Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Improved Modulation Scheme of Active Commutated Current-Fed Bidirectional dc/dc Converter

Active commutated or naturally clamped techniques have emerged as a new solution to achieve wide range soft-switching and eliminate the necessity of active clamping circuit of current-fed bidirectional dc/dc converter. Multiple typical modulation schemes have been proposed, which include single phase-shift (SPS) modulation, dual phase-shift (DPS) modulation, and discontinuous current SPS (DCSPS) modulation. DCSPS provides the lowest circulating current compared with prior two modulations, but it suffers from the problem of resonance and high peak current at partial loads. This article proposes a DCDPS modulation based on the existing modulations. The duty cycles of the two legs on the high-voltage side are controlled to be unsymmetrical to solve the current resonance problem in DCSPS. Extra phase shift is introduced to achieve much lower circulating current at wide range load conditions. Zero current switching (ZCS) of primary switches and zero voltage switching (ZVS) of secondary switches can be achieved over wide input range and wide load range. A 250-W laboratory converter prototype has been built. Experimental results are presented to validate the analysis and design.
Assessment of the Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity and Conservation at Nimbia Forest in Southern Part of Kaduna State, Nigeria

Nigerian ecosystems comprise a variety of flora and fauna, which constitute about 15 percent of all known species in the world. Several of these species are under threat from a changing climate. Climate change is likely to affect most of Nigerian natural resources with a range of potential impacts on both terrestrial and aquatic life. This paper is on the assessment of the impact of climate change on biodiversity and conservation at Nimbia forest in southern part of Kaduna state. Purposive sampling of the representative villages was use taking into consideration location of the village with reference to Nimbia forest. A random sampling technique was employed to select sample household through the use of questionnaires to collect primary data. Secondary data (rainfall and temperature) were collected from the Nigerian meteorological unit of the Nimbia forest. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics of mean and percentages. Statistical tool of SPSS and Excel Spreadsheet were used. The results revealed a significant inter annual variability with a continues decrease in rainfall and a continues increase in temperature thereby having a significant negative impacts on biodiversity and their conservation in Nimbia forest. The paper recommended the need for collaborative effort between the communities and the forest management to address or minimize potential negative impact of climate change on biodiversity and the need to discourage cultivation near the forest to minimize its potential impacts on the community and biodiversity.
A willing existence: the care of the mother to the child/adolescent with cerebral palsy

To understand the care of the mother to the child/adolescent with cerebral palsy. A qualitative study with a hermeneutical phenomenological approach based on Heidegger and Ricoeur. It was developed with ten mothers of child/adolescent with cerebral palsy who attend an Association of Parents and Friends of Special of a city located in the north of the State of Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil. The information was collected through the phenomenological interview, from April to June 2015 and was interpreted with the hermeneutics of Ricoeur. The results showed that the mother of the child/adolescent with cerebral palsy reorganized her life in order to dedicate herself exclusively to the care of the child, offering her the maximum of existential possibilities. The being-in-the-world of these mothers is to be-with the child in a bond so intense that the mother in many moments is understood as part of the corporality of the son. Due to the range of complex care that the mother dedicates to the child/adolescent with cerebral palsy, it is necessary that the health professionals, especially the nurse, put themselves in the presence of the mother, and taking care of it as a way of being in care.
COPPER IMPROVES THE PRODUCTION OF LACCASE BY Pleurotus sajor-caju WITH ABILITY TO GROW ON EFFLUENTS OF THE CITRUS INDUSTRY

