Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
International Student Projects and Sustainable Development Goals: A Perfect Match

Engineering Education is currently going through a transformation, driven by the need for educating better engineers and more engineers, and largely build on elements such as problem orientation, interdisciplinarity, internationalization, digitalization and sustainability. In 2020, the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership EPIC (Improving Employability Through Internationalization and Collaboration) has combined all these elements, and demonstrated how international and interdisciplinary student projects, focusing on solving real-world problems related to sustainability, can be carried out in a setting where students mainly work together online. A total of 56 students from 7 EU and 2 international universities, with backgrounds ranging from Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering to Textile Technologies and Business Informatics were working on 9 different projects throughout the spring of 2020. The paper presents the experiences from the setup and discusses some general recommendations for setting up this type of projects. The paper goes through the stages of defining and carrying out the projects: Defining the overall framework, identifying problems/project proposals in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, identifying the students and assigning students to projects, preparing students and supervisors, organising the physical kick-off seminar, and supporting the online collaboration. We also discuss evaluation and hand-over of the solutions, to ensure the projects have a lasting impact. We conclude that the sustainable development goals provide a highly motivating framework for interdisciplinary, international student projects based on problem-based learning. We also note that a careful design and execution of the all the preparatory stages are crucial in order for the projects to succeed, and discuss specific recommendations for these.
Determinants of Mortality in Broiler Production in Oriire Local Government Area, Oyo State

- This study evaluated determinants of mortality in broiler production in Oriire Local Government Area, Oyo State. Multi stage sampling technique was used. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the respondents. The first stage was simple random sampling of two (2) wards out of the 10 wards in the Local Government Area. The second stage involved snow balling method for the selection of 25 farmers from each of the selected wards. A total of fifty respondents were interviewed. The descriptive statistics and ordinary least square regression were used in the analysis of the data. The mean age of the respondents was 41 years. Disease was the highest (26%) cause of mortality in broilers farming. The coefficients of age of respondents was negative and significant at 1 percent. However, the coefficients of household income and participation in broiler farming were significant and positive at 1 percent level. It is concluded from the findings of this study that disease was the highest cause of mortality in broiler farming. An increase in the age of farmer reduced mortality of poultry birds. Also, participation in pullet farming reduces mortality of poultry birds.
Type 7 adenylyl cyclase-mediated HPA axis responsiveness: Influence of ethanol and sex

Although ethanol has been considered to be an anxiolytic agent, consumption of ethanol has also been shown to increase plasma ACTH and glucocorticoids. The CRF receptor1 α (CRF-R1) is a G protein-coupled receptor that activates adenylyl cyclase (AC), leading to ACTH (and subsequently glucocorticoid) release into the circulation. There are nine members of the membrane-bound AC family, and the type 7 AC (AC7) is most sensitive to ethanol, which enhances the responsiveness of AC7 to G-protein coupled receptor activation. We determined the time course of ethanol's effect on plasma ACTH and corticosterone levels in male and female AC7 transgenic (Adcy7 huTG ) mice (in which AC7 is overexpressed in neural tissue) and in AC7 heterozygous knockdown (Adcy7 +/- ) mice (in which AC7 is under-expressed in neural tissue), and their respective littermate controls (WT). CRF-R1 mRNA as well as mRNA and protein for different forms of ACs were measured using gene expression arrays, qRT-PCR and immunoblotting in pituitaries of all animals. Our results demonstrated increased levels of AC7 in pituitary of Adcy7 huTG mice, and decreased levels in pituitary of Adcy7 +/- mice, compared to WT animals. Male and female Adcy7 huTG mice displayed higher plasma ACTH and corticosterone levels than WT and/or Adcy7 +/- mice after ethanol injection. Female mice displayed higher ACTH and corticosterone levels after ethanol injection than males, regardless of genotype. The data provide evidence for an integral role of AC7 in the increase of plasma ACTH and corticosterone levels during alcohol intoxication. Adcy7 huTG and Adcy7 +/- mice. On each blot, the densitometric ratio values (AC7/ β -tubulin) for the Adcy7 huTG and Adcy7 +/- mice were converted to percent of WT ratios on that blot (data from male and female animals were analyzed separately). These percent values were averaged across blots for male and female mice. Data were analyzed by 2-way ANOVA (sex and genotype) with a random effect of subject, followed by post-hoc contrasts when appropriate. The additional expression of the human AC7 in the pituitary of the Adcy7 huTG mice was, however, demonstrated using primers specific for the human ADCY7 mRNA. The results obtained with an antibody that did not distinguish between the mouse and human AC7 substantiated lower AC7 protein levels in anterior pituitary of the Adcy7 +/- male and female mice, and increased levels in Adcy7 huTG male and female mice, compared to the WT littermates.
Efﬁciency Enhancement of Non-Isolated DC-DC Interleaved Buck Converter for Renewable Energy Sources

