Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predicting Thalassemia Using Feature Selection Techniques: A Comparative Analysis

Thalassemia represents one of the most common genetic disorders worldwide, characterized by defects in hemoglobin synthesis. The affected individuals suffer from malfunctioning of one or more of the four globin genes, leading to chronic hemolytic anemia, an imbalance in the hemoglobin chain ratio, iron overload, and ineffective erythropoiesis. Despite the challenges posed by this condition, recent years have witnessed significant advancements in diagnosis, therapy, and transfusion support, significantly improving the prognosis for thalassemia patients. This research empirically evaluates the efficacy of models constructed using classification methods and explores the effectiveness of relevant features that are derived using various machine-learning techniques. Five feature selection approaches, namely Chi-Square (χ2), Exploratory Factor Score (EFS), tree-based Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE), gradient-based RFE, and Linear Regression Coefficient, were employed to determine the optimal feature set. Nine classifiers, namely K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Decision Trees (DT), Gradient Boosting Classifier (GBC), Linear Regression (LR), AdaBoost, Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB), Random Forest (RF), Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LGBM), and Support Vector Machine (SVM), were utilized to evaluate the performance. The χ2 method achieved accuracy, registering 91.56% precision, 91.04% recall, and 92.65% f-score when aligned with the LR classifier. Moreover, the results underscore that amalgamating over-sampling with Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE), RFE, and 10-fold cross-validation markedly elevates the detection accuracy for αT patients. Notably, the Gradient Boosting Classifier (GBC) achieves 93.46% accuracy, 93.89% recall, and 92.72% F1 score.
Patterns of Variation in the Usage of Fatty Acid Chains among Classes of Ester and Ether Neutral Lipids and Phospholipids in the Queensland Fruit Fly

Simple Summary This paper reports the first lipidomic analysis of a tephritid fruit fly. It shows broadly similar lipid profiles to those reported for another dipteran, Drosophila melanogaster, but provides greater specification of the individual hydrocarbon chains on particular lipids than has been previously reported in insects. A level of complexity in the configuration of the hydrocarbon chains not previously described in insects is revealed. Genomic analysis reveals a diversity of genes encoding lipid biosynthesis and remodelling enzymes comparable to that seen in mammals, which could account for the complexity of chain configurations observed. Abstract Modern lipidomics has the power and sensitivity to elucidate the role of insects’ lipidomes in their adaptations to the environment at a mechanistic molecular level. However, few lipidomic studies have yet been conducted on insects beyond model species such as Drosophila melanogaster. Here, we present the lipidome of adult males of another higher dipteran frugivore, Bactrocera tryoni. We describe 421 lipids across 15 classes of ester neutral lipids and phospholipids and ether neutral lipids and phospholipids. Most of the lipids are specified in terms of the carbon and double bond contents of each constituent hydrocarbon chain, and more ether lipids are specified to this degree than in any previous insect lipidomic analyses. Class-specific profiles of chain length and (un)saturation are broadly similar to those reported in D. melanogaster, although we found fewer medium-length chains in ether lipids. The high level of chain specification in our dataset also revealed widespread non-random combinations of different chain types in several ester lipid classes, including deficits of combinations involving chains of the same carbon and double bond contents among four phospholipid classes and excesses of combinations of dissimilar chains in several classes. Large differences were also found in the length and double bond profiles of the acyl vs. alkyl or alkenyl chains of the ether lipids. Work on other organisms suggests some of the differences observed will be functionally consequential and mediated, at least in part, by differences in substrate specificity among enzymes in lipid synthesis and remodelling pathways. Interrogation of the B. tryoni genome showed it has comparable levels of diversity overall in these enzymes but with some gene gain/loss differences and considerable sequence divergence from D. melanogaster.
Reacción del Mercado de Valores Mexicano ante los Escándalos Financieros: Evidencia Empírica.

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo conocer si las empresas mexicanas que cotizan en la Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, sufrieron reaccion negativa en el precio de sus acciones derivado del escandalo financiero Enron y el involucramiento de una de las Grandes Firmas Auditoras (GFA). Para lo anterior se utilizo la metodologia de estudio de eventos, mediante el modelo de mercado y el calculo de los retornos anormales a dos fechas evento. Los resultados revelan que las empresas mexicanas no sufren efectos economicos negativos en el precio de sus acciones dada la perdida de reputacion del auditor.
Learning programmes for environmental sustainability : a different approach to curriculum design

Environmental management in South Africa is constrained by a lack of capacity for effective stakeholder engagement and environmental decision-making. The country\'s excellent environmental legislation demands that environmental professionals be appropriately trained at the higher education level. To this end, a Bachelors level learning programme in environmental management (the EM programme) was developed by the University of South Africa (UNISA). The approach used to design a curriculum for the EM programme is explained in this article. It is also argued that the EM programme should be extended to cater for the management of special environments and individual resources. The EM programme could also serve as a model for the development of a similar programme aimed at building the professional and technical capacity required for biodiversity management. South African Journal of Higher Education Vol. 20 (5) 2006: pp. 691-702
ChatGPT across Arabic Twitter: A Study of Topics, Sentiments, and Sarcasm

