Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Psychological Impact of First Burn Camp in Nicaragua

Asociacion Pro-Ninos Quemados de Nicaragua (APROQUEN) is a comprehensive burn center that provides a holistic and integrated approach to treating burns. APROQUEN has set the standards internationally with acute treatment for burns, intensive care, reconstructive surgeries, nutritional care, rehabilitation, occupational therapy, and psychological treatment. APROQUEN is excelling within Central and South America with life-saving techniques and quality of care. It is imperative that burn centers in Central America recognize that the treatment of a child with a burn injury surpasses physical care to include psychological treatment for the complete well-being of the child. It is necessary to provide the tools necessary to reintegrate the child back into their environment. APROQUEN developed and implemented the first burn camp in Latin America, “Confio en Mi” (I trust myself). The camp theme focused on self-esteem. The camp program included theory (educational) and practice (applied) components where the campers through “classroom type” activities had the opportunity to reflect and share with other campers and camp staff on self-esteem, depression, and anxiety. Participants were children who survived major burns (N = 33; 58% women; ages 12–25; 61% <18) and were shown to have difficulty socializing. Comprehensive interviews were conducted to ensure fit for camp. Forty-two percent of the campers had not slept away from home since the burn injury. Mean TBSA = 20% and mean age at time of burn injury was 13. The majority of campers (46%) endured flame burn injuries, with 24% having scald injuries. Mean years postburn = 4.8 + 3.2. Most campers (40%) were enrolled in secondary school, 30% in elementary school, and 21% in college. Standardized measures (CDI-2 Parent Form and Child Form, Rosenberg Scale, APROQUEN Burn Camp Measure Parent and Child Form, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory) were given to all campers prior to attending camp. The same measures were given 2 weeks after the camp and again at 6 months. Paired samples’ t-tests were conducted and significance was set at P <. 05. The results indicate that Camp Confio en Mi had a significant impact on campers’ level of anxiety, depression, and self-esteem. Future burn camps are an important part of the continued advancement of postpediatric burn care in Nicaragua. This study reveals the importance of future researches necessity to focus on generalizing the results of this study to other children who have experienced similar burn injuries.
Electronic structure of the L-cysteine films on dental alloys studied by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy

The valence electronic structures of the dental alloys, type 1, type 3, K14, and MC12 and their interaction with L-cysteine have been studied by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy with synchrotron radiation. It was found that the electronic structures of the type-1 and type-3 dental alloys are similar to that of polycrystalline Au, while that of the K14 dental alloy is much affected by Cu. The electronic states of the MC12 dental alloy originate dominantly from Cu 3d states and Pd 4d states around the top of the valence bands, while the 4~7-eV electronic structure of MC12 originates from the Ag 4d states. The peak shift and the change in shape due to alloying are observed in all the dental alloys. For the L-cysteine thin films, new peak or structure observed around 2 eV on all the dental alloys is suggested to be due to the bonding of S 3sp orbitals with the dental alloy surfaces. The Cu-S bond as well as the Au-S and Au-O bonds may cause the change in the electronic structure of the L-cysteine on type 1, type 3 and K14. For MC12, the interaction with L-cysteine may be dominantly due to the Pd-S, Cu-S, and Ag-O bonds, while the contribution of the Ag-S bond is small.
Maximum-sensitivity method for minimizing uncertainty in the measurements of permittivity of a cylindrical dielectric sample in a rectangular waveguide

A novel and efficient methodology is proposed for reducing measurement uncertainty associated with the dielectric constant of low-loss materials. The experimental setup consists of two H-plane cylindrical rods located in a rectangular waveguide. One of the rods has the unknown dielectric constant to be extracted, while the other dielectric rod whose dielectric constant is known in advance and serves as a tool for altering the shape of the dependence of the absolute value of the reflection coefficient on the dielectric constant in such a way that the resulting curve exhibits more rapid variations in the range of possible values of the dielectric constant of the post being characterized. The distance between the rods, radius of the optimizing rod, and position offset of the optimizing post serve as optimization parameters to be adjusted so that measurement uncertainty could be reduced which is confirmed by the results of numerical modeling. However, in the vicinity of the resonances, the method cannot be applied.
Benchmarking Stochastic Algorithms for Global Optimization Problems by Visualizing Confidence Intervals