: The article describes the principles based on which it is possible to obtain energy from renewable sources more efﬁciently. The principles use the conventional DC-DC interleaved buck converter based on the common electronic component types and the control strategy. A novelty of such a proposed solution lies in the methods which are not new, but with the right combination, better results can be achieved. The resulting method can be implemented into various topologies where the highest efﬁciency for wide input power is required. In case of the renewable energy sources where the power can vary hugely during the day, the proposed method can be implemented. Therefore, the article provides several steps, from calculation through simulation to experimental results that brings reader close to understanding of a such proposed solution.
Risk Spillovers and Hedging

In this paper we show that free entry decisions may be socially ineﬃcient, even in a perfectly competitive homogeneous goods market with non-lumpy investments. In our model, ineﬃcient entry decisions are the result of risk-aversion of incumbent producers and consumers, combined with incomplete ﬁnancial markets which limit risk-sharing between market actors. Investments in productive assets aﬀect the distribution of equilibrium prices and quantities, and create risk spillovers. From a societal perspective, entrants underinvest in technologies that would reduce systemic sector risk, and may overinvest in risk-increasing technologies. The ineﬃciency is shown to disap-pear when a complete ﬁnancial market of tradable risk-sharing instruments is available, although the introduction of any individual tradable instrument may actually decrease eﬃciency. We therefore believe that sectors without well-developed ﬁnancial markets will beneﬁt from sector-speciﬁc regulation of investment decisions.
Species-speciﬁc differences in the Pro-Ala rich region of cardiac myosin binding protein-C

Cardiac myosin binding protein-C (cMyBP-C) is an accessory protein found in the A-bands of vertebrate sarcomeres and mutations in the cMyBP-C gene are a lead-ing cause of familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The regulatory functions of cMyBP-C have been attributed to the N-terminus of the protein, which is composed of tandem immunoglobulin (Ig)-like domains (C0, C1, and C2), a region rich in proline and alanine residues (the Pro-Ala rich region) that links C0 and C1, and a unique sequence referred to as the MyBP-C motif, or M-domain, that links C1 and C2. Recombinant proteins that contain various combinations of the N-terminal domains of cMyBP-C can activate actomyosin interactions in the absence of Ca 2 ? , but the speciﬁc sequences required for these effects differ between species; the Pro-Ala region has been implicated in human cMyBP-C whereas the C1 and M-domains appear important in mouse cMyBP-C. To investigate whether species-speciﬁc differences in sequence can account for the observed differences in function, we compared sequences of the Pro-Ala rich region in cMyBP-C isoforms from different species. Here we report that the number of proline and alanine residues in the Pro-Ala rich region varies signiﬁcantly between different species and that the number correlates directly with mammalian body size and inversely with heart rate. Thus, systematic sequence differences in the Pro-Ala rich region of cMyBP-C may contribute to observed functional differences in human versus mouse cMyBP-C isoforms and suggest that the Pro-Ala region may be important in matching contractile speed to
regulation of hypocotyl elongation

