Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of intelligent hypertension management system on blood pressure: protocol for a randomised controlled multicentre trial

Introduction Hypertension is one of the most serious global health problems, and its prevention and treatment mainly rely on lifestyle intervention and medication. However, the current situation of hypertension control in China is still not ideal. Self-monitoring of blood pressure is expected to be a new way to control hypertension. Intervention and the Intelligent Hypertension Management System (IHMS), an information platform relying on the network and smartphone, may help patients self-monitor their blood pressure at home, allowing for intelligent management of hypertension. The aim of this trial is to investigate whether IHMS can effectively reduce blood pressure in patients with hypertension. Methods and analysis This is a multiple-centre, prospective, randomised, controlled study. 320 eligible subjects will be randomly divided into the IHMS management group (n=160) and the conventional care group (n=160). Subjects in the IHMS management group will be required to take their blood pressure daily at regular intervals at home and get treatment as directed by the IHMS; the control group will receive conventional treatment. The primary outcome of the trial is the net change in systolic blood pressure at the end point of follow-up after 3 months. The mixed-effects model will be used to compare the primary outcome that there is a greater reduction in blood pressure in the intervention group than in the control group. Ethics and dissemination The Ethics Committee of Shanghai Tongren Hospital has reviewed and approved the trial protocols, informed consent and subject information. The findings from the study will be disseminated through publications and conference presentations. The findings of the trial will be published in journals and presented at academic conferences. Trial registration number NCT05526300.
The Effect of Risk Management Committee Characteristics on Firm Performance: An Empirical Investigation

This research investigates how the characteristics of a risk management committee (RMC), as a recently emerging sub-committee within the board of directors, impact firm performance indicators. The investigation employs a dataset encompassing service and manufacturing firms that are listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) over the period 2019–2022, comprising a total of 236 firm-year observations. The primary statistical technique utilised in the study is fixed-effect regression with Huber–White standard errors. The findings demonstrate that RMC attributes such as size, independence and meeting frequency exert a significant and positive effect on return on assets, return on equity and Tobin’s Q. These insights hold practical implications for stakeholders, regulators and policymakers in assessing the influence of RMC characteristics on firm performance within the context of the ASE. Understanding these dynamics can inform decision-making and regulatory frameworks, promoting effective risk management practices in publicly traded corporations. The current study represents the initial empirical exploration within the corporate governance literature concerning the nexus between RMC qualities and firm performance in Jordan.
Analyzing the Effects of Financial Education on Financial Literacy and Financial Behaviour: A Randomized Field Experiment in Croatia

Abstract In this paper, we examined the financial attitude and financial behavior of students and determined their level of financial literacy through a survey. We found that female students report less interest in finance, have less confidence in their financial abilities, and have a lower financial literacy score than male students. On average, we can conclude that students have a low level of financial literacy. In this study we found factors that influence financial literacy which are age, student’s GPA, whether they already took some form of personal finance course, a proxy for numeracy, and place of birth in terms of a capital city. Furthermore, based on controlled experimental field research, we conducted financial training, and investigated causal evidence of the effectiveness of financial education. A training intervention to increase financial literacy was effective and improved financial attitude but increasing financial literacy through means of education was insufficient for making better financial decisions since students did not report a lower frequency of impulsive buying or a higher hypothetical savings rate. We found no evidence that female students were affected by this training any differently than male students.
Estimated effect of age of marriage on utilisation of India’s Integrated Child Development Service programme