The popular performance profiles and data profiles for benchmarking deterministic optimization algorithms are extended to benchmark stochastic algorithms for global optimization problems. A general confidence interval is employed to replace the significance test, which is popular in traditional benchmarking methods but suffering more and more criticisms. Through computing confidence bounds of the general confidence interval and visualizing them with performance profiles and (or) data profiles, our benchmarking method can be used to compare stochastic optimization algorithms by graphs. Compared with traditional benchmarking methods, our method is synthetic statistically and therefore is suitable for large sets of benchmark problems. Compared with some sample-mean-based benchmarking methods, e.g., the method adopted in black-box-optimization-benchmarking workshop/competition, our method considers not only sample means but also sample variances. The most important property of our method is that it is a distribution-free method, i.e., it does not depend on any distribution assumption of the population. This makes it a promising benchmarking method for stochastic optimization algorithms. Some examples are provided to illustrate how to use our method to compare stochastic optimization algorithms.
The impact of cement kiln dust on soil Physico-chemical properties at Gboko, east central Nigeria

The effects of cement kiln dust on selected soil physico-chemical properties after 25 years of cement production by the Benue cement factory in Gboko, Nigeria were evaluated by comparing the cement-dust affected soils with non-affected soils. The study showed that at both soil depths of 0-20 and 20-40 cm exchangeable calcium, sodium, hydrogen, magnesium as well as soil organic matter, were significantly higher in the affected soils than in the non-affected soils, the former depth at P≤ 0.05 and the latter at P≤ 0.01. Data from the four representative soil profiles also indicated that some of the soil properties were enhanced by the cement dust. The study also showed that the highest quantity of the cement dust obtained in the farm plot was 0.72t/ha/yr, a quantity too negligible to cause any negative effects on soils and crops. Thus, presently the cement dust from the factory enhanced the majority of the selected properties of the soils and may manifest positively on crop performance around the area in future hence if properly harnessed may contribute to soil fertility management in the affected soil areas.
Investigating Hydrochemical Groundwater Processes in an Inland Agricultural Area with Limited Data: A Clustering Approach

Groundwater chemistry data are normally scarce in remote inland areas. Effective statistical approaches are highly desired to extract important information about hydrochemical processes from the limited data. This study applied a clustering approach based on the Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) to a hydrochemical dataset of groundwater collected in the middle Heihe River Basin (HRB) of northwestern China. Independent hydrological data were introduced to examine whether the clustering results led to an appropriate interpretation on the hydrochemical processes. The main findings include the following. First, in the middle HRB, although groundwater chemistry reflects primarily a natural salinization process, there are evidence for significant anthropogenic influence such as irrigation and fertilization. Second, the regional hydrological cycle, particularly surface water-groundwater interaction, has a profound and spatially variable impact on groundwater chemistry. Third, the interaction between the regional agricultural development and the groundwater quality is complicated. Overall, this study demonstrates that the GMM clustering can effectively analyze hydrochemical datasets and that these clustering results can provide insights into hydrochemical processes, even with a limited number of observations. The clustering approach introduced in this study represents a cost-effective way to investigate groundwater chemistry in remote inland areas where groundwater monitoring is difficult and costly.
Young adulthood cognitive ability predicts statin adherence in middle-aged men after first myocardial infarction: A Swedish National Registry study