The plant hormone auxin, a master coordinator of development, regulates hypocotyl 47 elongation during seedling growth. We previously identified the synthetic molecule 48 RubNeddin 1 (RN1), which induces degradation of the AUXIN/INDOLE-3-ACETIC ACID 49 (AUX/IAA) transcriptional repressors INDOLE-3-ACETIC ACID INDUCIBLE3 (IAA3) and 50 IAA7 in planta and strongly promotes hypocotyl elongation. In the present study, we show 51 that despite the structural similarity of RN1 to the synthetic auxin 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic- 52 acid (2,4-D), direct treatments with these compounds in Arabidopsis ( Arabidopsis thaliana ) 53 result in distinct effects, possibly due to enhanced uptake of RN1 and low-level, chronic 54 release of 2,4-D from RN1 in planta . We confirm RN1-induced hypocotyl elongation occurs 55 via specific TRANSPORT INHIBITOR RESISTANT1 (TIR1)/AUXIN SIGNALING F-BOX 56 (AFB) receptor-mediated auxin signaling involving TIR1, AFB2 and AFB5. Using a 57 transcriptome profiling strategy and candidate gene approach, we identify the genes ZINC 58 59 LEVADURA31 ( ATL31 ) and WRKY DNA-BINDING PROTEIN33 ( WRKY33 ) as being rapidly 60 up-regulated by RN1, despite being down-regulated by 2,4-D treatment. RN1-induced 61 expression of these genes also occurs via TIR1/AFB-mediated auxin signaling. Our results 62 suggest both hypocotyl elongation and transcription of these genes are induced by RN1 via 63 the promoted degradation of the AUX/IAA transcriptional repressor IAA7. Moreover, these 64 three genes, which are known to be stress-related, act in an inter-dependent transcriptional 65 regulatory network controlling hypocotyl elongation. Together, our results suggest ZAT10 , 66 ATL31 and WRKY33 take part in a common gene network regulating hypocotyl
Activity in Dendritic Cells Cells Triggers Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase T + Ligation of B7-1/B7-2 by Human CD4

Human monocyte-derived dendritic cells (DCs) are capable of expressing the tryptophan-degrading enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), which allows them to suppress Ag-driven proliferation of T cells in vitro. In DCs that express IDO, the activity of the enzyme is tightly regulated, with the protein being constitutively expressed, but functional activity requiring an additional set of triggering signals supplied during Ag presentation. We now show that triggering of functional IDO obligately requires ligation of B7-1/B7-2 molecules on the DCs by CTLA4/CD28 expressed on T cells. When this interaction was disrupted, IDO remained in the inactive state, and the DCs were unable to inhibit T cell proliferation. Inhibition could be fully restored by direct Ab-mediated cross-linking of B7-1/B7-2. Although both CD4 (cid:1) and CD8 (cid:1) T cells were susceptible to inhibition once IDO was induced, the ability to trigger functionally active IDO was strictly conﬁned to the CD4 (cid:1) subset. Thus, the ability of CD4 (cid:1) T cells to induce IDO activity in DCs allowed the CD4 (cid:1) population to dominantly inhibit proliferation of the CD8 (cid:1) population via the bridge of a conditioned DC. We hypothesize that IDO activation via engagement of B7-1/B7-2 molecules on DCs, speciﬁcally, engagement by CTLA4 expressed on regulatory CD4 (cid:1) T cells, may function as a physiologic regulator of T cell responses in vivo. The Journal of Immunology, 2004, 172: 4100–4110. (IDO (cid:1) ) fraction was harvested by gentle aspiration (without vigorous pipetting) and used in all assays. Optimal fractionation of IDO (cid:1) cells was obtained at intermediate (rather than high) levels of GMCSF, and good results were also obtained with a single initial feeding of GM-CSF without further supplementation. The adherent cells from these were CD14 (cid:1) a transitional or macrophage-like fraction, de- show suppression
Editorial Underwater Acoustic Communications: Where We Stand and What Is Next?

Underwater acoustic communications and networking technologies are critical tools for underwater exploration, subsea resource extraction, national defensemissions, etc. Their roles are becoming ever more important as nations around the globe turn to the oceans as sustainable sources of food and energy. The quest for acoustic communications has steadily intensified over the past two decades, addressing key issues of bandwidth efficiency, reliability, and latency, and focusing on adapting to the changing propagation conditions. These features are often at odds, as the nature of acoustic propagation forces tradeoffs on the system designer. For a high data rate, one must trade reliability; for full reliability, one must trade latency. While it is tempting to say that these channel-imposed constraints and tradeoffs are annoying, it is also true thatworkingwith the acoustic channel provides unique technical challenges and solutions that are not seen in other areas.
The Firm Size Distribution & Inter-Industry Diversification

