Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Square or a Bridge? The Eleftheria Square Case

This paper deals with the nature of the urban square as a socioeconomic and spatial phenomenon and focuses on the notion of a sense of “place” as an important characteristic. The walled city of Nicosia is connected with the city outside the walls through three gates, two on the south and one on the north. Still, the main connection between the old and the new city which evolved through historical time, is Eleftheria Square. Although the spatial characteristics of the space are geometrically more those of a bridge rather than a square, it is symbolically, the centre of the south section of the city. This is where major events such as political rallies, soccer celebrations and New Years festivities take place. Following an international competition, Zaha Hadid’s office was awarded the first prize and the commission for the renovation of the existing square. However, when the design was presented to the public, there were strong protests against it, partly because, according to the protestors, the proposal forces what is essentially a bridge, to acquire the spatial requirements of a “square”. This forms, according to this paper, a major challenge for scientific research: to explore the potential of a methodology which combines both a spatial analysis of the square and people’s intuitive explanations. Consequently, the present study suggests the development of such a method which combines both quantitative, spatial analysis of the structure and morphology of the urban “square” and qualitative investigation of individual perceptions and aspirations. This is suggested through a) spatial descriptions and analysis of urban structure independent of people’s experience of, feelings and personal judgments about the meanings of their city’s central square and b) qualitative data of individual and community understanding, perceptions and aspirations of the spatial qualities of their city’s main square.
Erythropoietin and Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1 α in Patients with Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

To determine the intra-vitreal levels of erythropoietin (EPO), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hypoxia-inducible factor 1 α (HIF-1a)) in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), and to evaluate the relationship between the level of these parameters and PDR activity. The study included 23 diabetic patients with PDR (13 diabetic patients with early PDR and 10 diabetic patients with active PDR). Sixteen agematched non-diabetic patients with macular hole served as a control group. EPO, VEGF and HIF-1 α were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The vitreal levels of EPO, VEGF were significantly higher in diabetic patients with PDR in comparison with the control group. In addition, the vitreous concentrations of EPO, VEGF were higher in patients with active PDR than in those patients with early PDR. We did not observe a significant difference in vitreal levels of HIF-1 α between diabetic patients and the control group. Intra-vitreous EPO and VEGF in diabetic patients with PDR are increased and related mutually. VEGF and EPO, especially VEGF, are associated with the angiogenesis of PDR.
Escaping the Rat Race ” : Justifications in Digital

In the domain of digital work, a new phenomenon has emerged that is increasingly referred to as “digital nomadism”. Digital nomadism involves mostly Western professionals using a range of information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) tools to work digitally over the Internet while travelling perpetually in typically exotic locations. Existing theories of reasons for IS/IT use seem to have limited applicability to digital nomadism because technological and economic aspects need to be considered jointly with sociological and anthropological aspects for a comprehensive theoretical understanding of digital nomadism. Grounded in the findings of in-depth ethnographic and digital-ethnographic research, the study presented here develops theory and generates new knowledge in regard to the justification used in digital nomadism. It answers to the research question: Why do people engage in digital nomadism? The preliminary data analysis reveals three themes that explain how people justify their engagement in digital nomadism. The theoretical analysis positions these three themes in wider value systems (orders of worth).
Investigating Chinese EFL College Students’ Writing Through the Web-Automatic Writing Evaluation Program

WWE-pigai is a kind of upgraded automated writing evaluation (AWE) system and there are 444,877,400 essays submitted and corrected on this platform. Some previous research on AWE system indicates that students do not tend to utilize AWE feedback to revise essays and improve writing abilities. The major objective of this study is to investigate Chinese EFL college students’ writing through the comparison of WWE-pigai and traditional writing method. The study lasts two terms and 120 Chinese colleges students participate in the research. The findings reveal that WWE-pigai can motivate EFL students to revise and resubmit their essays more than ten times, improve the scores, increase students’ grammar accuracy and vocabulary richness. The surface-level spelling errors (including punctuation mark misuse) are the most common for freshmen. WWE-pigai is not very effective to correct certain grammatical errors besides spelling and conjugation errors. For certain grammatical errors that the students cannot correct by themselves, the assistance of EFL teachers is necessary. We argue that the results reached through this study can offer useful implications for the usage of EFL writing strategies.
EFFICIENCY OF CHICKWEED (Stellaria citrifolia) LEAVES EXTRACT ON DERMATOPHYTES (RINGWORMS) ISOLATED FROM PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN WUKARI, NORTH EAST, NIGERIA