This research is aimed to evaluate the effect of copper on biomass growth, laccase activity and isoenzymes composition of Pleurotus sajor-caju , and its ability to grow on effluents of the citrus industry. The inhibitory effect of copper on growth was evidenced especially after 14 days of culture in the presence of the highest concentration of copper (1 mM) reducing almost three times its growth. The highest enzyme activity was reached at the 10th day of treatment, with ~ 53 U/L for the medium without copper and ~ 121 and ~ 68 U/L for medium supplemented with 0.5 and 1mM, respectively. Laccases in cell-free extracts obtained from culture added with copper showed to be more stable for more time at temperature changes. The optimum temperature for laccase activity increased from 50 to 60 oC by effect of copper while the optimal pH was 5 in all experiments. In gels, it was possible to observe two isoenzymes of 65 and 35 kDa whose expression varied according to incubation time. Moreover, the isoenzyme of low molecular weight was induced by the presence of effluent in solid medium. P. sajor-caju had the ability to grow on effluents from the citrus industry, showing tolerance and potential for waste treatment, constituting a possible alternative to biodegrade and reduce the contaminating impact of effluents.
Evaluation of nesting behavior of individual laying hens in an enriched colony housing by using RFID technology

The US egg industry is progressively adopting alternative housing systems for laying hens. Provision of nesting places accommodates natural behaviors and may improve the welfare of the laying hen. However, some fundamental questions remain about nesting behaviors of hens under different housing conditions, which would impact system design and management. For instance, how long does a hen use nest per day for egg laying or nest exploration? How many hens nest simultaneously? In such schemes, information on hens’ behavioral and production responses of hens remains relatively sparse. The primary objective of this work was to demonstrate that RFID technology can be used to continuously quantify dynamic nesting behaviors of individual laying hens in a 60-hen enriched colony housing (ECH). Results show that hens spent on average 63.7±1.4 min (mean±SE) in the nest box and made 23.4±0.7 nest visits during a 16 h daily light period. Time spent in and visits to the nest box during the 6 h laying period accounted for 56% and 45% of the light-period value, respectively. Maximum nest occupancy was 29.0%±0.4%. Three distinct phases of egg production in nest boxes were observed: initial (1.5 h), peak (3.2 h, egg laying rate of 0.24±0.01 eggs/min), and late (1.3 h). The majority (95.1%±0.6%) of the daily eggs were laid in the nest box. Considerable variations in nesting behavior among individual hens and day-to-day variations for a given hen were observed. The RFID system will enable researchers to examine the impacts of resource allocations on nesting behaviors of laying hens in alternative hen housing. Keywords: animal welfare, egg production, RFID, alternative hen housing, individual behaviors DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe. 20191206.5129 Citation: Oliveira J L, Xin H W, Wang K L, Zhao Y. Evaluation of nesting behavior of individual laying hens in an enriched colony housing by using RFID technology. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2019; 12(6): 7–15.
The Effectiveness of the Gamified LMS Platform to Increase Students' Motivation in Online Courses

Gamified Massive Open Online Courses (G-MOOCs) is a Learning Management System (LMS) platform built on the gamification framework (MARC Gamification Framework) that has been proposed in previous studies based on various aspects of game elements, social learning, motivation and interactive theory learning environment (ILE). G-MOOC is a background element that can motivate them when taking courses in online learning. The purpose of this study was to know the effectiveness of gamified LMS platforms to increase learners' motivation on the level of online course completion. In this study involving students of Universitas Amikom Purwokerto in the information system study program to evaluate the G-MOOCs platform that had been built. Students were randomly selected from 142 student populations, 71 students to evaluate the G-MOOC and 71 other students to evaluate platforms without gamification. Tests are carried out using the experimental group method using two indicators, namely the level of mastery of the course (performance) and the status of learning courses (Done/Not Done). To produce data from used indicators, researchers gave four weeks to take the course. The courses are compared with the LMS platform which has no gamification element (SIMOOC), the performance indicators are tested in the participant values between the G-MOOCs platform and the SIMOOC platform, t-test used to determine if there is a significant difference between the means of G-MOOCs and SIMOOC. Based on the results of the test, there is an effectiveness of gamified LMS platform to increase learners motivation on the level of online course completion, because the scores generated in the G-MOOCs platform is better than the SIMOOC platform, as well as the number of learners on the G-MOOCs platform is greater than the SIMOOC platform.
Functional effects of ATAD2 gene expression in breast cancer

iii ÖZET . vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . x TABLE OF CONTENTS . xii LIST OF FIGURES . xv LIST OF TABLES . xvii ABBREVIATIONS . xviii CHAPTER
Spatial distance and cartographic background complexity in graduated point symbol map-reading task

