considered UFP constituents, in particular volatile versus non-volatile. The results of the modeling show that the airport’s impact on the annual average of the total number concentration of ultrafine particles decreases considerably as the distance from the airport increases and is subject to the main wind direction. The modeling indicated that around 1 km north of the airport, approximately 25% of the total load originated from the airport, and this dropped to less than 10% at a distance of 2.5 km from the airport.
We are the ocean : selected works

"We Are the Ocean" is a collection of essays, fiction, and poetry by Epeli Hau'ofa, whose writing over the past three decades has consistently challenged prevailing notions about Oceania and prescriptions for its development. He highlights major problems confronted by the region and suggests alternative perspectives and ways in which its people might reorganize to relate effectively to the changing world.Hau'ofa's essays criss-cross Oceania, creating a navigator's star chart of discussion and debate. Spurning the arcana of the intellectual establishments where he was schooled, Hau'ofa has crafted a distinctive-often lyrical, at times angry-voice that speaks directly to the people of the region and the general reader. He conveys his thoughts from diverse standpoints: university-based analyst, essayist, satirist and humorist, and practical catalyst for creativity. According to Hau'ofa, only through creative originality in all fields of endeavor can the people of Oceania hope to strengthen their capacity to engage the forces of globalization.
Rhinitis , sinusitis , and upper airway disease Fish and polyunsaturated fat intake and development of allergic and nonallergic rhinitis

Background: Rhinitis is one of the most common diseases in childhood. Fish, polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), and vitamin D intakes have been hypothesized to affect the risk of allergic disease; however, it is unclear whether these are linked to the development of rhinitis. Objective: We sought to assess potential associations between consumption of fish, dietary n-3 and n-6 PUFAs, and vitamin D at age 8 years and development of allergic rhinitis (AR) and nonallergic rhinitis (NAR) between the ages of 8 and 16 years. Methods: We included 1970 participants from a birth cohort. Data on dietary intake was obtained from a food frequency questionnaire at age 8 years. The rhinitis definition was based on questionnaires and IgE measures. Results: The prevalence of rhinitis symptoms at age 8 years was 19% (n 5 380). Among the 1590 children without rhinitis symptoms at age 8 years, 21% (n 5 337) had AR between ages 8 and 16 years, and 15% (n 5 236) had NAR. Regular intake of oily fish and higher long-chain n-3 PUFA intake were associated with a reduced risk of cumulative incidence of NAR (adjusted odds ratio, 0.52 [95% CI, 0.32-0.87] for oily fish; odds ratio, 0.45 [95% CI, 0.30-0.67] for highest vs lowest tertile of long-chain n3 PUFAs; P trend < .001). The results for rhinitis, irrespective of AR and NAR, were in line with the findings for NAR. Conclusion: Regular consumption of oily fish and dietary long-chain n-3 PUFAs in childhood might decrease the risk of rhinitis, especially NAR, between the ages of 8 and 16 years. (J Allergy Clin Immunol 2015;136:1247-53.)
Rhinitis , sinusitis , and upper airway disease Nasal mucus proteomic changes reflect altered immune responses and epithelial permeability in patients with allergic rhinitis

Background: Nasal mucus is the first-line defense barrier against (aero-) allergens. However, its proteome and function have not been clearly investigated. Objective: The role of nasal mucus in the pathophysiology of allergic rhinitis was investigated by analyzing its proteome in patients with allergic rhinitis (n 5 29) and healthy control subjects (n 5 29). Methods: Nasal mucus was collected with a suction device, tryptically digested, and analyzed by using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Proteins were identified by searching the SwissProt database and annotated by collecting gene ontology data from databases and existing literature. Gene enrichment analysis was performed by using Cytoscape/BINGO software tools. Proteins were quantified with spectral counting, and selected proteins were confirmed by means of Western blotting. Results: In total, 267 proteins were identified, with 20 (7.5%) found exclusively in patients with allergic rhinitis and 25 (9.5%) found exclusively in healthy control subjects. Five proteins were found to be significantly upregulated in patients with allergic rhinitis (apolipoprotein A-2 [APOA2], 9.7-fold; a2macroglobulin [A2M], 4.5-fold; apolipoprotein A-1 [APOA1], 3.2-fold; a1-antitrypsin [SERPINA1], 2.5-fold; and complement C3 [C3], 2.3-fold) and 5 were found to be downregulated (antileukoproteinase [SLPI], 0.6-fold; WAP 4-disulfide core domain protein [WFDC2], 0.5-fold; haptoglobin [HP], 0.7-fold; IgJ chain [IGJ], 0.7-fold; and Ig hc V-III region BRO, 0.8-fold) compared with levels seen in healthy control subjects. Conclusion: The allergic rhinitis mucus proteome shows an enhanced immune response in which apolipoproteins might play an important role. Furthermore, an imbalance between cysteine proteases and antiproteases could be seen, which negatively affects epithelial integrity on exposure to pollen protease
Developing a Deep Learning Tool to Detect Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Failures

Summary Reliable and functional electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), which include electric vehicle (EV) chargers, are critical components in the global transition to EVs. Several studies have revealed that current EVSE reliability metrics, such as uptime, do not reflect the true reliability of EVSEs experienced by consumers. In this study, we have developed a novel tool that combines the powerful reconstruction capabilities of the Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) autoencoder with the long-term contextual awareness of an in-house naïve distribution method to learn the habitual usage patterns of EV chargers and effectively identify charging faults that may not be captured by traditional reliability measures.
OFFSHORE SAND EXTRACTION AND NEARSHORE PROFILE NOURISHMENT The Dutch Coast: Paper No. 12