We show that the stylized facts of the Firm Size Distribution (FSD) by age cohorts, as shown in Cabral and Mata (2003), bind within 4-digit manufacturing industries in the UK and Belgium. As in Klepper and Thompson (2006) and Sutton (1998), we explore whether time to build a portfolio of products is a mechanism that relates age to firm size. While inter industry diversification, to some extent, accounts for the role of age, we find that the presence of economies of scope has a separate impact on firm size when controlling for age, amongst other factors. Using the techniques in Cabral and Mata’s we show that the FSD by degrees of product diversification shifts to the right, but more so in older age groups. This shows a role for inter-industry diversification over and above an age effect. JEL Classification: L10, L11 and L16.
The Importance Role of Human Capital of Independent Commissioner on the Credit Performance of Indonesian Rural Bank

Purpose: This study aims to test the effect of independent commissioner's existence on credit performance by examining the moderating role of the human capital of independent commissioners. Design/ methodology/approach: Using purposive sampling, 177 rural banks in Indonesia become the study sample and multiple-step linear regression to analyze it. Findings: The human capital of an independent commissioner moderate the effect of the independent commissioner's existence on the credit performance of the Indonesian Rural Bank. Originality/value: This research hopefully will give empirical evidence and comprehensive understanding to the academicians, public researchers, and the authority that independent commissioner's existence as a critical factor of Indonesian Rural Bank's internal governance mechanism. Its' education suitability should support to ensure it can effectively implement the governance.
Folic Acid Supplementation Can Reduce the Endothelial Damage in Rat Brain Microvasculature Due to Hyperhomocysteinemia 1,2

To evaluate the effects of dietary folic acid supplementation on the cerebral vascular damage induced by hyperhomocysteinemia, rats were fed a diet containing 3.0 g/kg homocystine for 2 wk and then either 3.0 g/kg homocystine or 3.0 g/kg homocystine plus 0.008 g/kg folic acid for 8 wk. Control rats consumed the AIN-93 Maintenance diet throughout the experiment. The cerebral expression of glucose transporter-1 was measured by Western blot analysis and cerebrovascular structural alterations were evaluated by electron microscopy. The homocystine diet signiﬁcantly increased the plasma levels of homocysteine and TBARS and decreased the cerebral expression of glucose transporter-1 (GLUT-1) with a concomitant increase in the percentage of damaged cerebral vessels. The inclusion of dietary folic acid for 8 wk caused plasma homocysteine levels to be the same as in control rats and it signiﬁcantly upregulated the cerebral expression of GLUT-1 that was signiﬁcantly reduced by hyperhomocysteinemia. Folic acid supplementation also signiﬁcantly decreased the incidence of damaged vessels due to hyperhomocysteinemia. These results and the electron microscopy ﬁndings suggested that folic acid supplementation might reduce the detrimental effects on the endothelium caused by experimentally induced hyperhomocysteinemia. J. Nutr. 135: 544–548, these levels at 10 wk were analyzed by one-way ANOVA, followed by Duncan’s multiple range test. For densitometric data, Wilcoxon’s Signed Rank test was performed to determine whether differences were signiﬁcant. Results for plasma homocysteine, folate, vitamin B-12, and TBARS are presented as means (cid:1) SEM; data for Western blotting analysis and percentage of damaged vessels are presented as means SD. Signiﬁcance was accepted at probability values of P (cid:4) 0.05.
Teramobile Laser and Lightning

Abstract : An ultrashort, terawatt laser was used to trigger lightning by creating ionized path in atmosphere. Joint French-German Teramobile was brought to the Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research for the experiment. Arrays of instruments were used to assess lightning initiation, or ionized path to perturb the local electric field. No lightning discharges were observed triggered by the laser, but good understanding of physics and future laser needs were determined.
Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Cost-sensitive online classification with adaptive regularization and its applications

—Cost-Sensitive Online Classiﬁcation is recently pro- posed to directly online optimize two well-known cost-sensitive measures: (i) maximization of weighted sum of sensitivity and speciﬁcity, and (ii) minimization of weighted misclassiﬁcation cost. However, the previous existing learning algorithms only utilized the ﬁrst order information of the data stream. This is insufﬁcient, as recent studies have proved that incorporating second order information could yield signiﬁcant improvements on the prediction model. Hence, we propose a novel cost-sensitive online classiﬁcation algorithm with adaptive regularization. We theoretically analyzed the proposed algorithm and empirically validated its effectiveness with extensive experiments. We also demonstrate the application of the proposed technique for solving several online anomaly detection tasks, showing that the proposed technique could be an effective tool to tackle cost-sensitive online classiﬁcation tasks in various application domains.
Surface of Cancer Cells Internalization of CD73 Expressed on the Breast Cancer by Inducing Clustering and Inhibits Metastasis Formation in Human Anti-Human CD73 Monoclonal Antibody

