Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance of a Live Multi-Gateway LoRaWAN and Interference Measurement across Indoor and Outdoor Localities

Little work has been reported on the magnitude and impact of interference with the performance of Internet of Things (IoT) applications operated by Long-Range Wide-Area Network (LoRaWAN) in the unlicensed 868 MHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band. The propagation performance and signal activity measurement of such technologies can give many insights to effectively build long-range wireless communications in a Non-Line of Sight (NLOS) environment. In this paper, the performance of a live multi-gateway in indoor office site in Glasgow city was analysed in 26 days of traffic measurement. The indoor network performances were compared to similar performance measurements from outdoor LoRaWAN test traffic generated across Glasgow Central Business District (CBD) and elsewhere on the same LoRaWAN. The results revealed 99.95% packet transfer success on the first attempt in the indoor site compared to 95.7% at the external site. The analysis shows that interference is attributed to nearly 50 X greater LoRaWAN outdoor packet loss than indoor. The interference measurement results showed a 13.2–97.3% and 4.8–54% probability of interfering signals, respectively, in the mandatory Long-Range (LoRa) uplink and downlink channels, capable of limiting LoRa coverage in some areas.
Marking Pen Bacterial Contamination During Shoulder Surgery

Background: Equipment used to guide surgical incisions has been shown to be a source of bacterial contamination during surgery. Purpose/Hypothesis: To compare the culture-positive rates of sterile marking pens used before and after skin preparation for shoulder surgery. It was hypothesized that there will be no difference in culture-positive rates from marking pens used after skin preparation compared with before skin preparation. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: Overall, 43 consecutive patients undergoing elective shoulder surgery were enrolled prospectively into this study. Each patient provided 2 samples: study pens (from marking the surgical site incision after skin preparation) and positive control pens (from marking the surgical site incision before skin preparation). In addition, there were 43 negative control pens evaluated (straight from the packaging without any patient contact). Cultures were evaluated at 4 and 21 days, and all positive cultures were further evaluated for speciation, if able. Standard descriptive summaries and Fisher exact tests were used to compare the study samples. Results: The average age of the 43 patients was 54 years (range, 18-76 years). There were 29 (67%) female patients, and 30 (70%) procedures were on the right shoulder. Of the 43 procedures performed, 29 (67.4%) were arthroscopic, 12 (27.9%) were open, and 2 (4.7%) were closed. Of the 43 study pens, 1 culture was positive for Propionibacterium acnes (2.3%). Of the 43 positive control pens, 2 cultures were positive for bacterial growth (4.7%): P. acnes and Gram-positive bacilli (no speciation could be obtained). Of the 43 negative control pens, none of the cultures were positive for bacterial growth (0%). There was no statistical difference in the culture-positive rate between the study pens and the positive or negative control pens (P ≥ .999). Conclusion: Study results indicated that sterile surgical marking pens used to plan incisions and to outline anatomic landmarks did not have a higher culture-positive rate compared with pens used on unprepared skin or pens straight from the packaging. Clinical Relevance: As a precaution, sterile surgical marking pens should be discarded after use on the skin surface and not placed on the sterile field.
Paraaortic Lymphadenectomy in Gynecologic Oncology—Significance of Vessels Variations