Ringworm is a global infection that is treated using various antifungal agent including plant extracts. A survey was carried out among one hundred and twenty (120) pupils (eighty (80) males and forty (40) females) in schools in Wukari to determine the traditional treatment of ringworm infection among children using chickweed (Stellaria citrifolia) leaves extracts of ethanol and distill water. A total of eighty (80) isolates (twenty (20) from females and sixty (60) from males) were isolated using standard Microbiological techniques. These isolates belong to three species namely: Trichophyton species (A dermatophyte), Microsporum species and Epidermophyton species. The species Trichophyton had the highest isolates with 25% and 10% for males and females respectively. This is closely followed by Epidermophyton species isolates 20% for males and 5% for females and Microsporum species had 15% and 5% isolates in males and females respectively. All the 120 (100%) of the pupils from the schools investigated had 80 pupils (66.7%) of both males and females harboured the pathogenic fungi while only 40 of the pupils representing 33.3% do not harboured the pathogenic organism. These pathogenic fungi when subjected to Stellaria citrifolia ethanol extract all the isolated were susceptible to the extract and when these same pathogenic fungi were tested on Stellaria citrifolia distill water extract the organisms were all susceptible the extract. This mean that the effectiveness of the Stellaria citrifolia is not affected by both the extract medium used and because all the pathogenic fungi were susceptible to the extract it means that Stellaria citrifolia is active against isolates Trichophyton species (A dermatophyte), Microsporum species and Epidermophyton species. In conclusion, Stellaria citrifolia can be used as an antifungal agent’s as these isolated pathogenic fungi has high degree of susceptibility to it. Also, pupils in primary schools in Wukari harboured a number of pathogenic fungi which have effect on their skin (especially head skin) making it public health concern in term of spreading to other uninfected children. Pupils, parents and other individuals should always be advised to dry and clean their clothing after each use, and to maintain good proper hygiene to avoid dampness as this facilitate the growth of fungi. Those that are affected with the pathogenic fungi should try and seek for medical help immediately it is discovered. More studies should be conducted to determine components of Stellaria citrifolia which is active against the fungi and the genetic status of the pathogenic strains. Finally, further work should also be carried out to know the fungi that are susceptible to Stellaria citrifolia.
Analytical study and experimental verification of the surface wave loss on a tensor impedance surface

In this article, propagation loss is investigated for a surface wave (SW) when enters from a scalar impedance surface (SIS) to a tensor impedance surface (TIS). This loss has two components: (a) loss due to change in the propagation direction and mode transformation of the SW and (b) loss due to the surface impedance mismatch between the SIS and the TIS. First, two analytical methods are presented to calculate the loss and then the methods are verified by a sample structure, which is fabricated with the printed circuit technology at 15.1‐15.75 GHz frequency bandwidth. The calculated total loss for the sample structure is 8.7 dB and 5.6 dB at 15.1 and 15.7 GHz, respectively, which is in good agreement with the measured results.
Improved Neymanian analysis for 2K factorial designs with binary outcomes

2K factorial designs are widely adopted by statisticians and the broader scientific community. In this short note, under the potential outcomes framework, we adopt the partial identification approach and derive the sharp lower bound of the sampling variance of the estimated factorial effects, which leads to an “improved” Neymanian variance estimator that mitigates the overestimation issue suffered by the classic Neymanian variance estimator.
PENGARUH THIN CAPITALIZATION DAN PROFITABILITAS TERHADAP PENGHINDARAN PAJAK DENGAN KEPEMILIKAN INSTITUSIONAL SEBAGAI VARIABEL MODERASI