Because of the increasing need of sand for use on land and coastal protection, offshore sand extraction has become commonplace. On the other hand, the practice of beach nourishment has become a common method to combat beach erosion. Here, economic and other interests may be served by dumping the sand not directly onto the beaches, but nearshore. Within the framework of the Coastal Defence Study for the Dutch coast and the preparation of a Marine Aggregate Extraction Plan model studies were performed in order to obtain indications and quantitative estimates of the morphological effects of offshore sand extraction and nearshore profile nourishment. The major results of the model computations are: - offshore sand extraction landward of the 16 m isobath may affect the coastline within a century. - nearshore nourishments landward of the 7 m isobath have positive effects on the coastline. The model computations could not be validated in the field. Due to the relatively large margins of inaccuracy the political implication of this study is that sand extraction landward of the 20 m. isobath is not licensed.
IN PRESS/ Learning & Behavior On the role of interference in sequence learning in Guinea baboons

27 It is nowadays well-established that decay and interference are two main causes of 28 forgetting. In the present study, we specifically focus on the impact of interference on 29 memory forgetting. To do so, we tested Guinea baboons ( Papio papio ) on a visuo-motor 30 adaptation of the Serial Reaction Time task in which a target sequence is repeated, and a 31 random sequence is interposed between repetitions, a similar situation as the one used in the 32 Hebb repetition paradigm. In this task, one three-item sequence, the repeated sequence, was 33 presented every second trial and interleaved with random sequences. Interference was 34 implemented by using random sequences containing one item that was also part of the 35 repeated sequence. In a first condition, the overlapping item was located at the same position 36 as the repeated sequence. In a second condition, the overlapping item was located at one of 37 the two other positions. In a third condition, there was no overlap between repeated and 38 random sequences. Contrary to previous findings, our results reveal similar learning slopes 39 across all three conditions, suggesting that interference did not affect sequence learning in the 40 conditions tested. Findings are discussed in the light of previous research on sequence 41 learning and current models of memory and statistical learning.
INITIAL-BOUNDARY VALUE PROBLEMS FOR COMPLEX GINZBURG-LANDAU EQUATIONS IN GENERAL DOMAINS

In this paper, we are concerned with the global solvability of the initial-boundary value problem for complex Ginzburg-Landau (CGL) equations in general domains. Under a suitable condition on parameters appearing in CGL equations, the global solvability of the initial-boundary value problem for CGL equations is already discussed by several methods. We here introduce a new approach to CGL equations based on the monotone and non-monotone perturbation theory for the parabolic equations governed by subdiﬀerential operators. By using this method together with some approximate procedure and a diagonal argument, the global solvability is shown without assuming any growth conditions on the nonlinear terms
Filtering-Based Multimedia Recommender Systems

Multimedia recommender systems suggest media items, e.g., songs, (digital) books and movies, to users by utilizing concepts of traditional recommender systems such as collaborative ﬁltering. In this paper, we investigate a potential issue of such collaborative-ﬁltering based multimedia recommender systems, namely popularity bias that leads to the underrepresentation of unpopular items in the recommendation lists. Therefore, we study four multimedia datasets, i.e., Last.fm, MovieLens, BookCrossing and MyAnimeList, that we each split into three user groups diﬀering in their inclination to popularity, i.e., LowPop, MedPop and HighPop. Using these user groups, we evaluate four collaborative ﬁltering-based algorithms with respect to popularity bias on the item and the user level. Our ﬁndings are three-fold: ﬁrstly, we show that users with little interest into popular items tend to have large user pro-ﬁles and thus, are important data sources for multimedia recommender systems. Secondly, we ﬁnd that popular items are recommended more frequently than unpopular ones. Thirdly, we ﬁnd that users with little interest into popular items receive signiﬁcantly worse recommendations than users with medium or high interest into popularity.
A Multi-Agent Vision-Based System for Vehicle Detection

2 Abstract: In this paper a multi-agent system approach for vehicle detection in image is proposed. The goal is to be able to localize vehicles in a given image. Developed agents are capable of detecting pre-specified shapes after image processing. Cooperation involves communicating hypotheses and resolving conflicts between the interpretations of individual agents. Specifically in the proposed system, eight process agents, consisting of edge, contour, wheel, LPL (License-Plate Line), LPR (License-Plate Rectangle), PCV (Plate-Candidates Verification) and vehicle symmetry agents, were developed for vehicle detection in various outdoor scenes. In the testing data, there are 500 car blobs and 100 non-car blobs. It is shown that the system effectiveness on Detecting vehicles in various outdoor scenes is about 90%.
THE NATURE OF ACOUSTIC GOALS REFERENCED DURING HYPERARTICULATED SPEECH

Hyperarticulation references goals defined in acoustic-perceptual space. The question is whether hyperarticulation enhances contrast between goals in this space or exaggerates salient aspects of the goal without reference to its position in space. To address this question, CVC minimal triplets with English front lax vowels, /ɪ, ɛ, æ/, were elicited from 30 participants during the first and last phase of a 3-phase experiment to map the front lax vowel space. In the middle phase, participants produced only words with /ɛ/ vowels. These were “misheard” by the experimenter either as /ɪ/ or /æ/ vowels. Measurement on corrected repetitions indicated that participants fronted corrected /ɛ/ relative to baseline but did not systematically lower or raise it in response to the misheard vowel quality; corrected /ɛ/ was louder relative to baseline only in the /ɪ/ condition. The mixed results are discussed with reference to the nature of acoustic goals.