Background Cognitive ability (CA) is positively related to later health, health literacy, health behaviours and longevity. Accordingly, a lower CA is expected to be associated with poorer adherence to medication. We investigated the long-term role of CA in adherence to prescribed statins in male patients after a first myocardial infarction (MI). Methods CA was estimated at 18–20 years of age from Military Conscript Register data for first MI male patients (≤60 years) and was related to the one- and two-year post-MI statin adherence on average 30 years later. Background and clinical data were retrieved through register linkage with the unselected national quality register SWEDEHEART for acute coronary events (Register of Information and Knowledge about Swedish Heart Intensive Care Admissions) and secondary prevention (Secondary Prevention after Heart Intensive Care Admission). Previous and present statin prescription data were obtained from the Prescribed Drug Register and adherence was calculated as ≥80% of prescribed dispensations assuming standard dosage. Logistic regression was used to estimate crude and adjusted associations. The primary analyses used 2613 complete cases and imputing incomplete cases rendered a sample of 4061 cases for use in secondary (replicated) analyses. Results One standard deviation increase in CA was positively associated with both one-year (OR 1.15 (CI 1.01–1.31), P < 0.05) and two-year (OR 1.14 (CI 1.02–1.27), P < 0.05) adherence to prescribed statins. Only smoking attenuated the CA–adherence association after adjustment for a range of > 20 covariates. Imputed and complete case analyses yielded very similar results. Conclusions CA estimated on average 30 years earlier in young adulthood is a risk indicator for statin adherence in first MI male patients aged ≤60 years. Future research should include older and female patients and more socioeconomic variables.
UWaterlooMDS at the TREC 2018 Common Core Track

This year we applied dynamic sampling (DS) [4] to create a sampled set of relevance judgments. One goal was to test the effectiveness and efficiency of this technique with a set of non-expert, secondary relevance assessors. We consider NIST assessors to be the experts and the primary assessors. Another goal was to make available to other researchers a sampled set of relevance judgments (prels) and thus allow the estimation of retrieval metrics that have the potential to be more robust than the standard NIST provided relevance judgments (qrels). In addition to creating the prels, we also submitted several runs based on our manual judging and the models produced by our HiCAL system [1, 6].
Direct Learning to Rank and Rerank

Learning-to-rank techniques have proven to be extremely useful for prioritization problems, where we rank items in order of their estimated probabilities, and dedicate our limited resources to the top-ranked items. This work exposes a serious problem with the state of learning-to-rank algorithms, which is that they are based on convex proxies that lead to poor approximations. We then discuss the possibility of "exact" reranking algorithms based on mathematical programming. We prove that a relaxed version of the "exact" problem has the same optimal solution, and provide an empirical analysis.
Extracorporeal shock wave treatment can normalize painful bone marrow edema in knee osteoarthritis

Abstract Bone marrow edema (BME) represents a reversible but highly painful finding in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of patients with knee osteoarthritis. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the efficacy of extracorporeal shock wave treatment (ESWT) on painful BME in osteoarthritis of the knee. This study focuses on people who had early-to-mid stage osteoarthritis with knee pain and MRI findings of BME. Patients who underwent ESWT treatment or prescribed alendronate treatment in our department were analyzed. Knee pain and function were measured using the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain and the Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), respectively. The degree of BME was measured with MRI scans. A total of 126 patients who received ESWT treatment (Group A, n = 82) or alendronate treatment (Group B, n = 44) were included. All patients were followed up clinically and radiographically for a minimum of 12 months. The mean follow-up was 23.5 months (range, 12–38 months). The VAS and WOMAC score decreased more significantly after treatment in Group A than that in Group B (P <.01) within 3 months. In 6-month MRI follow-ups, there was higher incidence of distinct reduction and complete regression of BME of the affected knee in Group A than that in Group B (P <.01). ESWT is an effective, reliable, and noninvasive treatment in patients with painful BME in osteoarthritis of the knee followed by a rapid normalization of the MRI appearance. It has the potential to shorten the natural course of this disease.
A Software-Defined Multi-Element VLC Architecture