Target pendapatan pajak di Indonesia terus mengalami peningkatan setiaptahunnya namun persentase penerimaan pajak cenderung terus menurun.Upaya optimalisasi penerimaan pajak terus dilakukan oleh Direktorat JenderalPajak (DJP) melalui kegiatan intensifikasi dan ekstensifikasi. Namun upaya initak luput dari kendala, salah satunya adalah penghindaran pajak. Tujuan daripenelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui pengaruh Thin Capitalization danProfitabilitas terhadap Penghindaran Pajak dengan Kepemilikan Institusionalsebagai variabel moderasi. Objek penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian iniadalah perusahaan manufaktur non-makanan minuman yang terdaftar di BursaEfek Indonesia (BEI) pada tahun 2015 sampai dengan 2017. Jumlah sampelyang digunakan dalam penelitian sebanyak 138 sampel data. Penelitian inimenggunakan Uji Statistik Deskriptif, Uji Kualitas Data, Uji Normalitas DataResidual, Uji Asumsi Klasik dan Pengujian Hipotesis. Hasil penelitian inimenunjukkan bahwa Thin Capitalization tidak berpengaruh terhadapPenghindaran Pajak, Profitabilitas berpengaruh positif terhadap PenghindaranPajak, Kepemilikan Institusional tidak dapat memoderasi pengaruh ThinCapitalization terhadap Penghindaran Pajak dan Kepemilikan Institusional dapatmemperlemah pengaruh positif Profitabilitas terhadap Penghindaran Pajak.
Análisis funcional de los dominios estructurales identificados en crga, un regulador negativo de la fotocarotenogénesis en mucor circinelloides

Mucor circinelloides es un hongo filamentoso que presenta diversas respuestas a la luz azul, entre ellas, la induccion de la biosintesis de carotenos. El gen crgA, un gen inducido por luz, parece actuar como regulador negativo de la carotenogenesis en este hongo, ya que la delecion completa del gen en la estirpe silvestre conduce a una sobreacumulacion de carotenos en los micelios en condiciones de luz y oscuridad. El efecto represor de crgA sobre la biosintesis de carotenos se lleva a cabo mediante el control de la expresion de los genes carotenogenicos estructurales, sin embargo, todavia no se conoce en profundidad como se lleva a cabo esta funcion reguladora. La secuencia de aminoacidos deducida del gen crgA muestra distintas regiones estructurales significativas: un dominio RING-finger, una posible senal de localizacion nuclear, tramos ricos en glutaminas y un posible dominio de isoprenilacion. Con el objetivo de profundizar en el conocimiento del modo de accion de crgA, se ha analizado el papel que juega cada uno de estos dominios en su funcion reguladora de la carotenogenesis. Para ello, en primer lugar se ha obtenido, mediante mutagenesis quimica, un marcador adecuado en la estirpe nula para crgA, permitiendo la utilizacion de dicha estirpe en los experimentos de transformacion. Posteriormente se han determinado con exactitud los extremos 5' y 3' de crgA para la construccion de plasmidos portadores de todas las regiones reguladoras necesarias para la correcta expresion del gen. Estos plasmidos se han utilizado para la transformacion del mutante nulo y se ha comprobado su capacidad para la complementacion del fenotipo mutante para la carotenogenesis que presenta dicha estirpe, indicando que la proteina CrgA expresada es funcinal. A continuacion, mediante mutagenesis dirigida, se han generado alelos mutantes de crgA alterados en sus regiones significativas y estos alelos se han utilizado para tr
Sirtuin-3 (SIRT3), A Novel Potential Therapeutic Target for Head and Neck Cancer.

