Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparing the Effect of Ondansetron–dexamethasone and Metoclopramide–dexamethasone on Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting after Gynecological Laparoscopy: A Randomized Double-blind Clinical Trial

Background: Nausea and vomiting is a common complication after gynecological surgeries, especially laparoscopy, which can lead to discomfort and restlessness in the patients. The aim of the study was to compare the effect of ondansetron–dexamethasone and metoclopramide–dexamethasone on postoperative nausea and vomiting following gynecological laparoscopy. Materials and Methods: In this double-blind clinical trial, 68 females scheduled for gynecological laparoscopy and age range of 18–40 years were randomly divided into two groups. Group OD received ondansetron 4 mg plus dexamethasone 8 mg and group MD received metoclopramide 10 mg plus dexamethasone 8 mg, 15 min before the end of surgery. The incidence of nausea and vomiting and need for rescue medication was assessed during the recovery period, as well as at 2, 4, 6, 12, and 24 h after surgery. The data were analyzed using STATA software version 12 and a significance level of <0.05 was considered in this research. Results: The incidence of nausea in ondansetron and metoclopramide groups was 23.3% and 33.3%, respectively, and the frequency of vomiting was 10% and 16.6%, respectively, which showed no significant difference (P > 0.05). The highest incidence of nausea and vomiting in patients belonged to the metoclopramide group inside 4–6 h after surgery. Conclusion: Our study showed that no significant difference was observed in the incidence of nausea and vomiting between ondansetron–dexamethasone and metoclopramide–dexamethasone groups following laparoscopic gynecological surgery; however, the number of patients with nausea and vomiting was lower in the ondansetron–dexamethasone group.
Localization in the Presence of a Distracter and Reverberation in the Frontal Horizontal Plane: III. The Role of Interaural Level Differences

Summary In the first two parts of this investigation, it was shown that the perceptual lateralization of a partly masked target can be simulated using the interaural cross-correlation difference (ICCD) model. In this model, the ITDs of the target are calculated from the difference in the interaural cross correlation (ICC) of the total sound (target signal+distracter) and the ICC of the distracter alone, which is calculated from the part of the distracter that precedes the target. In this part, it is investigated if the interaural level differences (ILDs) of the target can be estimated by subtracting the part of the distracter in a way analogous to the ICCD model. Therefore, a localization model, based on excitation-inhibition cells, is developed and the results are compared to results of psychoacoustic localization experiments. The model performance turns out to be worse than the performance of humans and the ICCD model. One difficulty is to estimate the sound pressure level of the target for low distracterto-target ratios. Another is that the model is much more sensitive to the statistical amplitude fluctuations of the target and distracter in the single frequency bands than was the case for the ICCD model. Finally, a localization test was designed to measure the influence of ILD cues in human performance relative to ITD cues in those cases where the target is partly masked. Six listeners were instructed to localize unilaterally attenuated random noise bursts (200-ms duration, 20-ms cos -ramp, 12 directions in the horizontal plane, 20-dB attenuation in the right channel) in an auditory virtual environment using individual head-related transfer functions (HRTFs). In the first condition, the target was presented isolated. In the second condition, it was presented in the presence of a broadband noise distracter that was manipulated in the same way as the target. In the target-only condition, the additional level difference of 20 dB caused a lateral displacement of the auditory event. This displacement decreased when the distracter was added. All the experimental results together indicate that for the type of signals tested, the ITD cues are dominant in the left/right dimension when the target is partly masked.
Hearing Loss Secondary to Systemic Sclerosis Vasculopathy: Case Study with a Short Review

Abstract Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a collagenosis with a substrate of chronic inflammation, which is determined by autoimmunity. The pathogenesis of this disease involves microvasculopathy (small vessel pathology) followed by excessive cutaneous and visceral fibrosis. Although acoustic and vestibular impairment is not classified as being a secondary pathology of SSc, several studies have identified cases of SSc that associate hearing loss and especially vertigo and tinnitus. This paper presents data from the medical literature that have identified vestibular and auditory symptoms among patients with SSc, associating the clinical case presentation of a patient suffering from SSc, which is associated with hearing loss. The need for additional studies on larger groups of patients is underlined, in order to clarify the impact of vasculopathy and fibrosis on the acoustic and vestibular analyzer in patients with SSc.
On simulation of shear band propagation in trapdoor-tests