Recent studies have shown that Abs that target the cell-surface enzyme CD73 (ecto-5 9 -nucleotidase) reduce growth of primary tumors and metastasis in syngenic mice by inhibiting the catalytic activity of CD73, and thus increasing the activity of cytotoxic T lymphocytes. In this article, we report another anticancer mechanism of anti-CD73 Abs and show that an anti-CD73 mAb (AD2) inhibits metastasis formation by a mechanism independent of CD73 catalytic activity and inhibition of primary tumor growth. This mechanism involves clustering and internalization of CD73, but does not require cross-linking of CD73, because both whole IgG anti-CD73 AD2 mAb and Fab 9 fragments thereof exhibited this effect. Ex vivo treatment of different breast cancer cell lines with anti-CD73 AD2 mAb before i.v. injection into mice inhibited extravasation/colonization of circulating tumor cells and signiﬁcantly reduced metastasis development. This effect was also observed when the cancer cell-surface expression of CD73 was signiﬁcantly reduced by small interfering RNA knockdown. The antimetastatic activity is epitope speciﬁc, as another Ab that efﬁciently binds CD73-expressing live cancer cells did not lead to CD73 internalization and metastasis inhibition. Furthermore, anti-CD73 AD2 mAb inhibited development of metastasis in a spontaneous animal model of human metastatic breast cancer. Our study shows that some anti-CD73 mAbs cause cell-surface clustering of CD73 followed by internalization, thus inhibiting the ability of circulating tumor cells to extravasate and colonize, leading to inhibition of duction of adenosine. In this study, we provide novel insight to the role of CD73 in metastasis development and a novel mechanism by which some anti-CD73 Abs can inhibit metastasis formation independent of the catalytic activity of CD73. Our study indicates that CD73 redistribution, induced by anti-CD73 AD2 mAb (AD2 mAb), is central in the inhibition of human breast cancer metastasis in the lungs. Our data support the growing evidence suggesting CD73 as an attractive candidate for targeted treatment in breast cancer, and we suggest using the dual role of CD73 in metastasis development to increase the efﬁcacy of anti-human CD73 mAb treatment by targeting the different functions of CD73.
Hepatocyte-speciﬁc ablation of spermine/spermidine- N 1 -acetyltransferase gene reduces the severity of CCl 4 -induced acute liver injury

RA M. Hepatocyte-speciﬁc ablation of spermine/spermidine- N 1 -acetyltransferase gene reduces the severity of CCl 4 -induced acute liver injury. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Physiol 303: G546–G560, 2012. of sperm-ine/spermidine- N 1 -acetyltransferase (SSAT) leads to DNA damage and growth arrest in mammalian cells, and its ablation reduces the severity of ischemic and endotoxic injuries. Here we have examined the role of SSAT in the pathogenesis of toxic liver injury caused by carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ). The expression and activity of SSAT increase in the liver subsequent to CCl 4 administration. Furthermore, the early liver injury after CCl 4 treatment was signiﬁcantly attenuated in hepatocyte-speciﬁc SSAT knockout mice (Hep-SSAT-Cko) compared with wild-type (WT) mice as determined by the reduced serum alanine aminotransferase levels, decreased hepatic lipid peroxidation, and less severe liver damage. Cytochrome P450 2e1 levels remained comparable in both genotypes, suggesting that SSAT deﬁciency does not affect the metabolism of CCl 4 . Hepatocyte-speciﬁc deﬁciency of SSAT also modulated the induction of cytokines involved in inﬂam-mation and repair as well as leukocyte inﬁltration. In addition, Noxa and activated caspase 3 levels were elevated in the livers of WT compared with Hep-SSAT-Cko mice. Interestingly, the onset of cell proliferation was signiﬁcantly more robust in the WT compared with Hep-SSAT Cko mice. The inhibition of polyamine oxidases protected the animals against CCl 4 -induced liver injury. Our studies suggest that while the abrogation of polyamine back conversion or inhibition of polyamine oxidation attenuate the early injury, they may delay the onset of hepatic regeneration.