66 Introduction.66 Materials & Methods.68 Results.71 Discussion.74 References.85 CHAPTER V.87 SIRT3 AND CANCER: TUMOR PROMOTER OR SUPPRESSOR? Abstract.87 Introduction.87 Sirtuins; an overview.88
Modeling Stock Return Data using Asymmetric Volatility Models : A Performance Comparison based on the Akaike Information Criterion and Schwarz Criterion

The Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) modelhas been widely used in time series forecasting especially with asymmetricvolatility data. As the generalization of autoregressive conditionalheteroscedasticity model, GARCH is known to be more flexible to lag structures.Some enhancements of GARCH models were introduced in literatures, among themare Exponential GARCH (EGARCH), Threshold GARCH (TGARCH) andAsymmetric Power GARCH (APGARCH) models. This paper aims to compare theperformance of the three enhancements of the asymmetric volatility models bymeans of applying the three models to estimate real daily stock return volatilitydata. The presence of leverage effects in empirical series is investigated. Based onthe value of Akaike information and Schwarz criterions, the result showed that thebest forecasting model for daily stock return data is the APARCH model.Keywords: Volatility, GARCH, TGARCH, EGARCH, APARCH, AIC and SC.
Challenges for reliable internal quantum efficiency determination in AlGaN-based multi-quantum-well structures posed by carrier transport effects and morphology issues

We report on a systematic study of the determination of the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) in AlGaN-based multiple-quantum-well (MQW) structures using different optical evaluation methodologies and experimental conditions, in order to derive a standard set of measurement conditions for reliable IQE determination. Several potential sources of error that may distort the IQE obtained by optical measurements are discussed, such as carrier transport effects, excitation conditions failing to fulfill ideal resonance conditions, and morphology issues. A series of nominally identical AlGaN-based MQW structures is grown on an AlGaN layer separated by an AlN interlayer of varying thickness. The MQW structures are studied both by resonant and quasiresonant photoluminescence spectroscopy, and IQEs are determined via different commonly employed methods. The obtained values are shown to be significantly affected by the employed excitation conditions, as well as the evaluation techniques. In addition, growth morphology issues and carrier transport effects need to be considered in the interpretation of the measured data, with the latter being investigated in greater detail. The results emphasize the need for an appropriate choice of both experimental conditions and evaluation methodology in order to extract reliable and comparable IQE values.We report on a systematic study of the determination of the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) in AlGaN-based multiple-quantum-well (MQW) structures using different optical evaluation methodologies and experimental conditions, in order to derive a standard set of measurement conditions for reliable IQE determination. Several potential sources of error that may distort the IQE obtained by optical measurements are discussed, such as carrier transport effects, excitation conditions failing to fulfill ideal resonance conditions, and morphology issues. A series of nominally identical AlGaN-based MQW structures is grown on an AlGaN layer separated by an AlN interlayer of varying thickness. The MQW structures are studied both by resonant and quasiresonant photoluminescence spectroscopy, and IQEs are determined via different commonly employed methods. The obtained values are shown to be significantly affected by the employed excitation conditions, as well as the evaluation techniques. In addition, growth morpholog.
Unsupervised Method of Infrared Spacecraft Image Foreground Extraction

