Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design of steel frames with buckling restrained braces

Buckling Restrained Braces (BRBs) are very effective in dissipating energy through stable tension-compression hysteretic cycles. Their behaviour was studied extensively in the past decades and successfully experimented for the seismic protection of buildings. Despite the knowledge acquired from experimental and numerical studies, many seismic codes (i.e. Eurocode 8) do not yet stipulate provisions for the design of earthquake-resistant structures equipped with BRBs. This paper describes a procedure for the seismic design of steel frames equipped with BRBs. The results of the numerical investigation are intended for the validation of the design procedure and for the proposal of an appropriate value of the behaviour factor.
24-Hour versus daytime intraocular pressure phasing in the management of patients with treated glaucoma

Aims To determine the value of daytime and 24-h phasing in patients treated for progressive glaucoma despite apparently adequate intraocular pressure (IOP) control. Methods A retrospective analysis of a cohort of patients that had undergone either daytime phasing (08:00–18:00) or 24-h phasing was conducted. IOP measurements were compared between those taken in clinic, daytime phasing and 24-h phasing. The frequency with which phasing results changed clinical management was also compared between daytime and 24-h phasing. Results 76 patients fulfilling the study criteria were identified. Clinic and daytime phasing IOP were known for all 76 patients, nighttime IOP measurements were known for 41. There was no significant difference between mean IOP values measured in clinic and daytime phasing (p=0.062) or between clinic values and nighttime phasing (p=0.65). The mean daytime phasing IOP was significantly higher than the mean nighttime phasing IOP (p=0.038) (analysis of variance (ANOVA) for three groups, p=0.058). There was no significant difference between the mean peak IOP in clinic or daytime phasing (p=0.13) or between clinic and nighttime phasing (p=0.44). The mean daytime phasing IOP peak was significantly higher than the mean nighttime phasing IOP peak (p=0.015) (ANOVA for three groups, p=0.074). There was no significant difference in the frequency of a change in management that occurred as a result of phasing between the daytime and 24-h groups (p=0.65). Conclusions 24-H phasing offers little advantage over daytime phasing in the identification of IOP fluctuations or peaks in patients progressing despite acceptable clinic IOP readings. Daytime phasing is likely to be more cost-effective than 24-h phasing.
Labor Planning and Shift Scheduling in Retail Stores Using Customer Traffic Data

Labor costs are one of the largest expenses of retail companies. This work develops a decision support tool to manage staffing levels and schedule working shifts, balancing the sales contribution of employees with salary costs. We extend recent empirical studies that estimate the impact of staffing levels on sales, combining detailed sales transaction and hourly customer traffic with employee staffing data. The empirical strategy uses exogenous deviations between the planned and actual schedule to identify the causal effect of staffing on conversion rates and basket value. This empirical model combined with traffic forecasting models are used as an input to a scheduling algorithm that optimizes the workforce schedule by balancing revenues with employee salaries, providing a feasible and detailed specification of working shifts that complies with labor regulations and other practical constraints. We also propose a robust optimization model to face uncertainties coming from the parameter estimation. The methodology is tested using real data from a children apparel retail chain in Latin America. The results suggest that most stores are understaffed during the weekends and at the same time overstaffed during lunch hours in weekdays, which is in part explained by the reduced flexibility imposed by regulatory restrictions for full-time workers. We show that our approach to optimize the workforce schedule can effectively improve the efficiency of the current labor plan of the company. Finally by using a robust approach we find staffing plans that produce less variance in the outcomes without losing too much in terms of expected revenue. The methods and models developed in this work have been integrated into a packaged solution for retail chains.
Clinical Efficacy of Spinal Instrumentation in Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease

In review of 871 lumbar fusion procedures performed during the last 8 years, the theoretical advantages of lumbar spinal instrumentation are not borne out in simple discogenic disease. Four groups of 30–35 patients without previous surgery who underwent fusion by different techniques were matched for age, sex, length of follow-up, surgeons, number of levels fused, duration of prcoperative symptems, diagnosis, and type of third party payer. At least for the diagnoses of herniated disc with segmental instability and the instrumentation systems used in this study, results were superior with no internal fixation. This is in keeping with the higher complication rates and frequent need for implant removal reported by many authers.
Edge Sheared Flows as a Source of Propagating Plasma Potential Events

The radial structure of plasma fluctuations has been investigated in the plasma boundary region of the TJ-II stellarator. Potential transport events are observed to be born in the proximity of the edge velocity shear layer in the TJ-II stellarator. They propagate radially predominantly outwards in the scrape-off layer (SOL) side of the shear layer, whereas in the edge region side the radial propagation is predominantly radially inwards with an effective radial propagation is the order of 1 10 km/s. These findings suggest the development of a momentum source linked to the edge velocity shear layer. The main focus of this paper is the discovery of the role of edge-sheared flows as a source of propagating inwards and outwards plasma potential. These findings suggest the development of a momentum source linked to the edge velocity shear layer. Experimental findings also show that radial transport and radial correlations are reduced in the region dominated by the presence of long-range toroidally correlated structures (zonal flows).
The Dynamicity of Steenbeek Foot Abduction Brace for Clubfoot in Dorsiflexion and Pronation

Purpose. Steenbeek foot abduction brace (SFAB) has been widely used in various national clubfoot programs. The aim of the study was to define effectiveness and dynamicity of SFAB in terms of dorsiflexion and pronation for the corrected clubfoot. Methods. Differences in foot dorsiflexion and pronation measurement with brace in knee flexed and extended position were recorded as dynamicity1 and dynamicity2, respectively. The residual soft tissue stretch lag despite brace use was calculated by determining the difference between maximum foot dorsiflexion (stretchlag1) and pronation (stretchlag2) achievable without and with brace in knee flexed. Statistical difference between measurements were calculated using paired t tests. Results. There were a total of 63 feet in 40 patients. The mean foot dorsiflexion with brace on in knee extension was 7.57° and in flexion was 15.20°. The foot pronation with brace on in knee extension was 9.46° and in flexion was 16.77°. Thus, SFAB exerted statistically significant differences in foot dorsiflexion and pronation between the knee extended and flexed positions. Dynamicity1 and dynamicity2 were 7.63° and 7.31°, respectively. Stretchlag1 was 18.47° and stretchlag2 was 17.63°. Conclusions. SFAB demonstrates effective dynamicity in maintaining corrected foot dorsiflexion and pronation. There is a residual soft tissue stretch lag both in dorsiflexion and pronation in corrected clubfoot despite use of SFAB. Levels of Evidence: Therapeutic, Level IV: Case series
Investigation of hybrid Ge QDs/Si nanowires solar cell with improvement in cell efficiency

In this paper, the structure of a high-efficiency solar cell is presented by using a combination of quantum dots of germanium arrays and silicon nanowires on a thin film silicon layer. Due to the low absorption coefficient of silicon, this type of solar cell does not have high efficiency. According to the capability of the quantum structure in absorbing the incident photons and the generation of electron-hole pairs, this structure is proposed. Moreover, nanowires as an appropriate suggestion are applied in our work aiming to improve light scattering and optical photon absorption for the generation of carriers. Both of the electrical and optical characteristics of the solar cell are calculated by using a finite-difference time-domain method. Owing to the change of the nanowire length and increasing the number of quantum dot in our work, maximum power absorption is achieved. The achieved results provide a considerable improvement in efficiency and short-circuit current density. The efficiency is improved up to 17.5% and the short-circuit current density in the active layer of thickness 1170 nm has been provided to be 42.6 mA/cm2. The open circuit voltage for this cell is calculated to be 0.47 V. The achieved results provide a considerable improvement in efficiency and short-circuit current density in comparison with previously published method.
Sharp-Crested Weir Discharge Coefficient