Progressive and catastrophic failure in soils has been commonly associated with the phenomenon of the shear band propagation. This is a challenging topic both in terms of understanding and simulation. This paper is an attempt to outline the problems related to analytical and numerical modeling of the rate of progressive shear band propagation in trapdoor-tests performed on dense sand in active and passive modes. The simplified analytical solution is based on the fracture mechanics energy balance and on the limiting equilibrium approaches. FLAC has been chosen as a standard FD numerical tool to explore and compare different simulation approaches. Numerical results are validated against the experimental data.
Trailing Stop-Loss and Re-Entry Strategies in Europe

A stop-loss order is a method that can be used by investors to limit downside risk and can be explained by investors’ loss aversion. Loss aversion refers to the widely studied psychological phenomenon where expected losses have a greater impact on the investors’ preferences than expected gains. The use of stop-loss rules allows for this asymmetric profile. The stop loss hypothesis, also, states that higher returns can be obtained by limiting the downside risk of long positions. A stop-loss order can be established at a percentage of the asset value that grows over time as it rises, stopping if the asset value starts to go down (trailing stop-loss order). In this work, it is used trailing stop-loss orders (with a difference to the asset market value of 3%) with long positions in financial markets. After being stopped out in a down market, the re-entry rule is to buy the asset again as soon as the market grows by at least 3%. Whenever the portfolio is sold out by applying the trailing stop-loss rule, the investment is held in cash until the trigger is set off. In this article the rules are applied in Germany, France, Spain, and Greece during the financial crisis, to make an empirical validation of trailing stop-loss rules and re-entry rules for these markets. It was found that the followed strategy presents mixed results, proving to beat the buy-and-hold strategy in some scenarios of rising and falling prices. But the most important result is to generate fewer losses in very volatile scenarios such as Greece in 2014.
Edge Computing-Assisted IoT Framework With an Autoencoder for Fault Detection in Manufacturing Predictive Maintenance

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) enables intelligent predictive maintenance in smart manufacturing by incorporating IoT technologies, Big Data techniques, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and other ever-developing enabling technologies. Although a large body of research has been conducted on IIoT based predictive maintenance, most work focuses on addressing only a part of the problem. However, predictive maintenance involves an ecosystem from ingesting data from sensors to displaying the results on a dashboard for engineers to visualize. With increasing requirements for real-time responses and privacy, integrating edge computing is no doubt a promising trend. This article proposes a complete and optimized IoT Big Data ecosystem embedded into a three-layer architecture for predictive maintenance applications. The proposed architecture consists of an edge layer, a cloud layer, and an application layer. The proposed edge infrastructure distributes the tasks effectively between the cloud layer and edge layer. On top of the architecture, different layers are integrated seamlessly to address reliability and scalability issues. In addition, an edge computing-assisted autoencoder is introduced and enabled by being deployed in a distributed manner to improve both performance and efficiency. For practical interest, we also provide an application programming interface-oriented implementation guideline for readers. To verify the proposed ecosystem, a real case study from industry is conducted to demonstrate the performance gain of edge computing-based Internet of Things systems in conjunction with the autoencoder-based deep learning technique.
Effects of Plant Density and the Ratio of Maternal Lines on Producing Seed Corn Hybrid S.C.704 in the Khuzestan state of Iran

This research was carried out in the summer of 2009 in farm research station of safi-abad (Institute of seed control and certification). The experiment was performed as a split plot as follows: planting density of maternal lines include 60, 70, 80, 90 thousand plants per hectare (respectively D1 to D4), as the main plot lines and the ratio of maternal to paternal lines include two levels of maternal lines, 4 lines, and 2 paternal line (4:2) and 6 maternal lines to 2 paternal lines (6:2) in the sub plots (respectively L 1 and L 2 ) in a complete randomized block design with four replications. To reduce the border effects due to pollination in addition to the two sides tested maternal line, 6 maternal lines were cultured as border. Not to interfere with pollen grains from farms around the thousand meter distance with them was considered. Distance to plot 1.5 m was considered for treatment 4:2, each plot includes 26 sub-line that included 80 sire lines and maternal lines will be and at 2 to 6 times higher than the 30 line 8 line. including sire and 24 maternal line (total 26 lines in the plot), respectively. The results were analyzed with using SAS statistical software. Results showed the effect of density on ear number per square meter and weight of grain has been significant and had no effect on other traits. The number of maternal lines had a significant effect on the number of seed per row and total number of grains per ear. And had not significant effect or row number per ear, number of ear per m 2 and grain yield. Interaction between density and planting pattern on all traits except ear number per m 2 and grain yield had significant effect. Considering that none of the factors discussed and the effects of their interaction on yield per hectare had no significant effects, has chosen the best combination based on the maximum seed weight logical way, in this regard, combination of 6 line native density with 80 thousand plants per hectare will be optimum.
LACE Project Exit Action Plan