Lymphadenectomy has been an essential part of the surgical treatment in surgical oncology, as the lymphatic channels and nodes are the main dissemination pathway for most of the gynecological cancers. Pelvic and paraaortic lymphadenectomy are frequent surgical procedures in gynecologic oncology. Paraaortic lymph node dissection facilitates staging, prognosis, surgical and postoperative management of patients. It is one of the most challenging retroperitoneal surgeries. A comprehensive knowledge of the paraaortic region is mandatory. Intraoperative bleeding is the most common complication during lymphadenectomy due to direct vascular injury, poor tissue handling, exuberant retraction and possible anatomical variations of the vessels in the paraaortic region. Approximately, one-third of women will have at least one anatomic variation in the paraaortic region. It must be stressed that anomalous vessels may be encountered in every woman who will undergo surgery. Consequently, detailed knowledge of anatomical vessels variations is required in order to prevent iatrogenic vessel injury. The importance of these variations is well described in urology, vascular and general surgery. Conversely, in oncogynecological surgery, there are few articles, which described some of the vessels variations in the paraaortic region. The present article aims to propose a surgical classification and to describe the majority of vessels variation, which could be encountered during paraaortic lymphadenectomy in gynecologic oncology. Moreover, surgical considerations in order to prevent anomalous vessels injury are well described.
Self-Efficacy, Internet Self-Efficacy, and Proxy Efficacy as Predictors of the Use of Digital Social and Health Care Services Among Mental Health Service Users in Finland: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digitalization of services, but at the same time, some user groups are excluded due to a lack of digital skills. One of the vulnerable groups is people with mental health problems. It has previously been found that self-efficacy beliefs explain the use of digital technology, but the role of social support is largely unexamined. Bandura’s concept of proxy agency provides a useful concept to investigate the role of social support in using digital services. Objective The study investigates sources of social support and the effect of proxy agency, Internet efficacy, and self-efficacy beliefs on the intention to use digital health and social care services. Methods Participants (N = 121) were users in community-based mental health services who were recruited through four organizations in southern Finland for a cross-sectional study. The scales for proxy agency and intention to use services were developed for purpose of the study. The questionnaire also comprised self-efficacy and Internet efficacy scales. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis. Results Both Internet self-efficacy and proxy efficacy (p < 0.001) predicted the intention to use digital health and social care services. Self-efficacy had an indirect positive effect on intention through Internet self-efficacy. Family members and friends were the main source of social support in using digital services. Conclusion Internet self-efficacy and proxy efficacy are important contributors to the intention to use digital health and social care services. Proxy agents may serve as facilitators to reduce the digital divide and promote the use of digital services by complementing individuals’ self-efficacy and Internet self-efficacy beliefs. It is important to develop different forms of social support, such as peer support, to enhance the quality of proxy agency. The limitations of proxy agency are discussed.
Internal cooling sensitivity analysis to improve the thermal performance of gas turbine blade using a developed robust conjugate heat transfer method

The heat transfer simulations of turbine blades with internal cooling are faced with so many uncertainties, of which some originate from the secondary air system, including the inlet hot gas temperature and pressure and the cooling side boundary conditions, and the blade material. The main objective of this work is to carry out a suitable sensitivity analysis on a specific novel turbine vane to improve the thermal performance of its internal cooling system and to quantify how the uncertainties on the designed/calculated values can desirably/undesirably affect the maximum blade surface temperature, which can consequently affect the gas turbine engine efficiency. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis is carried out to find the effects of uncertainties of a number of key parameters on the resulting blade temperature distribution. To arrive at trustworthy conclusions, the conjugate heat transfer (CHT) method is used to analyze the heat and fluid flow behavior. This work suitably develops a CHT-based method/solver to perform the proposed study. This method/solver uses a segregated iterative procedure, in which the outer hot gas region is simulated using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver, the flow passing through the connected internal cooling passages is calculated using a 1D correlated-based solver, and the vane conduction is predicted using a 3D finite-element solver, which are fully coupled. The results show that the cooling channel wall temperature has a direct impact on the convective coefficient magnitude; especially in lower temperature regions. As a novel contribution, this work takes into account the cooling wall temperature influence on the 1D code calculations. To implement this, an artificial neural network is suitably trained to predict better convective coefficient. The results of this developed CFD-CHT code are validated against experimental data available for a benchmark vane. Eventually, the sensitivity analysis is carried on the present specific novel turbine vane.
Torque Smoothing of a Fault Tolerant Segmental Stator Switched Reluctance Motor

become more competitive for variable speed drives used in automotive and industrial applications. One of the most promising approaches to reduce the torque ripples of a SRM is the use of a direct instantaneous torque controller. In the paper the effectiveness of this type of control will be proved for a fault tolerant segmental stator SRM. By advanced simulation techniques the working principle of the direct instantaneous torque controlled drive system is illustrated, and its performances are demonstrated.
Implementing Online Product Reviews and Muslim Fashion Innovation for Resilience during the New Normal in Indonesia

The COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia has harmed the fashion sector, particularly SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). In the wake of the epidemic, the Muslim Fashion Shop (MFS) sector has experienced a drop in sales. Therefore, developing innovative products and excellent customer approaches are critical to MFS resilience. This pandemic has additionally affected the shift from offline to online sales channels. Online sales features, referred to as online product reviews (OPRs), allow customers to leave comments or evaluations. OPRs are one of the sources of product feature information, and are a means of increasing valued for online consumers that some companies are currently underutilizing. In order to develop Muslim fashion designs, this project performed OPRs. The purpose of this study is to show the benefits of OPRs in the development of new Muslim fashion products in Indonesia in order to assist businesses in surviving in the new normal era. The first phase of OPR data collection at Shopee was carried out in five steps. OPR data were collected in Shopee using NVivo’s N-Capture QSR. The data obtained from phase one were needed in order to equalize perceptions and make corrections using the member check obtained data OPR method using Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The second phase consisted of eight steps. This phase sharpened the results of phase one using expert judgement word frequency analysis in NIVO. The third and final phase analysed the fashion industry’s new normal innovation approach. This research shows the usefulness of OPR data for the evolution of fashion design in Indonesia, among other findings. According to this study, companies’ expertise, experience, and design innovation are essential variables in a changing/disruptive marketplace. Ongoing research suggests utilizing OPRs to generate new design trends, high-quality products, and innovative tactics in order to sustain Muslim fashion business.
Comparison of measured and computed non-linear wave loads using a time domain method for an 86m catamaran