ABSTRACT Effectiveness and efficiency of graduated point symbol maps could be affected by several factors. One of them is the spatial distance between symbols. This study conducted an experiment with two map-reading tasks. The first compared two circular symbols, deciding which one is larger. The second task was to order three symbols from smallest to largest. There were four spatial distance conditions between compared symbols along with four different visually complex cartographic backgrounds (with more and more information). The study recorded the participants’ eye movements. Eye-tracking metrics captured participants’ visual strategy during map-reading tasks. The results show that when comparing symbol size, spatial distance affects the effectiveness and efficiency of comparing symbols of graduated point symbol maps despite the rising complexity of the cartographic background. Increased spatial distance between symbols causes the rise of participants’ fixation in general. This study helps to understand visual strategy while comparing symbols on graduated point symbol maps and could support map designers.
Female Sexual Dysfunction among Kosovo Women

Aim: The purpose of this study was to analyze female sexual dysfunction and potential risk factors influencing the sexual life in Kosovo’s women population. Study Design: Cross-sectional analysis Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted through an online survey in Kosovo, between May-September 2015. Methods: A self‐administered structured questionnaire, A Brief Sexual Symptom Checklist for Women, (BSSC) was administered to assess overall satisfaction (prevalence), desire, genital sensation, lubrication, orgasm and pain. The respondent rate was 87.5% (350/400). Original Research Article Fejza et al.; BJMMR, 19(1): 1-6, 2017; Article no.BJMMR. 29615 2 Results: The level of sexual dissatisfaction was 36.9%. Little or no interest in sex was reported in 32% of women, an orgasmic problem in 20%, genital sensation problem in 16.7%, a lubrication problem in 12.7% and pain during sex in 16.0%. 76.8% of women would like to talk about these problems with their doctor. Age and smoking history are the potential risk factors. Conclusion: The level of sexually dissatisfied women in Kosovo is quite high but similar to other studies within the field. The willing to discuss with a doctor was reported by 2/3 of respondents. The level of satisfaction is in correlation with age. The second most important risk factor is smoking.
Effect of drug dose and timing of treatment on the emergence of drug resistance in vivo in a malaria model

Background and objectives There is significant interest in identifying clinically effective drug treatment regimens that minimize the de novo evolution of antimicrobial resistance in pathogen populations. However, in vivo studies that vary treatment regimens and directly measure drug resistance evolution are rare. Here, we experimentally investigate the role of drug dose and treatment timing on resistance evolution in an animal model. Methodology In a series of experiments, we measured the emergence of atovaquone-resistant mutants of Plasmodium chabaudi in laboratory mice, as a function of dose and timing of treatment with the antimalarial drug atovaquone. Results Increasing the concentration of atovaquone increased the likelihood of high-level resistance emergence. Treating very early or late in infection reduced the risk of resistance, likely as a result of population size at time of treatment, but we were not able to exclude influence of the immune response in the latter. When we varied starting inoculum, resistance was more likely at intermediate inoculum sizes, but this did not correlate directly with population sizes at time of treatment. Conclusions and implications (i) Higher doses do not always minimize resistance emergence and can result in competitive release of parasites with high-level resistance. (ii) Altering treatment timing affects the risk of resistance emergence, but not as a simple function of population size at the time of treatment. (iii) Finding the ‘right’ dose and ‘right’ time to maximize clinical gains and limit resistance emergence can vary depending on biological context and was non-trivial even in our simplified experiments.
A Novel PV Array Reconfiguration Algorithm Approach to Optimising Power Generation across Non-Uniformly Aged PV Arrays by Merely Repositioning