Nomenclature B x; KB = box filter operator BE x = extends the inner border pixels to the image boundary Cb = weight factor for blue channel Cg = weight factor for green channel Cr = weight factor for red channel C x = closed regions in an image as filled areas CL = CLAHE clip limit CL x; CL = CLAHE function CT G I = convert color image into standard grayscale image ci = cumulative distribution for the ith intensity histogram cluster F = coordinate frames GT C Sr;Sg;Sb = combine three-channel image into color image HE x = histogram equalization I = input color image Ib = input blue-channel image Ig = input green-channel image Ir = input red-channel image J = Jaccard Index, also known as intersect over union (IoU) J = mean Jaccard index KB = box filter kernel KB = size of the box filter kernel KD = elliptical dilation kernel structuring element KD = size of the dilation kernel Ksx = 3 × 3 Scharr x-axis kernel Ksy = 3 × 3 Scharr y-axis kernel MD x; KD = morphological dilation ~ M x = image intensities greater than the mean value N x = image nomalization O x = Otsu thresholding function Pi = probability distribution for the ith intensity histogram cluster R = rotation from target body frame to camera frame Sbf = box filtered image Sb = FC-HSF blue-channel response map SD = dilated prior mask image Se = edge response map Sg = FC-HSF green-channel response map Sh = histogram equalization adjusted pixel image SK−1 = prior image mask Sr = FC-HSF red-channel response map t = translation vector from camera to target body expressed in camera frame X = x-axis direction x = ground truth foreground pixels x = input image Y = y-axis direction y = predicted foreground pixels Z = z-axis direction ~ ∇ x = image gradient approximation μi = mean for the ith intensity histogram cluster σi = standard deviation for the ith intensity histogram cluster
GMM-HMM-Based Blood Pressure Estimation Using Time-Domain Features

This article presents a novel method of estimating systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) from time-domain features extracted from auscultatory and oscillometric waveforms and using Gaussian Mixture Models and Hidden Markov Model (GMM-HMM). The nine time-domain features selected include the cuff pressure (CP), the cardiac period (T), the energy of the Korotkoff pulses (KE), the oscillometric waveform envelope (OWE), the lag between the trough of the oscillometric waveforms (OWs) and the peak of the Korotkoff energy (Lag), the time between the trough and the peak of the OW (OWD), the slopes of the KE and OWE (SKE, SOWE), and the maximum upslope of individual OWs (MSOW). Adopting a fivefold cross-validation scheme and using a database of 350 noninvasive BP (NIBP) recordings gave an average mean error (± standard deviation of error) of −0.3 ± 4.2 mmHg for SBP and 2.9 ± 8.1 mmHg for DBP relative to reference values derived from a visual method of determining SBP and DBP. The significantly larger spread of DBP estimates relative to SBP, suggests that the criteria for determining DBP are poorly defined and would benefit from further experimental studies involving simultaneous invasive and noninvasive methods of measuring arterial pressure. We conclude that the proposed GMM-HMM BP estimation method outperforms previously reported methods in the literature and is a very promising method in improving the accuracy of automated noninvasive measurement of BP.
Regulation of nerve growth factor signaling by protein phosphatase 2A

The goal of this dissertation research is to determine novel regulatory mechanisms of neurotrophin signaling mediated by protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). PP2A is a ubiquitous Ser/Thr phosphatase that removes phosphates from proteins to switch their activity on or off. The substrate specificity and subcellular localization of PP2A is determined by almost 20 regulatory subunits that associate with a core dimer built of catalytic and scaffold subunits. Since there are more than 48 possible heterotrimers, studying the function of PP2A poses many challenges. Therefore we have devised a strategy, using scaffold subunit knockdown and mutant replacement, to discern the function of specific families of regulatory subunits. With this approach, I have identified specific PP2A holoenzymes that modulate nerve growth factor (NGF) signaling pathways by positively regulating TrkA receptor tyrosine kinase activity. Many studies have shown that NGF is required for the survival and differentiation of sensory and sympathetic neurons. Additionally, NGF is implicated in many neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease as well as neuropathic pain. NGF elicits its biological effect through sustained activity of the TrkA receptor and stimulated signaling cascades, including the MAP kinase pathway. Although PP2A has been shown to modulate the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway both positively and negatively at multiple levels, work described herein introduces yet another level of regulation. Specifically, I have shown that PP2A/B’ holoenzymes complex with the TrkA neurotrophin receptor to potentiate receptor tyrosine kinase activity, downstream effector kinase activation, neurite outgrowth, and neuronal differentiation. On the other hand, extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK), a terminal effector in the MAP kinase pathway was shown to phosphorylate a residue in the juxtamembrane region of TrkA and impose feedback inhibition of receptor activity. Collectively, these data suggest a model in which PP2A and ERK oppose each other in the regulation of TrkA