While ChatGPT has gained global significance and widespread adoption, its exploration within specific cultural contexts, particularly within the Arab world, remains relatively limited. This study investigates the discussions among early Arab users in Arabic tweets related to ChatGPT, focusing on topics, sentiments, and the presence of sarcasm. Data analysis and topic-modeling techniques were employed to examine 34,760 Arabic tweets collected using specific keywords. This study revealed a strong interest within the Arabic-speaking community in ChatGPT technology, with prevalent discussions spanning various topics, including controversies, regional relevance, fake content, and sector-specific dialogues. Despite the enthusiasm, concerns regarding ethical risks and negative implications of ChatGPT’s emergence were highlighted, indicating apprehension toward advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology in language generation. Region-specific discussions underscored the diverse adoption of AI applications and ChatGPT technology. Sentiment analysis of the tweets demonstrated a predominantly neutral sentiment distribution (92.8%), suggesting a focus on objectivity and factuality over emotional expression. The prevalence of neutral sentiments indicated a preference for evidence-based reasoning and logical arguments, fostering constructive discussions influenced by cultural norms. Sarcasm was found in 4% of the tweets, distributed across various topics but not dominating the conversation. This study’s implications include the need for AI developers to address ethical concerns and the importance of educating users about the technology’s ethical considerations and risks. Policymakers should consider the regional relevance and potential scams, emphasizing the necessity for ethical guidelines and regulations.
Protected zones in context: Exploring the complexity of armed conflicts and their impacts on the protection of biodiversity

Abstract Protected areas safeguard biodiversity of global ecological importance, even throughout armed conflicts. The International Law Commission's Principles on Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflicts propose that certain ecologically important areas could be designated as protected zones during armed conflicts. This article uses a geospatial analysis of armed conflicts and Key Biodiversity Areas and three case studies to inform recommendations on how the protection of ecologically important areas could be enhanced through visibility, local actors and international stakeholders as part of a broader interpretation of a protected zone.
Psychometric Properties of the Adolescent and Young Adult Men – Health Indicators Scale (AYAM-HIS)

Abstract The goal of this current study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the AYAM-HIS among a select sample of AYAMs, a priority population experiencing disparate health outcomes compared to women. These preliminary results indicate that AYAM-HIS yielded reliable and valid data, thus providing a means to measure indicators of health behaviors and possible outcomes within this population. The AYAM-HIS can provide the necessary information to assess current health behaviors so as to provide a foundation from which interventions can be designed. Future research into reducing survey fatigue related to AYAM-HIS and testing with diverse populations are warranted.
Conference on International Agricultural Research for Development Hydropower Development in Nepal: Local Responses to Technology and Formal Institutions

Currently in Nepal, there is a big push for large hydro projects as the dominant national strategy not only for sectoral gains but also as an engine for the country’s overall economic development. Within this context, formal institutions (laws, acts, policies, and guidelines) provide the framework for direct technological intervention strategies. There is limited research on how these formal institutions actually translate at the local rural level in regard to distributional outcomes particularly based on notions of equity or inequity. There is even less research on how the newly implanted technology impacts on people’s access, dependence and exploitation of resources, both financial and natural (land and water), whether they are displaced or not by the hydro projects. This paper will focus on the results of a qualitative case study on localised responses to Nepal’s largest hydropower project, the 144MW Kali Gandaki ‘A’, in mid-western Nepal, about 180km west of the capital, Kathmandu. It studies the processes through which local actors and groups access knowledge and information of the technological intervention and its associated formal institutions in both the compensatory and post-compensatory stages. It also tries to assess the influence and power within specified social structures (caste, class, ethnic group and patron-client relationships) on such access to knowledge and information and how it is further used to affect resource distribution, both financial and non-financial. This will be fed back into policy processes of large hydro, particularly dam intervention, as Nepal readies itself for grander projects. It will also help set lessons for debating further on whether large dams are the answer to a poor country’s development under the current institutional context. 1. Background and Aim of the Study Nepali rivers account for one of the world’s largest hydropower potential. Energy through hydropower contributes to 90 percent of total energy generation in Nepal. Until 2002, only 1.3 percent of the calculated potential 43000MW had been realized 1 . The benefits of largescale hydropower have not flowed to the majority of the people in Nepal, 90 percent of whom lead an agrarian life. According to the population census of 2001, 39.39 percent of the people of Nepal have access to electricity, mostly urban. The current research aimed to study the processes by which local actors and groups access knowledge and information of the technological intervention and it’s associated formal
Integration of Regional Space of Flows and Construction of Global Urban Network