Photovoltaic (PV) module working conditions lack consistency and PV array power outputs fluctuate due to the non-uniform impact that aging has on various PV modules in a PV array. No assessment has been conducted on the energy potential of a non-uniform PV array, despite the fact that the maximum power point (MPP) can be tracked by global maximum power point tracking (GMPPT). Therefore, the present work undertakes such an assessment by devising an algorithm to optimise the PV array electrical structure as the PV modules undergo aging in a non-uniform way. To enable PV arrays with non-uniform aging to produce as much power as possible and to make maintenance more cost-effective, the work puts forward a novel approach for reconfiguring PV arrays, where the PV modules are repositioned by retaining the aged PV modules. By this approach, the selection of the best reconfiguration topology necessitates the information on the electrical parameters associated with the PV modules in an array. Furthermore, the non-uniform aging of the PV modules can engender an incompatibility effect, which can be diminished in the proposed algorithm through iterative sorting of the modules in a hierarchical pattern. To determine how effective the method is for PV arrays with non-uniform aging and of different sizes, such as 3 × 4, 5 × 8 and 7 × 8 arrays, computer simulation and analysis have been conducted, with findings indicating that, irrespective of dimensions, PV arrays with non-uniform aging can have improved power yield.
Anaemia of chronic diseases in rheumatoid arthritis

Niedokrwistość chorób przewlekłych stanowi jedno z najczęstszych zaburzeń hematologicznych obserwowanych u pacjentów z reumatoidalnym zapaleniem stawów. Stwierdza się ją także w wielu innych procesach chorobowych, takich jak: nowotwory, choroby zakaźne i zapalne, niewydolność serca czy cukrzyca. Patogeneza tego schorzenia nie jest jednak jeszcze w pełni poznana. W procesie rozwoju choroby rolę odgrywają mediatory stanu zapalnego, takie jak czynnik martwicy nowotworów α, interleukiny (IL-1, IL-6 i IL-10). Hepcydyna jest jednym z kluczowych białek w patogenezie niedokrwistości chorób przewlekłych, ponieważ hamuje absorpcję żelaza oraz jego uwalnianie z makrofagów. W artykule przedstawiono patogenezę niedokrwistości chorób przewlekłych u pacjentów z reumatoidalnym zapaleniem stawów. Celem pracy jest także podsumowanie wyników ostatnio prowadzonych badań dotyczących roli hamowania IL-6 u pacjentów z niedokrwistością chorób przewlekłych w przebiegu reumatoidalnego zapalenia stawów. Wykazano, że blokowanie receptora dla IL-6 z użyciem tocilizumabu prowadzi do zwiększenia stężenia hemoglobiny w porównaniu z grupą otrzymującą placebo. S u m m a r y
Semaphorin 3A binding to chondroitin sulfate E enhances the biological activity of the protein, and cross-links and rigidifies glycosaminoglycan matrices

Semaphorin 3A (Sema3A) is a secreted protein that signals to cells through binding to neuropilin and plexin receptors and provides neurons with guidance cues key for axon pathfinding, and also controls cell migration in several other biological systems. Sema3A interacts with glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), an interaction that could localize the protein within tissues and involves the C-terminal domain of the protein. This domain comprises several furin cleavage sites that are processed during secretion and in previous works have hampered recombinant production of full-length wild type Sema3A, and the biochemical analysis of Sema3A interaction with GAGs. In this work, we have developed a strategy to purify the full-length protein in high yield and identified two sequences in the C-terminal domain, KRDRKQRRQR and KKGRNRR, which confer to the protein sub nM affinity for chondroitin sulfate and heparan sulfate polysaccharides. Using chemically defined oligosaccharides and solid phase binding assays, we report that Sema3A recognizes a (GlcA-GalNAc4S6S)2 motif but not a (GlcA2S-GalNAc6S)2 motif and is thus highly specific for type E chondroitin sulfate. Functionally, we found that Sema3A rigidified CS-E films that mimic the GAG presentation within extracellular matrices (ECMs), suggesting that Sema3A may have a previously unidentified function to cross-link and thus stabilize GAG-rich ECMs. Finally, we demonstrated that the full-length Sema3A is more potent at inhibiting neurite outgrowth than the truncated or mutant forms that were previously purified and that the GAG binding sites are required to achieve full activity. The results suggest that Sema3A can rigidify and cross-link GAG matrices, implicating Sema3A could function as an extracellular matrix organizer in addition to binding to and signaling through its cognate cell surface receptors.
Pairs Trading Strategy with Geolocation Data—The Battle between Under Armour and Nike