Weirs are useful and common devices in flow measurements. The essential parameter of each weir is to determine the flow coefficient. In this study, laboratory measurements of the water surface profile, approach flow velocity and flow rate carried out over three different rectangular sharp-crested weirs mounted in a flume. The flow was then numerically simulated by the CFD commercial software Fluent v. 6.2 in several stages. Results show that Fluent can model the flow over this type of weirs preciously. Then the effect of three dimensionless parameters of weir height (H/W), Froude number and Reynolds number on weir discharge coefficient is investigated using experimental and numerical data. For a specific value of these parameters, discharge coefficient is tending to the fixed value of 0.7.
Real-Time Hybrid Simulation of Complex Structures using Multi-Actuator Control

Hybrid simulation combines numerical simulation and experimental testing in a loop of action and reaction to capture the dynamic behavior of a structure. When the rate-dependent behavior of the experimental component is significant, the hybrid simulation must be conducted in real-time (i.e., real-time hybrid simulation or RTHS). In RTHS, the actuator dynamics are directly introduced into the RTHS loop. Also, the phenomenon of controlstructure interaction leads to a coupling of the behavior of the actuators and specimen. Traditional actuator control approaches compensate for an apparent time delay or time lag rather than address the actuator dynamics directly. Moreover, most actuator control approaches focus on single-actuator systems. The control approach proposed herein directly addresses actuator dynamics through model-based feedforward-feedback control. The modeling captures the dynamic coupling between the actuators, ensuring accurate control for multi-actuator systems. The proposed approach is illustrated for the RTHS of a three-story building with multiple actuators.
MICROPROBE ANALYSIS OF PROTARGOL STAIN DEPOSITION IN TWO PROTOZOA

Protargol-stained specimens of two protozoans, Carchesium polypinum (Ciliata, Peritrichida) and Gregarina rhyparobiae (Sporozoa, Eugregarinida), were examined by an electron microprobe analyzer in order to determine the elemental composition of the stain deposit. Limited penetration of the microprobe beam presumably revealed only the composition of the stain deposits close to the surface of the examined protozoa. The data on this first analysis of Protargol staining revealed that element detection was negligible in the unstained preparations, but the stained specimens of both protozoans revealed a mass concentration ratio of 0.4 Cu:1 Ag:6.1 Au. There was no significant difference in the element ratio between the two protozoan species belonging to different classes and stained with slightly different stain procedures. Some aspects of Protargol mechanisms are discussed along with an interpretation of data and an indication of the feasibility of further examinations.
Picture Perfect: The Impact of Spirituality and Media on Women's Sexuality

Media plays a large role in the sexualization of women. The increase in sexual socialization of media has brought the hookup culture to college campuses. Moreover, it has led to several negative consequences in healthy sexual and identity development in females. Understanding that sexual well-being is vital in one’s development, higher education professionals have begun to take note of this increasingly important issue affecting the larger student body. Although sexuality is difficult to navigate for any emerging adult, it seems particularly complex for women who follow a specific religion. More specifically, Christian women from faith-based institutions face cultural pressures from both the hookup culture and the pervasive purity culture. In order to examine the influence of spirituality and media on female college students’ sexuality, a qualitative phenomenological study was conducted at a small, liberal arts, faith-based university in the Midwestern United States. The question used to guide the research was as follows: How do spirituality and media impact female college students’ perceptions of sexuality at a faith-based institution? The study consisted of 31 female participants within four focus group interviews. The results of the study found strong emerging themes including social incongruence, silence within the church, and increase in sexual and spiritual development. Suggestions for further research are included, along with the implications of these findings on the work of those within institutions of higher education.
Innate immune evasion strategies against Cryptococcal meningitis caused by Cryptococcus neoformans