Background Age of marriage among women is considered an important indicator of their readiness for familial integration and parenting. This study estimated the effect of age of marriage of young mothers (aged 15–24 years) on utilisation of various services for their children, provided under the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) programme in India. Methods Data from the nationally representative 2019–2021 National Family Health Survey of India were analysed. Mothers’ age of menarche was used as an instrumental variable to isolate the effect of age of marriage on whether their children received (1) food, (2) health check-up, (3) immunisation, (4) early childhood care or preschooling or (5) weight measurement services from ICDS. Results Nationally, 67.9% (95% CI 67.6%, 68.3%) of children received food (sample: 60 578), 61.8% (95% CI 61.4%, 62.1%) received a health check-up (sample: 60 316), 60.0% (95% CI 59.6%, 60.4%) received immunisation services (sample: 60 537), 52.0% (95% CI 51.6%, 52.4%) received early childhood care or preschooling (sample: 60 458) and 62.9% (95% CI 62.5%, 63.3%) received weight measurement services (sample: 60 278). Findings from instrumental variable analysis suggest that a 1-year increase in age of marriage could yield a 9 percentage point increase (95% CI 4%–13%; p<0.001) in utilisation of immunisation services. Although postponement of marriage positively affected utilisation of each of the other four ICDS components, these effects were not statistically significant. Conclusion Postponing age of marriage among young women is an effective intervention for promoting uptake of child immunisation services. Our findings support the Government of India’s 2021 Bill to raise legal age of marriage of women.
How access transport mode to a World Heritage City affects visitors' experienced quality

The aim of this paper is to determine how visitors' experienced quality (VEQ) is affected by the transport mode used by tourists when visiting the city of San Cristobal de La Laguna (a World Heritage City since 1999). San Cristobal de La Laguna is located in Tenerife, one of the seven islands in the archipelago of the Canary Islands, which is recognized as an outstanding mass tourist destination in the European Union. Tenerife is a world-known destination whose main product is based on sun and sand; however, other diversified products, like cultural visits to La Laguna, have been gaining more importance in recent decades. Analysing the complex linkages between transport and VEQ is paramount to city policy makers, as a good understanding of the performance for different dimensions of the product is crucial. Fuzzy logic has been demonstrated to be an effective way to deal with the subjective information provided by questionnaire responses addressing satisfaction and VEQ information. In this paper, the authors apply triangular fuzzy numbers (TFNs) to a survey of tourists who visited La Laguna in 2010. The results show that VEQ is highly affected by the transport mode used in the visit and, therefore, city policymakers may extract important implications for future visitors.
Submodul mit stromstossbegrenzung

Um ein Submodul (14) fur einen modularen Mehrstufenumrichter mit einer ersten und zweiten Anschlussklemme (12, 13), einem Energiespeicher (C ZK ) und einer Leistungshalbleiterschaltung (11), die so mit dem Energiespeicher (C ZK ) verschaltet ist, dass in einem ersten Schaltzustand die an dem Energiespeicher (C ZK ) abfallende Spannung und in einem zweiten Schaltzustand eine Nullspannung an den Anschlussklemmen (12, 13) erzeugbar ist, zu schaffen, das bei gleichbleibender Energiespeicherkapazitat ein kostengunstiges Submodulgehause oder bei gleichem Gehause eine erhohte Energiespeicherkapazitat ermoglicht, ohne dass dadurch der durch das Submodulgehause bereitgestellte Schutz ausgehohlt wird, wird vorgeschlagen, dass die Leistungshalbleiterschaltung (11) einem Energiespeicherzweig (15) parallel geschaltet ist, in dem der Energiespeicher (C ZK ) und Stromstosbegrenzungsmittel (16, 18) angeordnet sind.
Volatility Spillovers Across Petroleum Markets

By using our newly defined measure, we detect and quantify asymmetries in the volatility spillovers of petroleum commodities: crude oil, gasoline, and heating oil. The increase in volatility spillovers after 2001 correlates with the progressive fin-ancialization of the commodities. Further, increasing spillovers from volatility among petroleum commodities substantially change their pattern after 2008 (the financial crisis and advent of tight oil production). After 2008, asymmetries in spillovers markedly declined in terms of total as well as directional spillovers. In terms of asymmetries we also show that overall volatility spillovers due to negative (price) returns materialize to a greater degree than volatility spillovers due to positive returns. An analysis of directional spillovers reveals that no petroleum commodity dominates other commodities in terms of general spillover transmission.
Neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio in patients with idiopathic pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis

Background Idiopathic pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (iPPFE), a progressive fibrotic disease, is characterised by upper lobe–dominant lung fibrosis involving the pleura and subpleural lung parenchyma. However, no prognostic markers have been established for this condition. Associations between blood leucocyte levels and mortality have been reported in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; therefore, we hypothesised that peripheral leucocyte levels are associated with mortality risk in patients with iPPFE. Methods This retrospective study longitudinally assessed peripheral leucocyte counts at the time of diagnosis and 1 year after diagnosis in two cohorts of 127 patients with iPPFE (69 and 58 patients in Seirei and Hamamatsu cohorts, respectively). Results A comprehensive assessment of peripheral leucocytes revealed that the neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was associated with mortality in patients with iPPFE after adjusting for age, sex and forced vital capacity in multivariate analyses (adjusted HR, 1.131; 95% CI, 1.032 to 1.227). When the patients were classified based on the median NLR, those with a high NLR had shorter survival than those with a low NLR (median, 32.2 vs 79.8 months; HR, 2.270; 95% CI, 1.416 to 3.696). Interestingly, the results of the NLR classification by median were longitudinally preserved in >70% of patients, and patients with consistently high NLR were at a higher risk of mortality than others (median, 24.8 vs 79.6 months; HR, 3.079; 95% CI, 1.878 to 5.031). Compared with the gender–age–physiology model, a composite model comprising age, sex and NLR could successfully stratify patients with iPPFE into three groups according to mortality risk. Conclusion The assessment of peripheral leucocyte counts is easy and might be useful in evaluating disease severity and mortality risk in patients with iPPFE. Our study suggests the importance of focusing on peripheral leucocyte levels in daily practice.
Numerical reproduction of the Sherrington-Adrian observations through a community of McCulloch-Pitts neurons with plastic remodelling

Neurons form a highly complex network that produces cognition from simple associative rules. From previous results, this work shows the natural capability of the numerical network produced to modulate the output signal with independence of the intensity of the stimuli. Moreover, the plastic remodelling implemented in the model is capable to change the latency of a wide range of stimuli to synchronize them and adjust to a required delay of the signal.
A RIEMANN SINGULARITY THEOREM FOR INTEGRAL CURVES By SEBASTIAN CASALAINA-MARTIN and JESSE LEO KASS

We prove results generalizing the classical Riemann Singularity Theorem to the case of integral, singular curves. The main result is a computation of the multiplicity of the theta divisor of an integral, nodal curve at an arbitrary point. We also suggest a general formula for the multiplicity of the theta divisor of a singular, integral curve at a point and present some evidence that this formula should hold. Our results give a partial answer to a question posed by Lucia Caporaso in a recent paper. Introduction. In this article, we study the local geometry of the theta divisor of an integral curve with the goal of extending the Riemann Singularity Theorem. Motivated in part by work of Caporaso [11], we compute the multiplicity of the theta divisor of an integral, nodal curve at a point and then use this to determine the singular locus of the theta divisor. We also suggest a formula that would extend our results to more general curves and present some evidence that this formula should hold. To motivate our results, recall that associated to a non-singular curve X/k of genus g ≥ 2 is its Jacobian variety Jg−1 X/k parametrizing degree g−1 line bundles on X. The locus Θ corresponding to line bundles that admit a nonzero global section is an ample divisor known as the theta divisor. The Riemann Singularity Theorem states that, if x is a point of Θ that corresponds to a line bundle L, then multxΘ= h0(X,L). For a singular curve X/k, the moduli space of degree g− 1 line bundles is typically non-complete, and a completion of this space is given by the moduli space of rank 1, torsion-free sheaves, denoted J̄g−1 X/k. There is a natural analogue Θ of the classical theta divisor that lies on J̄g−1 X/k . The main result of this paper is the following generalization of the Riemann Singularity Theorem: THEOREM A. Suppose that X/k is an integral curve with at worst planar singularities. Let x be a point of the theta divisor Θ corresponding to a rank 1, torsion-free sheaf I . If the sheaf I fails to be locally free at n nodes and no other points, then the multiplicity and order of vanishing of Θ at x satisfy the equation multxΘ= ( multx J̄ g−1 X/k ) ·ordxΘ= 2 ·h0(X,I). Manuscript received October 24, 2009; revised February 13, 2012. Research of the second author supported in part by NSF grant DMS-0502170. American Journal of Mathematics 134 (2012), 1143–1165. c © 2012 by The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Oil price shocks and real GDP growth: empirical evidence for some OECD countries