Abstract The time domain, Green function solution of the encountered wave response problem in spatially fixed co-ordinates for slender high speed hulls is used to show the effect of hull form on non-linear motion and load responses. It is found that the non-linear effect on motions is small for round bilge and SWATH type hulls, but is strong for a hard chine hull with significant dead rise angles. In particular, the frequency of maximum heave is significantly reduced in large seas. Non-linear effects on bending and shear are negligible for a round bilge design with wall sides at the water line. For a SWATH design, unsteady loads per unit wave height increase modestly by up to 13% as the wave height increases so as to expose broader immersed hull sections, but reduce again at the largest wave heights. For the hard chine design the bending and shear per unit wave height reduce by about 40% as wave height approaches the draught. Unsteady stress and encountered wave data measured on a 86m catamaran ferry give good agreement with predicted loads over a wide range of speed provided that the appropriate wave height is used in the computations.
Prodynorphin and Proenkephalin in Cerebrospinal Fluid of Sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease

Proenkephalin (PENK) and prodynorphin (PDYN) are endogenous opioid peptides mainly produced in the striatum and, to a lesser extent, in the cerebral cortex. Dysregulated metabolism and altered cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of PENK and PDYN have been described in several neurodegenerative diseases. However, no study to date investigated these peptides in the CSF of sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (sCJD). Using liquid chromatography-multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry, we evaluated the CSF PDYN- and PENK-derived peptide levels in 25 controls and 63 patients with sCJD belonging to the most prevalent molecular subtypes (MM(V)1, VV2 and MV2K). One of the PENK-derived peptides was significantly decreased in each sCJD subtype compared to the controls without a difference among subtypes. Conversely, PDYN-derived peptides were selectively decreased in the CSF of sCJD MV2K, a subtype with a more widespread overall pathology compared to the sCJD MM(V)1 and the VV2 subtypes, which we confirmed by semiquantitative analysis of cortical and striatal neuronal loss and astrocytosis. In sCJD CSF PENK and PDYN were associated with CSF biomarkers of neurodegeneration but not with clinical variables and showed a poor diagnostic performance. CSF PDYN and PENK-derived peptides had no significant diagnostic and prognostic values in sCJD; however, the distinct marker levels between molecular subtypes might help to better understand the basis of phenotypic heterogeneity determined by divergent neuronal targeting.
Laboratory Resilient Modulus Measurements of Aggregate Base Materials in Utah

Laboratory Resilient Modulus Measurements of Aggregate Base Materials in Utah Kirk David Jackson Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, BYU Master of Science The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has fully implemented the MechanisticEmpirical Pavement Design Guide for pavement design but has been using primarily level-three design inputs obtained from correlations to aggregate base materials developed at the national level. UDOT was interested in investigating correlations between laboratory measurements of resilient modulus, California bearing ratio (CBR), and other material properties specific to base materials commonly used in Utah; therefore, a statewide testing program was needed. The objectives of this research were to 1) determine the resilient modulus of several representative aggregate base materials in Utah and 2) investigate correlations between laboratory measurements of resilient modulus, CBR, and other properties of the tested materials. Two aggregate base materials were obtained from each of the four UDOT regions. Important material properties, including particle-size distribution, soil classification, and the moisture-density relationship, were investigated for each of the sampled aggregate base materials. The CBR and resilient modulus of each aggregate base material were determined in general accordance with American Society for Testing and Materials D1883 and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials T 307, respectively. After all of the data were collected, several existing models were evaluated to determine if one or more of them could be used to predict the resilient modulus values measured in this research. Statistical analyses were also performed to investigate correlations between measurements of resilient modulus, CBR, and other properties of the tested aggregate base materials, mainly including aspects of the particle-size distributions and moisture-density relationships. A set of independent predictor variables was analyzed using both stepwise regression and best subset analysis to develop a model for predicting resilient modulus. After a suitable model was developed, it was analyzed to determine the sensitivity of the model coefficients to the individual data points. For the aggregate base materials tested in this research, the average resilient modulus varied from 16.0 to 25.6 ksi. Regarding the correlation between resilient modulus and CBR, the test results show that resilient modulus and CBR are not correlated for the materials tested in this research. Therefore, a new model was developed to predict the resilient modulus based on the percent passing the No. 200 sieve, particle diameter corresponding to 30 percent finer, optimum moisture content, maximum dry density (MDD), and ratio of dry density to MDD. Although the equation may not be applicable for values outside the ranges of the predictor variables used to develop it, it is expected to provide UDOT with reasonable estimates of resilient modulus values for aggregate base materials similar to those tested in this research.
Effect of Air Exposure-Induced Hypoxia on Neurotransmitters and Neurotransmission Enzymes in Ganglia of the Scallop Azumapecten farreri