As an infectious fungus that affects the respiratory tract, Cryptococcus neoformans (C. neoformans) commonly causes asymptomatic pulmonary infection. C. neoformans may target the brain instead of the lungs and cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in the early phase of infection; however, this is dependent on successful evasion of the host innate immune system. During the initial stage of fungal infection, a complex network of innate immune factors are activated. C. neoformans utilizes a number of strategies to overcome the anti-fungal mechanisms of the host innate immune system and cross the BBB. In the present review, the defensive mechanisms of C. neoformans against the innate immune system and its ability to cross the BBB were discussed, with an emphasis on recent insights into the activities of anti-phagocytotic and anti-oxidative factors in C. neoformans.
Allergic contact urticaria from natural rubber latex in healthcare and non‐healthcare workers

To compare the prevalence of natural rubber latex (NRL) sensitization and allergic contact urticaria from NRL in healthcare and non‐healthcare workers, we studied all 1171 patients who attended our clinic during 2001 and 2002. Prick testing for NRL and patch testing with European standard series were performed in all patients and an additional rubber series in those who had contact with rubber. Specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels against NRL and tropical fruits were measured when prick testing was positive. Sensitization to NRL (positive prick test and specific IgE levels) was much more common in healthcare workers than that in non‐healthcare workers, 16.7 versus 2.3%. Among the non‐healthcare workers, sensitization to NRL was more common in food handlers (17.1%), construction workers (6.6%), painters (6.2%), hairdressers (5.1%) and cleaners (3.8%). The difference in the prevalence of specific IgE to tropical fruits was not significant. Allergic contact urticaria from NRL was also much more frequent in healthcare workers, 71.4 versus 28.6%. In conclusion, sensitization to NRL and allergic contact urticaria from NRL are more common in healthcare workers, but this is a growing problem in non‐healthcare workers and should be investigated in all workers with a history of NRL intolerance or who have contact with NRL.
On the Field of a Stationary Charged Spherical Source

The equations of gravitation related to the field of a spherical charged source imply the existence of an interdependence between gravitation and electricity [5]. The present paper deals with the joint action of gravitation and electricity in the case of a stationary charged spherical source. Let m and " be respectively the mass and the charge of the source, and let k be the gravitational constant. Then the equations of gravitation need specific discussion according as j"j < mpk (source weakly charged) or j"j = mpk or j"j > mpk (source strongly charged). In any case the curvature radius of the sphere bounding the matter possesses a strictly positive greatest lower hound, so that the source is necessarily an extended object. Pointwise sources do not exist. In particular, charged black holes do not exist.
Butyrylcholinesterase genetic variability in Guarani Amerindians from the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul

Human butyrylcholinesterase (BChE; EC 3.1.1.8) is a polymorphic enzyme coded by the BCHE gene (3q26.1-q26.2) while the CHE2 gene (2q33-q35) determines a still not characterized substance that forms a complex with BChE (C5), being the CHE2 C5+ and CHE2 C5- phenotypes detected in electrophoresis. The present study investigated BCHE and CHE2 variability and the BChE activity of Brazilian Guarani Amerindians from the Kaiowa and Nandeva sub-groups living in several indigenous territories in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The frequency of the BCHE exon 2 D70G (A) allele was 0.60% ± 0.35% while that of the BCHE exon 2 G390V (F-2) allele, never before screened in Amerindians, was 8.82% ± 1.35%. This is the first time that the BCHE gene exon 4 A539T (K) allele has been surveyed in Brazilian Amerindians where it was found at a frequency of 3.69% ± 0.85%, similar to that found in Chilean Mapuche Amerindians. The BCHE gene variability seen in this survey differs from that of non-isolated populations in respect to both A539T and G390V allele frequency. The CHE2 C5+ phenotype frequency was 14.40% ± 2.22% and falls within the range of that found for other Brazilian Amerindian samples.
Acute coronary syndrome due to amoxicillin allergy

