Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neutral oxygen irradiation enhanced forming-less ZnO-based transparent analog memristor devices for neuromorphic computing applications

Surface oxidation employing neutral oxygen irradiation significantly improves the switching and synaptic performance of ZnO-based transparent memristor devices. The endurance of the as-irradiated device is increased by 100 times, and the operating current can be lowered by 10 times as compared with the as-deposited device. Moreover, the performance-enhanced device has an excellent analog behavior that can exhibit 3 bits per cell nonvolatile multistate characteristics and perform 15 stable epochs of synaptic operations with highly linear weight updates. A simulated artificial neural network comprising 1600 synapses confirms the superiority of the enhanced device in processing a 40 × 40 pixels grayscale image. The irradiation effectively decreases the concentration of oxygen vacancy donor defects and promotes oxygen interstitial acceptor defects on the surface of the ZnO films, which consequently modulate the redox process during rupture and rejuvenation of the filament. This work not only proposes the potential of ZnO-based memristor devices for high-density invisible data storage and in-memory computing application but also offers valuable insight in designing high-performance memristor devices, regardless of the oxide system used, by taking advantage of our neutral oxygen irradiation technique.
Novel Molecular Mechanisms of Gangliosides in the Nervous System Elucidated by Genetic Engineering

Acidic glycosphingolipids, i.e., gangliosides, are predominantly and consistently expressed in nervous tissues of vertebrates at high levels. Therefore, they are considered to be involved in the development and function of nervous systems. Recent studies involving genetic engineering of glycosyltransferase genes have revealed novel aspects of the roles of gangliosides in the regulation of nervous tissues. In this review, novel findings regarding ganglioside functions and their modes of action elucidated mainly by studies of gene knockout mice are summarized. In particular, the roles of gangliosides in the regulation of lipid rafts to maintain the integrity of nervous systems are reported with a focus on the roles in the regulation of neuro-inflammation and neurodegeneration via complement systems. In addition, recent advances in studies of congenital neurological disorders due to genetic mutations of ganglioside synthase genes and also in the techniques for the analysis of ganglioside functions are introduced.
Fusional Single Vision with Prism-induced Vergence Has More Influence than Diplopia on Postural Stability

SIGNIFICANCE Prism-induced convergence and vertical vergence for maintaining binocular fusion induced postural instability to a greater extent than diplopic conditions. This finding has important implication in relation to postural control of patients with large exophoria or vertical phoria in optometric clinic. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to examine whether binocular single vision with prism-induced horizontal and vertical vergence and diplopia might affect the static postural stability. METHODS Forty-two subjects with a mean ± standard deviation age of 23.79 ± 2.81 years were enrolled in this study. To simulate convergence and divergence, base-in and base-out (BO) prisms of 4 and 8 Δ were added, respectively. To simulate vertical vergence, vertical prism of 2 Δ was added in a trial frame that corrected for the subject's refractive error during far distance (6 m) gaze. The prism power necessary to break fusion in each subject was detected and applied to induce diplopia in horizontal and vertical directions. Indices of general instability and sway power were measured under visual conditions using Tetrax and compared with normal viewing without the prism. Correlations between general instability indices and the ranges of break point in convergence and divergence were analyzed. RESULTS Postural instability was increased significantly when convergence induced by BO 4 and 8 Δ and vertical vergence induced by 2 Δ were stimulated. The correlation coefficient between ranges of BO break point and indices of general instability was −0.308 in the BO 4 Δ and −0.306 in the BO 8 Δ condition. CONCLUSIONS Although binocular input is recognized as an important factor in postural stability, binocular input with excessively stimulated convergence and vertical vergence during a far distance gaze is a latent factor affecting postural stability. On the other hand, diplopia did not influence postural stability.
Does Auditor Industry Specialization Increase Analysts’ Forecast Accuracy? Evidence from the Listed Firms of Australia

This paper examines the relation between auditor industry specialization and analysts’ beginning-of-the-year earnings forecast accuracy. It predicts that the higher industry specialization of the auditors will improve the quality of external financial reports and thus mitigates the analysts’ forecast error. It also predicts that higher audit quality will have a negative association with analyst forecast dispersion. The empirical test results on Australian listed firms from the year 2003 to 2012 does not find evidence of association between audit firm industry specialization and analysts’ beginning-of the year earnings forecast error. However, firms with higher analysts forecast error is associated with lower forecast dispersion among analysts, which is consistent with the prediction that analysts are consistent with predicting future earnings and analysts possess similar traits in terms of difference with the actual earnings. Additional analysis also finds that’s larger firms have less forecast errors compared to smaller firms. The findings contribute to the growing literature on auditing and financial reporting quality in Australian context.
Influence of sport-practice-hours on burnout and coping in table tennis players