In the modern era of radio frequency (RF) spectrum crunch, visible light communication (VLC) is a recent and promising alternative technology that operates at the visible light spectrum. Thanks to its unlicensed and large bandwidth, VLC can deliver high throughput, better energy efficiency, and low cost data communications. In this article, a hybrid RF/VLC architecture is considered that can simultaneously provide light- ing and communication coverage across a room. Considered architecture involves a novel multi-element hemispherical bulb design, which can transmit multiple data streams over light emitting diode (LED) modules. Simulations considering various VLC transmitter configurations and topologies show that good link quality and high spatial reuse can be maintained in typical indoor communication scenarios.
The Role of Inequality in Technology Diffusion Master of Arts HSG in Economics

We study the effects of income inequality on technology adoption lags and on long-run technology penetration rates. Building on the model and findings of Comin and Mestieri (2013a), we analyze a sample of 72 countries between 1960 and 1995. They find converging adoption lags and diverging penetration rates between Western and non-Western countries. This evolution explains 80% of the Great Income Divergence between the two country groups. Applying pooled OLS, we find that it matters where in the income distribution the inequality appears, which confirms our theoretical predictions. In contrast, overall inequality measured by the Gini coefficient is too broad to be significant. Hence, quantile income shares are crucial. Distortion-free redistribution from the rich to the poor decreases the adoption lag. Moreover, a higher income share of the middle class at the expense of the rich or the poor increases the adoption lag. When it comes to the long run technology penetration rate, we find that lower overall inequality increases the penetration. Increasing the income share of the middle class at the expense of the rich or the poor increases the penetration rate. Our results suggest that a strong middle class increased the adoption lags and penetration rates in Western countries. Therefore, it may account for some of the convergence of adoption lags and divergence of penetration rates between the two country groups. Acknowledgement: I am grateful to Reto Föllmi, Stefan Legge, Paul Segerstrom, Örjan Sjöberg and Jesper Roine for valuable discussions.
Fast and Efficient Data Forwarding Scheme for Tracking Mobile Targets in Sensor Networks

Transferring emergent target tracking data to sinks is a major challenge in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), because inefficient data transmission can cause significant personnel and property loss. For tracking a constantly moving mobile target, sensing data should be delivered to sinks continuously and quickly. Although there is some related research, the end to end tracking delay is still unsatisfying. In this paper, we propose a Fast and Efficient Data Forwarding (FEDF) scheme for tracking mobile targets in sensor networks to reduce tracking delay and maintain a long lifetime. Innovations of the FEDF scheme that differ from traditional scheme are as follows: firstly, we propose a scheme to transmit sensing data through a Quickly Reacted Routing (QRR) path which can reduce delay efficiently. Duty cycles of most nodes on a QRR path are set to 1, so that sleep delay of most nodes turn 0. In this way, end to end delay can be reduced significantly. Secondly, we propose a perfect method to build QRR path and optimize it, which can make QRR path work more efficiently. Target sensing data routing scheme in this paper belongs to a kind of trail-based routing scheme, so as the target moves, the routing path becomes increasingly long, reducing the working efficiency. We propose a QRR path optimization algorithm, in which the ratio of the routing path length to the optimal path is maintained at a smaller constant in the worst case. Thirdly, it has a long lifetime. In FEDF scheme duty cycles of nodes near sink in a QRR path are the same as that in traditional scheme, but duty cycles of nodes in an energy-rich area are 1. Therefore, not only is the rest energy of network fully made use of, but also the network lifetime stays relatively long. Finally, comprehensive performance analysis shows that the FEDF scheme can realize an optimal end to end delay and energy utilization at the same time, reduce end to end delay by 87.4%, improve network energy utilization by 2.65%, and ensure that network lifetime is not less than previous research.
The Effects of Intraoperative Hypothermia on Surgical Site Infection: An Analysis of 524 Trauma Laparotomies