This document describes a series of practical actions to secure long-term impact for LACE project outputs and to conserve community momentum beyond the project end. In this deliverable, we provide a first version of an exit and sustainability plan that covers key issues central to the exploitation of the LACE results. This includes tools, knowledge and key events developed for building up the European LACE community.
Digitalization of Higher Education Around the Globe During Covid-19

E-learning is an evolutionary concept, not a revolutionary concept since it has been introduced and practiced in previous decades as well. The current research paper contributes to educational research based on the investigation of holistic perspectives of the ongoing online teaching activities during the lockdown period. The article is built on a literature review. The methodologies are described and the results are presented. There have been research on distant learning and digitalization, but mostly in terms of potential, obstacles, and student assessments, as well as their influence on education. There are no empirical research on the worldwide trend of how employees utilize e-learning resources to determine instructors’ interest in and attitudes about using them. This chasm is also regarded a new angle of empirical research that uses the Chi-square test of independence to find patterns. The present research aims to build a realistic instrument that can assess instructors’ attitudes about e-learning during COVID-19 with this purpose in mind.The paper consists of two parts: a literature review and statistical analysis. The research was conducted by means of a diagnostic opinion CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interview) questionnaire and statistical analysis. This study was conducted among 342 teachers working in various universities located in the following countries: Poland, Pakistan, Iraq, USA, UK, Germany, and Austria. The questionnaire consisted of 20 questions. The researchers provided a detailed overview of e-learning practices during the pandemic and its future prospects from the teacher’s point of view. The goals of this article and the research problems are to learn about the worldwide trend of how employees utilize e-learning resources, to identify teachers’ interests in and attitudes towards using e-learning resources throughout the globe, and to recommend opportunities for workers to use e-learning resources around the world, which is a very important issue, especially in the era of globalization, society 5.0, and industry 4.0. The authors also proposed a Chi-square statistical analysis to check whether there exists a relationship between two variables based on which the hypotheses were formulated. The results of the study clearly show that the respondents approach to e-learning was very responsible because they realized that it was up to them to properly convey knowledge. The results of empirical research show that the digitalization of education is no longer a future trend, but today’s trend or even a university standard in the education improvement direction.
Antipsoriatic Potential of Quebecol and Its Derivatives

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease mainly characterized by the hyperproliferation and abnormal differentiation of the epidermal keratinocytes. An interesting phenolic compound, namely quebecol (2,3,3-tri-(3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-propanol) (compound 1, CPD1), was isolated from maple syrup in 2011 and was recently synthesized. Quebecol and its derivatives ethyl 2,3,3-tris(3-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)propenoate (compound 2, CPD2) and bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)methane (compound 3, CPD3) have shown antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory potential, making them promising candidates for the treatment of psoriasis. This study aimed to evaluate the antipsoriatic potential of quebecol and its derivatives on psoriatic skin substitutes produced according to the self-assembly method. A sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay determining the concentration that inhibits 20% of cell growth (IC20) was performed for CPD1, CPD2 and CPD3, and their IC20 values were 400, 150 and 350 μM, respectively. At these concentrations, cell viability was 97%, 94% and 97%, respectively. The comparative control methotrexate (MTX) had a cell viability of 85% at a concentration of 734 μM. Histological analyses of psoriatic skin substitutes treated with CPD1, CPD2 and CPD3 exhibited significantly reduced epidermal thickness compared with untreated psoriatic substitutes, which agreed with a decrease in keratinocyte proliferation as shown by Ki67 immunofluorescence staining. The immunofluorescence staining of differentiation markers (keratin 14, involucrin and loricrin) showed improved epidermal differentiation. Taken together, these results highlight the promising potential of quebecol and its derivatives for the treatment of psoriasis.
Recognition of Basic Emotions with and without the Use of Emotional Vocabulary by Adolescents with Down Syndrome