The aim of this research was to analyse burnout (estimated by emotional and physical exhaustion) and coping (as estimated by the need to seek support) in relation to the number of sport-practice-hours undertaken by table tennis players of various levels of success. A sample of 180 Spanish table tennis players (mean age = 33.87 years; SD = 16.64; 149 men and 31 women) voluntarily participated in the study and filled out a series of self-report questionnaires. The results revealed that there was a significant difference among table tennis players on emotional and physical exhaustion (p < 0.01) with players who practiced more than ten hours reporting higher levels of emotional and physical exhaustion. There was a significant difference in coping behaviour (p < 0.01) with players who practiced more than 10 hours reporting the greatest need. Finally, players who played at a higher level (nationally or internationally) had a greater number of hours of training. It is concluded that players and coaches should take account of the time spent in sport-practice should because it can increase burnout levels in table tennis players. Moreover, coping skills could be influenced by sport-practice-hours, but further research should clarify these outcomes.
The Romano–Wolf multiple-hypothesis correction in Stata

When considering multiple-hypothesis tests simultaneously, standard statistical techniques will lead to overrejection of null hypotheses unless the multiplicity of the testing framework is explicitly considered. In this article, we discuss the Romano–Wolf multiple-hypothesis correction and document its implementation in Stata. The Romano–Wolf correction (asymptotically) controls the familywise error rate, that is, the probability of rejecting at least one true null hypothesis among a family of hypotheses under test. This correction is considerably more powerful than earlier multiple-testing procedures, such as the Bonferroni and Holm corrections, given that it takes into account the dependence structure of the test statistics by resampling from the original data. We describe a command, rwolf, that implements this correction and provide several examples based on a wide range of models. We document and discuss the performance gains from using rwolf over other multiple-testing procedures that control the familywise error rate.
Thermomechanical Characterization of the Carbon Anode During Baking

Aluminum electrolysis cell performance is highly related to the quality of carbon anodes. In this regard, anode baking is one of the most important steps in the anode manufacturing process in which green anodes undergo a pyrolysis to reach the desired properties. The understanding of the phenomena occurring during this process is essential in order to predict the final anode properties. This prediction could be achieved with the establishment of a three-dimensional thermo-chemo-mechanical baking model based on porous media. This model includes several parameters that must be identified in laboratory. This work is focused on the experimental characterization of the mechanical behavior as a function of the baking level. In order to limit the influence of raw material properties variation, laboratory scale carbon anode samples with constant recipe and homogeneous density were fabricated and used to generate the required database. The main mechanical properties measured were the Young modulus and the compressive strength. The rupture modes related to each baking level were also identified.
A study on efficacy of injection of intratympanic dexamethasone in treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss

Background: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is a common otologic emergency which occurs due to various etiologies affecting the inner ear. Majority of treatment protocols are focussed on glucocorticoids either systemically or through intratympanic route due to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Methods: This was a pre and post observational clinical study conducted in patients visiting Rajarajeswari medical college between December 2015 to December 2016 with a history of sudden hearing loss (30 patients). 6 of these patients presented with bilateral hearing loss, and we considered each ear as a separate case, giving us a total of 36 cases. A diagnosis of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss was made based on the patient’s history and audiological evaluation. All the patients were treated with 3 doses of Intratympanic injections of Dexamethasone (4 mg/ml), on alternate days. Pure tone audiometry (PTA) and brain stem evoked response audiometry (BERA) was done pre-treatment, at 1 and 6 months after treatment. Results: Mean age of our patients was 44.8. 80% of our patients were male. The average PTA gain, 1 month after treatment was 27.917 and 6 months after treatment was 29.639 with a p value of <0.001, which correlated with BERA. At the end of 6 months after treatment, 15 cases had complete recovery (41.7%), 9 cases showed slight recovery (25%), 6 cases had marked recovery and 6 cases (16.7%) had no recovery. Conclusions: Intratympanic dexamethasone injections can be used as the first line of treatment with minimal side effects.
Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Treatment of Patients Infected with 2019-New Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2): A Review and Perspective

Currently, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, formerly known as 2019-nCoV, the causative pathogen of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)) has rapidly spread across China and around the world, causing an outbreak of acute infectious pneumonia. No specific anti-virus drugs or vaccines are available for the treatment of this sudden and lethal disease. The supportive care and non-specific treatment to ameliorate the symptoms of the patient are the only options currently. At the top of these conventional therapies, greater than 85% of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients in China are receiving Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treatment. In this article, relevant published literatures are thoroughly reviewed and current applications of TCM in the treatment of COVID-19 patients are analyzed. Due to the homology in epidemiology, genomics, and pathogenesis of the SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV, and the widely use of TCM in the treatment of SARS-CoV, the clinical evidence showing the beneficial effect of TCM in the treatment of patients with SARS coronaviral infections are discussed. Current experiment studies that provide an insight into the mechanism underlying the therapeutic effect of TCM, and those studies identified novel naturally occurring compounds with anti-coronaviral activity are also introduced.
Food and Nutrition Report Where Female Athletes Obtain Nutrition Information and the Reliability of the Source