Space of flows as a new form of space for the new period has started to affect the formation and development of regional spatial structure and urban system.The article does the research on the integration of space of flows in regional space,found that in space of flows linkage replaces the physical contiguity,and relationship replaces the location.The relationship of regional space is to be reconstructed.In new relationship of regional space,space of flows has characteristics such as accumulation and proliferation,structure of hierarchy,geographical differences and so on.It acts on the traditional central-place systems and forms network systems of space of flows,and then build network systems of global cities.
Low power digital signal processing-lite scheme for short-reach polarization demultiplexing-64 quadrature amplitude modulation coherent optical system

Abstract. Coherent optical communication critically relies on efficient digital signal processing (DSP). We demonstrate a lite DSP scheme to reduce the transmission cost and power consumption, which is mainly realized by reducing the sampling rate and simplifying the DSP algorithm. On the one hand, the baud-rate sampling technique based on the integral circuit can reduce the amount of data processing in DSP. On the other hand, we proposed a simplified joint modified constant modulus algorithm (MCMA) and phase-dependent decision-directed least mean square (DD-LMS) algorithm for adaptive blind polarization demultiplexing and phase recovery in which the butterfly structure is no longer needed for DD-LMS. And we compare the proposed simplified algorithm with the joint traditional CMA and blind phase search and the MCMA, in terms of performance in the 80-Gbaud dual-polarization 64QAM homodyne detection system. The results show that the proposed lite DSP mechanism can effectively reduce the power consumption of DSP by sub-rate sampling and simplifying the corresponding algorithm, which provides an alternative scheme for low-power optical interconnection of data centers.
Site effects: assessing the fiscal, social and ecological costs of planned developments

To achieve a more sustainable urban development it is necessary that decision-makers and others are able to understand the impacts of planned projects. To support this understanding a significant number of ‘impact assessment tools’ have been developed to facilitate decision-making for urban development. However, many of these tools have a rather narrow scope when looking at assessment areas or spatial scope. On that background, the research project RegioProjektCheck set out to develop an impact analysis tool with a broadened scope. Although the ambitious objectives had to be modified for some subject areas, the toolbox created can be seen as a starting point for a new generation of impact assessment tools that enable an integrated assessment. A new approach has also been attempted with wide distribution of the toolbox, providing free use and further technical development to anyone.
A descriptive analysis of human milk dispensed by the Leipzig Donor Human Milk Bank for neonates between 2012 and 2019

Background Human milk banking has become an important aspect of Nutritional medicine. It is not just about the provision of mother’s own milk (MOM) or donor human milk (DHM) in the hospital, but also a strategy to encourage breastfeeding in the clinical setting and beyond. Objective To describe the feeding patterns of hospitalised infants including human milk dispensed by the Leipzig Donor Human Milk Bank (LMB). Design A descriptive analysis of daily data on milk feeds dispensed by LMB for hospitalised infants distinguishing between MOM or DHM, either fresh or frozen, and raw/pasteurised milk from 2012–2019. Results We included 2,562 infants with median hospitalisation of 23 days, for whom human milk was dispensed on median 76% of those days and other nutrition on the remaining days. Raw MOM and raw DHM comprised 52% and 8% of the dispensed milk, respectively. Dispensing exclusive DHM instead of MOM for at least one full day was required for 55% of the infants, mostly at the beginning but also later during hospitalisation. Exclusive raw DHM was dispensed on at least 1 day for 37% of the infants, in different birthweight strata <1,000 g: 10%, 1,000-1500 g: 11%, 1,500-2500 g: 13% and > 2,500 g: 3%. At discharge, MOM was dispensed for more than 60% of the infants. Conclusion During an infant’s hospital stay, LMB dispenses various human milk feeds with interspersed DHM resulting in complex intra-individual and time-variant feeding patterns. LMB dispenses raw MOM and especially raw DHM with the intention to retain the properties of human milk unlike a diet containing pasteurised DHM and/or formula. Although raw DHM comprises a small percentage of all dispensed milk, raw DHM is dispensed for a substantial portion of infants. Our results document that dispensing raw DHM, is possible in routine settings.
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Tislelizumab Plus Chemotherapy as First-Line Treatment for Advanced or Metastatic Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma in China