lifestyle, cultural and political aspects. No data, however, exist on atopy prevalence among Russian children as compared with children in Finland. We studied the occurrence of atopy among schoolchildren, aged 7–9 years, from three randomly selected school classes in Helsinki, Finland (n 1⁄4 104, 44% boys), and in Petrozavodsk, Russia (n 1⁄4 106, 49%boys), by performing skin prick tests (SPT) to two common allergens, birch (10 HEP) and cat (10 HEP), with a positive (histaminedihydrochoride 10 mg/ml) and a negative (solvent) control using a standard procedure (Solu-prick SQ;ALKA/S,Copenhagen,Denmark). A wheal diameter of ‡3 mm was considered as a positive test result. We found that among Finnish children, STP positivity to birch was 14.4% and to cat 17.3% and the respective figures among Russian children were 4.7 and 7.5% (Fischer’s exact test P 1⁄4 0.019 for birch, P 1⁄4 0.037 for cat). The results are well in line with the earlier data obtained from schoolchildren in the West compared with children in East Europe (1,2). Similar gradients in atopy prevalences between East and West have been found even among adults, although the differences have been most pronounced in individuals <40 years of age (5). In conclusion, atopy, assessed by an objective measurement, showed to occur significantly less frequently among Russian as compared with Finnish schoolchildren. Our results lend further support to the view that improved hygiene and western lifestyle is associated with higher occurrence of atopy among children.
Impact of Balanced Scorecard Implementation on Corporate Performance

This paper seeks to identify and analyze a set of advantages and contributions derived from Balanced Scorecard implementation (BSC) towards the corporate performance. The study contributes to the current state of knowledge since the identification of the advantages and contributions in BSC introduction and implementation can facilitate its adoption and development in the corporate designing to implement this tool. Besides, a theoretical basis is provided for future research evidencing the extent of research on the topic studied. The results show that BSC is better than a simple performance evaluation system to become a true strategic management mechanism able to clarify and explain the mission and corporate strategy, making possible the communication process, the strategic alignment and the organizational erudition.
In vitro and in vivo evaluations of nanocrystalline Zn-doped carbonated hydroxyapatite/alginate microspheres: zinc and calcium bioavailability and bone regeneration

Background: Zinc-doped hydroxyapatite has been proposed as a graft biomaterial for bone regeneration. However, the effect of zinc on osteoconductivity is still controversial, since the release and resorption of calcium, phosphorus, and zinc in graft-implanted defects have rarely been studied. Methods: Microspheres containing alginate and either non-doped carbonated hydroxyapatite (cHA) or nanocrystalline 3.2 wt% zinc-doped cHA (Zn-cHA) were implanted in critical-sized calvarial defects in Wistar rats for 1, 3, and 6 months. Histological and histomorphometric analyses were performed to evaluate the volume density of newly formed bone, residual biomaterial, and connective tissue formation. Biomaterial degradation was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and synchrotron radiation-based X-ray microfluorescence (SR-µXRF), which enabled the elemental mapping of calcium, phosphorus, and zinc on the microsphere-implanted defects at 6 months post-implantation. Results: The bone repair was limited to regions close to the preexistent bone, whereas connective tissue occupied the major part of the defect. Moreover, no significant difference in the amount of new bone formed was found between the two microsphere groups. TEM analysis revealed the degradation of the outer microsphere surface with detachment of the nanoparticle aggregates. According to SR-µXRF, both types of microspheres released high amounts of calcium, phosphorus, and zinc, distributed throughout the defective region. The cHA microsphere surface strongly adsorbed the zinc from organic constituents of the biological fluid, and phosphorus was resorbed more quickly than calcium. In the Zn-cHA group, zinc and calcium had similar release profiles, indicating a stoichiometric dissolution of these elements and non-preferential zinc resorption. Conclusions: The nanometric size of cHA and Zn-cHA was a decisive factor in accelerating the in vivo availability of calcium and zinc. The high calcium and zinc accumulation in the defect, which was not cleared by the biological medium, played a critical role in inhibiting osteoconduction and thus impairing bone repair.