This study assesses empirically the effects of oil price shocks on the real economic activity of the main industrialized countries. Multivariate VAR analysis is carried out using both linear and non-linear models. The latter category includes three approaches employed in the literature, namely, the asymmetric, scaled and net specifications. Evidence of a non-linear impact of oil prices on real GDP is found. In particular, oil price increases are found to have an impact on GDP growth of a larger magnitude than that of oil price declines, with the latter being statistically insignificant in most cases. Among oil importing countries, oil price increases are found to have a negative impact on economic activity in all cases but Japan. Moreover, the effect of oil shocks on GDP growth differs between the two oil exporting countries in the sample, with the UK being negatively affected by an oil price increase and Norway benefiting from it.
Somatic mutation as an explanation for epigenetic aging

DNA methylation marks have recently been used to build models known as “epigenetic clocks” which predict calendar age. As methylation of cytosine promotes C-to-T mutations, we hypothesized that the methylation changes observed with age should reflect the accrual of somatic mutations, and the two should yield analogous aging estimates. In analysis of multimodal data from 9,331 human individuals, we find that CpG mutations indeed coincide with changes in methylation, not only at the mutated site but also with pervasive remodeling of the methylome out to ±10 kilobases. This one-to-many mapping enables mutation-based predictions of age that agree with epigenetic clocks, including which individuals are aging faster or slower than expected. Moreover, genomic loci where mutations accumulate with age also tend to have methylation patterns that are especially predictive of age. These results suggest a close coupling between the accumulation of sporadic somatic mutations and the widespread changes in methylation observed over the course of life.
Structural basis of connexin-36 gap junction channel inhibition

Connexin gap junction channels and hemichannels play important roles in intercellular communication and signaling. Some of connexin isoforms are associated with diseases, including hereditary neuropathies, heart disease and cancer. Although small molecule inhibitors of connexins show promise as therapeutic agents, the molecular mechanisms of connexin channel inhibition are unknown. Here, we report the cryo-EM structure of connexin-36 (Cx36) bound to an anti-malarial drug mefloquine at 2.1 Å resolution. Six drug binding sites partially occlude the pore of each connexon forming the channel. Each drug molecule in the ring makes contacts with residues in the pore-lining pocket and with the neighbouring mefloquine molecules, partially occluding the pore and modifying the pore electrostatics, ultimately reducing solute translocation through the channel. Structures of Cx36 in the presence of quinine and quinidine show a similar mode of drug binding. Molecular dynamics simulations of Cx36 bound to mefloquine show that drug binding affects the kinetics of ion passage through the pore. This previously undescribed mode of connexin channel inhibition presents an opportunity for designing subtype-specific connexin inhibitors. One-sentence summary Mechanism of connexin channel inhibition by small molecules
Pregled storitev hranjenja podatkov v oblaku

V danasnjem casu se storitve hranjenja podatkov v oblaku uporabljajo vsakodnevno. Shranjeni podatki v oblaku so nam na voljo vedno in povsod. Diplomska naloga obsega pregled ponudnikov storitve hranjenja podatkov v oblaku. Z obsežno tabelo ponudnikov storitev hranjenja podatkov v oblaku povzamemo njihove glavne lastnosti. Podrobnejse so predstavljene storitve Dropbox, Google Drive in Microsoft OneDrive, ki nam poleg storitev hranjenja podatkov v oblaku ponujajo tudi ucinkovite resitve skupnega urejanja shranjenih podatkov v oblaku z drugimi uporabniki. Spoznamo tudi Amazonovo storitev Cloud Drive, ki pa nam ne ponuja enake izkusnje kot storitve ostalih velikih ponudnikov. Prav tako si ogledamo storitvi Sync.com in IDrive, ki ponujata nekoliko varnejso in zasebnejso uporabo storitev hranjenja podatkov v oblaku. Omenimo tudi storitvi, ki združita vec oblacnih storitev v eno samo storitev, in sicer odrive in MultCloud. Cilj diplomske naloge je seznaniti bralca z razlicnimi ponudniki storitev hranjenja podatkov v oblaku, omogociti vpogled v delovanje, prednosti in slabosti storitev, ki mu bo nato v pomoc pri izbiri pravsnje resitve.
Context Quality Matters in Training Fusion-in-Decoder for Extractive Open-Domain Question Answering