Objectives:Our primary study objective was to determine whether intraoperative hypothermia predisposes patients to postoperative surgical site infections (SSI) after trauma laparotomy. Background:Although intraoperative normothermia is an important quality performance measure for patients undergoing colorectal surgery, the effects of intraoperative hypothermia on SSI remain unstudied in trauma. Methods:A review of all patients (July 2003–June 2008) who survived 4 days or more after urgent trauma laparotomy at a level I trauma center revealed 524 patients. Patient characteristics, along with preoperative and intraoperative care focusing on SSI risk factors, including the depth and duration of intraoperative hypothermia, were evaluated. The primary outcome measure was the diagnosis of SSI within 30 days of surgery. Cut-point analysis of the entire range of lowest intraoperative temperature measurements established the temperature nadir that best predicted SSI development. Single and multiple variable logistic regression determined SSI predictors. Results:The mean intraoperative temperature nadir of the study population (n = 524) was 35.2°C ± 1.1°C and 30.5% had at least 1 temperature measurement less than 35°C. Patients who developed SSI (36.1%) had a lower mean intraoperative temperature nadir (P = 0.009) and had a greater number of intraoperative temperature measurements <35°C (P < 0.001) than those who did not. Cut-point analysis revealed an intraoperative temperature of 35°C as the nadir temperature most predictive of SSI development. Multivariate analysis determined that a single intraoperative temperature measurement less than 35°C independently increased the site infection risk 221% per degree below 35°C (OR: 2.21; 95% CI: 1.24–3.92, P = 0.007). Conclusions:Just as intraoperative hypothermia is an SSI risk factor in patients undergoing elective colorectal procedures, intraoperative hypothermia less than 35°C adversely affects SSI rates after trauma laparotomy. Our results suggest that intraoperative normothermia should be strictly maintained in patients undergoing operative trauma procedures.
DNA damage in kidney transplant patients. Role of organ origin

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients are characterized by elevated levels of genomic damage. This damage increases when kidney function decreases being maximum in hemodialysis patients. As kidney transplantation improves renal function, and it is related with better survival, the aim of our study was to evaluate potential changes in DNA damage levels after kidney transplantation, and comparing living donor recipients with cadaveric donor recipients. The alkaline comet assay was used to determine DNA breaks and oxidative damaged DNA; and the micronucleus assay was used to determine chromosomal breakage and/or aneuploidy. Fifty CKD patients were followed up after 6 and 12 months of their kidney transplantation. All patients increased their genomic damage levels after 6 and 12 months of renal transplantation, compared with those observed before transplantation, despite of the improvement of their metabolic functions. Donor advanced age correlated positively with higher DNA damage. Genomic damage was lower in living donor transplants with respect to cadaveric donor transplants. Our conclusion is that DNA damage increased in kidney transplantation patients, whereas their renal function improved. Higher levels of DNA damage were found in cadaveric donor transplants when compared to living donor transplants. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 58:712–718, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Altered microbiota in microscopic colitis

Recently, Shin et al 1 reported that Akkermansia spp had a beneficial effect on glucose homeostasis in obese mice. Mucin degrading Akkermansia —promoting mucin degradation and turnover—is associated with a healthy mucosa. In IBD, a deranged microbiota is reported while findings in microscopic colitis (MC) are lacking. MC is a disorder characterised by chronic non-bloody diarrhoea, predominantly affecting elderly smoking women. Despite frequent diarrhoea, laboratory anomalies are seldom seen. Since an altered microbiota is reported in several immune mediated diseases and since MC affects the gut, our hypothesis was that the microbiota would be altered in patients with MC. A group of 10 female patients (mean age 48 years, range 43–68 years) with onset of MC collected as previously described2 donated faecal samples that were compared with samples from seven healthy control women (mean age 50 years, range 45–65 years) with respect to their faecal microbiota. The bacterial microbiome was analysed by DNA sequencing (Illumina Hiseq 2000) and sequences were aligned to a …
Coronary artery calcification score and common iliac artery calcification score in non‐dialysis CKD patients

Many studies have validated Agatston’s coronary artery calcification score (CACS) for assessing vascular calcification (VC) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. This study aimed to evaluate the CACS and common iliac artery calcification score (IACS) and to examine the variables related to each score.