Background: Children with Down syndrome (DS) often experience behavioral and emotional issues that complicate their socialization process and may lead to psychopathological disorders. These problems may be related to deficits affecting emotional knowledge, particularly emotional vocabulary. Because emotional vocabulary makes it easier for typically developing children to identify emotions, a deficit affecting it in DS could be problematic. Methods: Twenty-eight adolescents with DS matched with typically developing (TD) children for their score on the Benton Facial Recognition Test were asked to recognize six emotional expressions presented in the form of filmed sequences, based on (1) nonverbal cues such as prosody, and (2) an emotional label. Results: The adolescents with DS recognized the six basic emotional expressions at a level comparable to that of the TD children in both conditions (with and without emotional vocabulary), but the facilitating effect of vocabulary was lower in that group. Conclusions: This study does not show a deficit affecting emotion recognition in DS, but it emphasizes the importance of early acquisition of emotional knowledge in this syndrome. Regular and varied use of internal state words should be encouraged in familial interactions, and education should include specifically adapted social and emotional learning programs.
Do political connections foster or hamper firm environmental investment?

Extant studies of environmental investment determinants have not distinguished between different types of political connections. This study tries to close this gap by employing an extensive data-set based on the four-yearly Chinese Private Enterprises Survey conducted between 2006 and 2012. The central question in this paper asks whether different political connections (ascribed vs. achieved) are fostering or hindering environmental protection expenditures in private enterprises. The results show that achieved political connections serve as binds of promoting firm environmental investment while ascribed political connections act as buffers, hampering firm environmental expenditures. The moderating roles of environmental regulation and innovation capability demonstrate heterogeneous effects: environmental regulation stringency strengthens the positive impact of achieved political connections only. In contrast, innovation capability enhances the negative impact of ascribed political connections.
Pharmacovigilance Signals of the Opioid Epidemic over 10 Years: Data Mining Methods in the Analysis of Pharmacovigilance Datasets Collecting Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) Reported to EudraVigilance (EV) and the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS)

In the past twenty years, the consumption of opioid medications has reached significant proportions, leading to a rise in drug misuse and abuse and increased opioid dependence and related fatalities. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine whether there are pharmacovigilance signals of abuse, misuse, and dependence and their nature for the following prescription opioids: codeine, dihydrocodeine, fentanyl, oxycodone, pentazocine, and tramadol. Both the pharmacovigilance datasets EudraVigilance (EV) and the FDA Adverse Events Reporting System (FAERS) were analyzed to identify and describe possible misuse-/abuse-/dependence-related issues. A descriptive analysis of the selected Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) was performed, and pharmacovigilance signal measures (i.e., reporting odds ratio, proportional reporting ratio, information component, and empirical Bayesian geometric mean) were computed for preferred terms (PTs) of abuse, misuse, dependence, and withdrawal, as well as PTs eventually related to them (e.g., aggression). From 2003 to 2018, there was an increase in ADR reports for the selected opioids in both datasets. Overall, 16,506 and 130,293 individual ADRs for the selected opioids were submitted to EV and FAERS, respectively. Compared with other opioids, abuse concerns were mostly recorded in relation to fentanyl and oxycodone, while tramadol and oxycodone were more strongly associated with drug dependence and withdrawal. Benzodiazepines, antidepressants, other opioids, antihistamines, recreational drugs (e.g., cocaine and alcohol), and several new psychoactive substances, including mitragynine and cathinones, were the most commonly reported concomitant drugs. ADRs reports in pharmacovigilance databases confirmed the availability of data on the abuse and dependence of prescription opioids and should be considered a resource for monitoring and preventing such issues. Psychiatrists and clinicians prescribing opioids should be aware of their misuse and dependence liability and effects that may accompany their use, especially together with concomitant drugs.
Bias-Based Cyberbullying Among Early Adolescents: Associations With Cognitive and Affective Empathy

Bias-based cyberbullying involves repeated hurtful actions online that devalue or harass one’s peers specific to an identity-based characteristic. Cyberbullying in general has received increased scholarly scrutiny over the last decade, but the subtype of bias-based cyberbullying has been much less frequently investigated, with no known previous studies involving youth across the United States. The current study explores whether empathy is related to cyberbullying offending generally and bias-based cyberbullying specifically. Using a national sample of 1644 12- to 15-year-olds, we find that those higher in empathy were significantly less likely to cyberbully others in general, and cyberbully others based on their race or religion. When the two sub-facets of empathy were considered separately, only cognitive empathy was inversely related to cyberbullying, while (contrary to expectation) affective empathy was not. Findings support focused efforts in schools to improve empathy as a means to reduce the incidence of these forms of interpersonal harm.