Background Tislelizumab plus chemotherapy improved overall survival compared to chemotherapy alone, while maintaining an acceptable level of safety. But it’s still unclear which strategy is the most cost-effective. The objective of the study was to compare the cost-effectiveness of tislelizumab plus chemotherapy as first-line therapy for patients with advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) versus chemotherapy alone. Methods A partitioned survival model with three states was constructed based on the RATIONALE-306 trial. The model’s time horizon was ten years, and its cycle was three weeks. Only direct medical costs were considered from the healthcare perspective in China. Calculations were performed on total costs, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). One-way sensitivity and probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) were performed to determine the uncertainty regarding model parameters. Results Tislelizumab plus chemotherapy provided 1.35 QALYs for $26,450.77, while chemotherapy alone provided 0.89 QALY for $16,687.15. Compared to chemotherapy alone, tislelizumab had an ICER of $21,062.09/QALY. At the threshold of three times the Chinese GDP per capita ($38,253/QALY), the PSA indicated that tislelizumab had a 96.4% likelihood of being designated cost-effective. At the threshold of 1.5 times the Chinese GDP per capita ($19,126.5/QALY), the PSA indicated that tislelizumab had a probability of 48.7% of being designated cost-effective. Conclusion Tislelizumab plus chemotherapy as the first treatment for patients with advanced or metastatic ESCC may be a cost-effective option compared to chemotherapy alone at 3 times Chinese GDP per capita.
Organizations as Innovations: Examining Changes in Journalism Through the Lens of Newly-Emerging Organizations

This article argues that the growing variety of new journalistic organizations and their diversification beyond the traditional newsroom may offer a deeper and broader understanding of change and innovation within journalism. Newly emerging organizations play a multifaceted role in journalism: They are both drivers and results of change; they serve as indicators of the ways in which the structures of journalism and its production processes are evolving; they reveal industry trends early on and enable longitudinal research. Despite the emergence of non-traditional organizations in journalism, existing studies on these new entities remain fragmented and have yet to coalesce into a sustained research program. Against this background, this conceptual article aims to contribute to the ongoing theoretical progress in journalism studies in three ways. First, it identifies key factors of why organizational innovations happen. Second, it systemizes recent studies exemplifying the plurality of new organizations in journalism according to different levels from organization studies, including the field level, the level of organizational populations, and the level of the single organization. Finally, the article proposes a research agenda for establishing “organizations as innovations” as a novel conceptual lens for understanding change and innovation in journalism studies.
Optimising clonal performance in sugarcane: leveraging non-additive effects via mate-allocation strategies

Mate-allocation strategies in breeding programs can improve progeny performance by harnessing non-additive genetic effects. These approaches prioritise predicted progeny merit over parental breeding value, making them particularly appealing for clonally propagated crops such as sugarcane. We conducted a comparative analysis of mate-allocation strategies, exploring utilising non-additive and heterozygosity effects to maximise clonal performance with schemes that solely consider additive effects to optimise breeding value. Using phenotypic and genotypic data from a population of 2,909 clones evaluated in final assessment trials of Australian sugarcane breeding programs, we focused on three important traits: tonnes of cane per hectare (TCH), commercial cane sugar (CCS), and Fibre. By simulating families from all possible crosses (1,225) with 50 progenies each, we predicted the breeding and clonal values of progeny using two models: GBLUP (considering additive effects only) and extended-GBLUP (incorporating additive, non-additive, and heterozygosity effects). Integer linear programming was used to identify the optimal mate-allocation among selected parents. Compared to breeding value-based approaches, mate-allocation strategies based on clonal performance yielded substantial improvements, with predicted progeny values increasing by 57% for TCH, 12% for CCS, and 16% for fibre. Our simulation study highlights the effectiveness of mate-allocation approaches that exploit non-additive and heterozygosity effects, resulting in superior clonal performance. However, there was a notable decline in additive gain, particularly for TCH, likely due to significant epistatic effects. When selecting crosses based on clonal performance for TCH, the inbreeding coefficient of progeny was significantly lower compared to random mating, underscoring the advantages of leveraging non-additive and heterozygosity effects in mitigating inbreeding depression. Thus, mate-allocation strategies are recommended in clonally propagated crops to enhance clonal performance and reduce the negative impacts of inbreeding.
INVESTIGATION ENERGY INDICES OF CORN PRODUCTION IN NORTH OF IRAN

Optimum use of energy is very vital for agricultural productions section. This method in an agricultural product system is the energy consuming in product operations and energy saving in produced crops. In this article, evaluation of energy indices under rain fed farming corn in north of Iran (Guilan province) was investigated. Data were collected from 72 farms by using a face to face questionnaire method during 2011 year in Guilan province. By using of consumed data as inputs and total production as output, and their concern equivalent energy, and energy indices were calculated. The average yield of corn was found to be 2375 kg/ha and its energy equivalent was calculated to be 37050 MJ/ha. Energy efficiency (energy output to input energy ratio) for seed in this study was calculated 2.25, showing the affective use of energy in the agro ecosystems corn production. Nonrenewable energy was 94.88% total input energy that concluded that corn production needs to improve the efficiency of energy consumption in production and to employ renewable energy.