Retrieval-augmented generation models augment knowledge encoded in a language model by providing additional relevant external knowledge (context) during generation. Although it has been shown that the quantity and quality of context impact the performance of retrieval-augmented generation models during inference, limited research explores how these characteristics affect model training. This paper explores how context quantity and quality during model training affect the performance of Fusion-in-Decoder (FiD), the state-of-the-art retrieval-augmented generation model, in extractive open-domain question answering tasks. Experimental results suggest that FiD models overfit to context quality during training and show suboptimal performance when evaluated on different context quality. Through the experimental results, we also reveal FiD models trained with different context quality have different cross-attention distribution patterns. Specifically, as context quality during training increases, FiD models tend to attend more uniformly to each passage in context. Finally, based on these observations, we propose a method to mitigate overfitting to specific context quality by introducing bias to the cross-attention distribution, which we demonstrate to be effective in improving the performance of FiD models on different context quality.
Export Growth - Fuel Price Nexus in Developing Countries:Real or False Concern?

This paper investigates the impact of domestic fuel price increases on export growth in a sample of 77 developing countries over the period 2000-2014. Using a fixed-effect estimator and the local projection approach, we find that an increase in domestic gasoline or diesel price adversely affects real non-fuel export growth, with the impact phasing out within two years after the shock. The impact is mainly noticeable in countries with a high-energy dependency ratio and where access to electricity is limited. Further, large fuel price shocks do not seem to lead to disproportionately large changes in exports, suggesting that neither the gradualism nor the shock therapy approach in fuel subsidy reforms dominates. In countries where the export sector is vulnerable to fuel price shocks, appropriate mitigating measures should be designed to smooth the transition to higher fuel prices.
INTEGRAL POINTS OF BOUNDED HEIGHT ON COMPACTIFICATIONS OF SEMI-SIMPLE GROUPS

In this paper, we study the asymptotic distribution of S-integral points of bounded height on partial bi-equivariant compactifications of semi-simple groups of adjoint type. Our approach combines the spectral techniques developed in [20] in the context of integral points with more recent results in [5], [4], and [6]. Throughout, we assume that G is a split semi-simple group of adjoint type of rank larger than one over a number field F and X the wonderful compactification of G. Nonsplit groups G and arbitrary bi-equivariant compactifications X can be treated along the same lines; this would necessitate the rather technical discussion of relevant Galois cohomology and transfer of automorphic characters as in Part I, Section 2, of [20]. In our case, the boundary X \ G is a strict normal crossings divisor ∪α∈ADα; each A ⊆ ∆ corresponds to the boundary stratum DA := ∩α∈ADα. In [20] we defined a height pairing H : Pic(X)C × G(A) → C
Unveiling the Power of Argument Arrangement in Online Persuasive Discussions

Previous research on argumentation in online discussions has largely focused on examining individual comments and neglected the interactive nature of discussions. In line with previous work, we represent individual comments as sequences of semantic argumentative unit types. However, because it is intuitively necessary for dialogical argumentation to address the opposing viewpoints, we extend this model by clustering type sequences into different argument arrangement patterns and representing discussions as sequences of these patterns. These sequences of patterns are a symbolic representation of argumentation strategies that capture the overall structure of discussions. Using this novel approach, we conduct an in-depth analysis of the strategies in 34,393 discussions from the online discussion forum Change My View and show that our discussion model is effective for persuasiveness prediction, outperforming LLM-based classifiers on the same data. Our results provide valuable insights into argumentation dynamics in online discussions and, through the presented prediction procedure, are of practical importance for writing assistance and persuasive text generation systems.