Background: Social Media and online searches are easily accessible options for obtaining health information and education. However, not all social media sources are reliable sources of information. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the sources of nutrition information used by collegiate athletes and nutrition students. Participants’ perception of the reliability of these sources was also examined. Methods: A survey was used to gather samples from collegiate athletes, as well as nutrition students, at a small women’s college in Boston, Massachusetts. The survey inquired where participants search for nutrition information, the nutrition sources they use the most, and their opinions regarding the reliability of these sources. Responses of the athletes were compared to responses of the nutrition students who have the educational background in nutrition. Results: Athletes chose physicians and coaches as their top sources of nutrition information whereas nutrition students chose blogs and Registered Dietitians. Amongst nutrition students, 50.8% found registered dietitians to be a top 5 source of nutrition information whereas only 13.2% of athletes found Registered Dietitians to be a reliable source of information. Overall, Nutrition students obtained their nutrition information from more reliable sources than the sources used by collegiate athletes.
Radar Absorption Performance of Fe3O4/AC/PANI Nanocomposites Prepared from Natural Iron Sand

In this work, the Fe3O4 nanoparticles from natural iron sand were combined with active carbon (AC) and polyaniline (PANI) to obtain Fe3O4/AC/PANI nanocomposites with mass variations of the AC of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 g. The crystalline phase of Fe3O4/AC/PANI nanocomposites formed from Fe3O4 with PANI having an amorphous phase. Meanwhile, the crystalline phase of AC was unmatched because of its very small composition. The presence of AC was observed through vibrations from the C-C and COOH functional groups. The existence of PANI was indicated by the vibrations of the benzoic ring and quinonoid bonds. Besides, the presence of Fe3O4 was confirmed by the presence of Fe-O functional groups from octahedral and tetrahedral positions. The optical properties of Fe3O4/AC/PANI nanocomposites were shown by increasing the energy gap along with decreasing absorption wavelength. Interestingly, increasing AC composition made the absorption bandwidth of the Fe3O4/AC/PANI nanocomposites wider, so that the radar absorption also increased marking by the greater reflection loss that reached -15.8 dB. The increase in the radar absorption performance of Fe3O4/AC/PANI nanocomposites came from the efficient complementarity between dielectric loss and magnetic loss and interfacial polarization between Fe3O4-AC or between Fe3O4-PANI.
Linking chemical phenotypes of different varieties of cannabis sativa to their antimicrobial activities against a range of microorganisms

Ethanolic, methanolic and water extracts of different chemical phenotypes of Cannabis sativa belonging to the Cannabaceae family were tested for their antimicrobial activity against two Gram negative species, seven Gram positive species and two fungal species using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Successful extracts were tested for their minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). All extracts tested proved ineffective against both Gram negative species and both fungal species. Gram positive organisms were inhibited by all extracts, to varying degrees, and produced MICs of under 10 μl of extract per ml of inoculated broth. The average zones of inhibition (ZOI) produced for the successful species, when all extract inhibitions were combined, varied from 12.52 mm for Enterococcus faecium to 21.08 mm for Streptococcus pyogenes. The CBG (cannabigerol) type Cannabis extract proved the largest ZOI producer with results averaging 21.62 mm when all species’ inhibition was combined, and CBCV (cannabichromavarin) proved to produce the smallest ZOIs against all species with only an average of 7.29 mm. Synthetic cannabinoids that act on the same CB1 and CB2 receptors in animals were also tested for their antimicrobial activity. Ten in total were tested with one, 5F – PB -22, producing very slight inhibition against all Gram positive species except MRSA, and two more (5f – NPB – 22 and STS – 135) producing very slight inhibition against MRSA but no other species. Bactericidal testing was performed on all successful extracts and the results indicated that nearly all cannabinoids, against all species, are bacteriostatic. However, these results are thought to not be accurate as the method used could result in potential false positive results that show bacteriostatic activity. The results obtained in this study were corroborated by some of the studies undertaken by other researchers, but also contradicted by others. In total the amount of studies for comparison is very small and the results they produce are contradictory. The data indicates that Cannabis sativa has antimicrobial activities but the differing results from the studies performed so far show that experimental variation between the studies may influence the species upon which the cannabinoids are successful.
Climate change impacts on snow and streamflow drought regimes in four ecoregions of British Columbia