The nervous system expresses neuromolecules that play a crucial role in regulating physiological processes. Neuromolecule synthesis can be regulated by oxygen-dependent enzymes. Bivalves are a convenient model for studying air exposure-induced hypoxia. Here, we studied the effects of hypoxia on the expression and dynamics of neurotransmitters, and on neurotransmitter enzyme distribution, in the central nervous system (CNS) of the scallop Azumapecten farreri. We analyzed the expression of the neurotransmitters FMRFamide and serotonin (5-HT) and the choline acetyltransferase (CHAT) and universal NO-synthase (uNOS) enzymes during air exposure-induced hypoxia. We found that, in early-stage hypoxia, total serotonin content decreased in some CNS regions but increased in others. CHAT-lir cell numbers increased in all ganglia after hypoxia; CHAT probably appears de novo in accessory ganglia. Short-term hypoxia caused increased uNOS-lir cell numbers, while long-term exposure led to a reduction in their number. Thus, hypoxia weakly influences the number of FMRFamide-lir neurons in the visceral ganglion and does not affect peptide expression in the pedal ganglion. Ultimately, we found that the localization and level of synthesis of neuromolecules, and the numbers of cells expressing these molecules, vary in the scallop CNS during hypoxia exposure. This indicates their possible involvement in hypoxia resistance mechanisms.
Chicoric Acid Prevents Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration in a Mouse Parkinson’s Disease Model: Immune Response and Transcriptome Profile of the Spleen and Colon

Chicoric acid (CA), a polyphenolic acid compound extracted from chicory and echinacea, possesses antiviral, antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activities. Growing evidence supports the pivotal roles of brain–spleen and brain–gut axes in neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease (PD), and the immune response of the spleen and colon is always the active participant in the pathogenesis and development of PD. In this study, we observe that CA prevented dopaminergic neuronal lesions, motor deficits and glial activation in PD mice, along with the increment in striatal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), dopamine (DA) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HT). Furthermore, CA reversed the level of interleukin-17(IL-17), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) of PD mice, implicating its regulatory effect on the immunological response of spleen and colon. Transcriptome analysis revealed that 22 genes in the spleen (21 upregulated and 1 downregulated) and 306 genes (190 upregulated and 116 downregulated) in the colon were significantly differentially expressed in CA-pretreated mice. These genes were functionally annotated with GSEA, GO and KEGG pathway enrichment, providing the potential target genes and molecular biological mechanisms for the modulation of CA on the spleen and gut in PD. Remarkably, CA restored some gene expressions to normal level. Our results highlighted that the neuroprotection of CA might be associated with the manipulation of CA on brain–spleen and brain–gut axes in PD.
The Association of Rpb4 with RNA Polymerase II Depends on CTD Ser5P Phosphatase Rtr1 and Influences mRNA Decay in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Rtr1 is an RNA polymerase II (RNA pol II) CTD-phosphatase that influences gene expression during the transition from transcription initiation to elongation and during transcription termination. Rtr1 interacts with the RNA pol II and this interaction depends on the phosphorylation state of the CTD of Rpb1, which may influence dissociation of the heterodimer Rpb4/7 during transcription. In addition, Rtr1 was proposed as an RNA pol II import factor in RNA pol II biogenesis and participates in mRNA decay by autoregulating the turnover of its own mRNA. Our work shows that Rtr1 acts in RNA pol II assembly by mediating the Rpb4/7 association with the rest of the enzyme. RTR1 deletion alters RNA pol II assembly and increases the amount of RNA pol II associated with the chromatin that lacks Rpb4, decreasing Rpb4-mRNA imprinting and, consequently, increasing mRNA stability. Thus, Rtr1 interplays RNA pol II biogenesis and mRNA decay regulation. Our data also indicate that Rtr1 mediates mRNA decay regulation more broadly than previously proposed by cooperating with Rpb4. Interestingly, our data include new layers in the mechanisms of gene regulation and in the crosstalk between mRNA synthesis and decay by demonstrating how the association of Rpb4/7 to the RNA pol II influences mRNA decay.