In this article, the authors examine fundamental linkages between geolocation (human movement) data and financial market equity price behavior. The geolocation positions were recorded intraday and cover the period from January 1, 2018 to July 17, 2018. The authors concentrate their study on a popular hedge fund trading strategy known as pairs trading. First, the authors collect data regarding Under Armour (UA) and Nike’s stock market price and volume. Second, they investigate the volume of people visiting each physical store of UA and Nike, as proxied from anonymous cell phone geolocation traffic. Third, they monitor the relative activities for tweets related to UA and Nike. Fourth, after combining all the data, the authors glean the following fascinating results: (1) Geolocation information is proven to be an important factor in a pairs trading strategy between UA and Nike, according to the results of feature selection and prediction accuracy for price ratio change; (2) both ensemble methods of machine learning and rolling analysis could significantly raise the prediction accuracy; and (3) a pairs trading strategy incorporating geolocation information can have a cumulative return of 13.72% from January 2018 to June 2018, with an annualized Sharpe ratio of 3.88. TOPICS: Statistical methods, simulations, big data/machine learning Key Findings • Geolocation data can encapsulate the relative influx and outflux of consumers from department stores. This is an extremely useful feature in training machine learning models that can be used in lucrative pairs-trading strategies. • In the era of big data, it is tempting to throw every feature into a model and assume that the model will always figure out which features are most important. However, the model will usually perform better when trained on a subset of distinct features. • Ensemble methods are an effective means of eliminating bias in machine learning models because they use the output from a series of independently trained submodels to generate one balanced result.
Whole-Body Joint Angle Estimation for Real-Time Humanoid Robot Imitation Based on Gaussian Process Dynamical Model and Particle Filter

Real-time imitation enables a humanoid robot to mirror the behavior of humans, being important for applications of human–robot interaction. For imitation, the corresponding joint angles of the humanoid robot should be estimated. Generally, a humanoid robot comprises dozens of joints that construct a high-dimensional exploration space for estimating the joint angles. Although a particle filter can estimate the robot state and provides a solution for estimating joint angles, the computational cost becomes prohibitive given the high dimension of the exploration space. Furthermore, a particle filter can only estimate the joint angles accurately using a motion model. To realize accurate joint angle estimation at low computational cost, Gaussian process dynamical models (GPDMs) can be adopted. Specifically, a compact state space can be constructed through the GPDM learning of high-dimensional time-series motion data to obtain a suitable motion model. We propose a GPDM-based particle filter using a compact state space from the learned motion models to realize efficient estimation of joint angles for robot imitation. Simulations and real experiments demonstrate that the proposed method efficiently estimates humanoid robot joint angles at low computational cost, enabling real-time imitation.
Production of modified basalt fibre for heat-insulating products manufacturing

As a result of the research flexible heat-insulating materials were developed based on basalt fiber with increased effectiveness, which can be achieved due to directed fiber microstructure forming through fusion modification. It is known that chemical composition of initial fusion not identically influences on physical and chemical and mechanical properties of basaltic fibres. Structural descriptions of fusion and basaltic fibre got from him appear main factors the nearer, than high speed of cooling. This index mainly depends on such constituents: a) ambient temperatures; b) coefficient of heat conducting; c) heat conducting of fusion; d) areas of surface. By researches influence of temperature of basaltic fusion was shown on the structure of fibres. Structural characteristics of the basalt fiber (number of active zones, coefficient of its distribution on the basalt fiber surface, as well as a correlation of three groups of active zones) depend on rheological properties of basal fusion, speed of drawing through the die plate and cooling speed.