Abstract In many regions with seasonal snow cover, summer streamflow is primarily sustained by groundwater that is recharged during the snowmelt period. Therefore, below-normal snowpack (snow drought) may lead to below-normal summer streamflow (streamflow drought). Summer streamflow is important for supplying human needs and sustaining ecosystems. Climate change impacts on snow have been widely studied, but the relationship between snow drought and streamflow drought is not well understood. In this study, a combined investigation of climate change impacts on snow drought and streamflow drought was completed using generic groundwater – surface water models for four headwater catchments in different ecoregions of British Columbia. Results show that, in response to increased precipitation and temperature, the snow drought regime changes substantially for all four catchments. Warm snow droughts, which are caused by above-normal winter temperatures, increase in frequency, and dry snow droughts, which are caused by below-normal winter precipitation, decrease in frequency. The shift toward more frequent and severe temperature-related snow droughts leads to decreased summer streamflow, decreased summer groundwater storage, and longer, more severe summer low flow periods. Moreover, snow droughts propagate into summer streamflow droughts more frequently in the future time periods (2050s, 2080s) as compared to the baseline 1980s period. Thus, warm snow droughts not only become more frequent and severe in the future but also more likely to result in summer streamflow drought conditions.
PERSONALITY AND THE EFFECTIVITY OF DIGITAL NUDGES

Decision making isn’t always rational and fact-based. Instead, it’s often intuitive and stems from heuristics. So-called nudge theory is based on this idea. Nudges are meant to influence behaviour with the use of these heuristics and biases. In this research I study two digital nudges in a context of an online store and examine how consumer’s personality affects their effectivity. The other nudge is a discounted price with limited availability and it is based on loss aversion bias. The other one is a rating given by other customers. It is based on conformity bias. The data I use is from a web survey with a sample size of 237. In the survey, I measured respondents’ personality with Big Five personality dimensions and their behaviour with a choice-based conjoint analysis. The findings of this study are in many ways consistent with a previous literature and the results also give new insights on the individual differences in the effectivity of nudging. Openness to Experience was negatively correlated with the susceptibility to both nudges. High Conscientiousness, on the other hand, reduced susceptibility to the nudge that utilizes the conformity bias. In addition, other correlations between personality and the effectivity of the nudges were found, but those findings were not statistically significant, probably due to small sample size. Still, the results are promising for further research.
Application of Accurate Angle of Healthy Side Upper Limb in Body Posture in Radical Mastectomy

Objective: We attempt to explore the effect of accurate angle of healthy side upper limb on body posture in radical mastectomy. Methods: We enrolled 150 patients who received radical mastectomy in our hospital and averagely randomized them into three groups: control group A, control group B and observation group. In control group A, the intraoperative abduction angle of healthy side upper limb was 90°, in control group B it was 0°, and observation group 75-80°. We scored the comfort level of the healthy side upper limb of patients in three groups prior to anesthesia induction and 24 hours after operation. At the end of operation, we scored the first assistant surgeon’s, anesthetist’s and circulating nurse’s satisfaction with standing space, the convenience of intravenous administration and convenience of observing transfusion during operation respectively. Results: There was significant difference in the comfort level between observation group and control group A, B (P 0.05). Anesthetist’s satisfaction with the convenience of intravenous administration during operation was 100% in observation group and control group A while it was 36% in control group B. There was a significant difference (P<0.05). Circulating nurse’s satisfaction with the convenience of observing transfusion during operation was 100% in observation group and control group A while it was 30% in control group B. There was a significant difference (P<0.05). Conclusions: When the accurate angle of healthy side upper limb in the body posture in radical mastectomy is 75-80°, it does not affect the standing space of the first assistant surgeon, intraoperative administration by anesthetist and observation of transfusion by circulating nurse, and avoids intraoperative position-related complications of patients.
Nostalgia: An Attractive Theme for Marketing Researchers

The use of nostalgia in the marketing domain has been the subject of several researches about consumer behaviour in general and advertising in particular. This multi-faceted concept offers a better understanding of consumer behavior and brand preferences on one side, as well as a better understanding of the purchase intent. This paper discusses the nostalgia theories from different perspectives. It provides an overview of the contributions in the marketing domain for a better use of this concept by marketers.
Epicardial adipose tissue thickness in patients with urolithiasis

Aim: We aimed to assess the relationship between urinary stone disease which is accepted as a component of metabolic syndrome and epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) thickness. Methods: The study included 45 patients and 39 healthy controls. EAT thickness was measured by echocardiography in all subjects.