Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ASSOUAD DIMENSION: ANTIFRACTAL METRIZATION, POROUS SETS, AND HOMOGENEOUS MEASURES

We prove that a non-empty separable metrizable space X admits a totally bounded metric for which the metric dimension of X in Assouad's sense equals the topological dimension of X, which leads to a characterization for the latter. We also give a characterization based on this Assouad dimension for the demension (embedding dimension) of a compact set in a Euclidean space. We discuss Assouad dimension and these results in connection with porous sets and measures with the doubling property. The elementary properties of Assouad dimension are proved in an appendix.
An approach to achieve message integrity using SHA-256 and Elliptic Curve Cryptography with Salting

In this digital world, securing the integrity of the information plays an important role. For a modernized venture, information integrity is requisite for the veracity & competence of employment processes and decision-making. Integrity verification is the one where the information has not been tampered with while it is stored or communicated. Hash function such as SHA-256 is the strongest function, can be used to achieve information integrity. In this paper, a method is proposed where the images are hashed using SHA-256, scrambled using Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), and then added the salted values to generate the secret image. ECC helps achieve high security with a smaller key size. Salting is applied to the scrambled image to increase the randomness. This makes it difficult for the attacker to identify the secret image and reverse back the hashing as hashing is a one-way function. Simulation outcomes of the proposed method have been analyzed by measuring Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Mean Squared Error (MSE), Structural Similarity Index (SSIM), Number of Pixel Change Rate (NPCR), and Unified Average Changing Intensity (UACI). The proposed method is strong against the differential attacks.
Precursor sources dependent formation of colloidal CdSe quantum dots for UV-LED applications

Abstract We have presented varied shaped CdSe nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized by solution-based one-pot hot injection colloidal method by varying the precursor salt of Cd (i.e., cadmium oxide, cadmium chloride, and cadmium acetate) at an optimized Cd/Se ratio (2:1). CdSe nanoparticles of varied shapes and sizes (5–25 nm) were synthesized by using Butylamine and Octadecene as capping ligands and the nucleation and growth mechanism has been explained using LaMer’s diagram. It has been found that Butyl amine owing to its improved capping effect and better surface-traps passivation, aids in emission intensity enhancement of CdSe QD’s. The optical properties of the as-synthesized CdSe colloidal NPs have been investigated in terms of quantum confinement effects to reveal their suitability as a pursuing material for UV-LED. Variation in the morphology of CdSe NPs synthesized using different precursor sources leads to changes in the bandgap for its potential application in QD-based LEDs. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first-hand report on the synthesis of CdSe QD’s from varied Cd-precursor sources using butyl amine and octadecene as capping ligands via hot injection technique for UV-LED applications. Graphical Abstract
Investigation of Thermal Ground-State Effects in SU(2) Yang-Mills Thermodynamics

We investigate experimental consequences of the postulate that fundamentally photon propagation is governed by an SU(2) rather than a U(1) gauge principle. In the context of thermodynamics the SU(2) Yang-Mills theory is assumed to be in its deconfining phase. In addition to the results already available, we compute the dispersion law for the longitudinal mode, which does not thermalize with matter, at one-loop accuracy. We analyze radiometric and bolometric methods to detect a gap in the black-body radiation spectra for low frequencies and at low temperatures. We simulate the expected experimental results for total-power and Dicke-switch radiometry. These simulations indicate that the predicted SU(2) signature is measurable with presently available detector technology appealing to both radiometric methods. We also investigate non-homogeneous thermodynamics (thermomagnetic effect) in the adiabatic approximation.
2D Transformations of Energy Signals for Energy Disaggregation

The aim of Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring is to estimate the energy consumption of individual electrical appliances by disaggregating the overall power consumption that has been sampled from a smart meter at a house or commercial/industrial building. Last decade’s developments in deep learning and the utilization of Convolutional Neural Networks have improved disaggregation accuracy significantly, especially when utilizing two-dimensional signal representations. However, converting time series’ to two-dimensional representations is still an open challenge, and it is not clear how it influences the performance of the energy disaggregation. Therefore, in this article, six different two-dimensional representation techniques are compared in terms of performance, runtime, influence on sampling frequency, and robustness towards Gaussian white noise. The evaluation results show an advantage of two-dimensional imaging techniques over univariate and multivariate features. In detail, the evaluation results show that: first, the active and reactive power-based signatures double Fourier based signatures, as well as outperforming most of the other approaches for low levels of noise. Second, while current and voltage signatures are outperformed at low levels of noise, they perform best under high noise conditions and show the smallest decrease in performance with increasing noise levels. Third, the effect of the sampling frequency on the energy disaggregation performance for time series imaging is most prominent up to 1.2 kHz, while, above 1.2 kHz, no significant improvements in terms of performance could be observed.
Pregnant Dutch Women Have Inadequate Iodine Status and Selenium Intake

Iodine and selenium are essential for thyroid hormone synthesis. Iodine and selenium interact. Pregnancy increases the maternal iodine requirement. We previously reported inadequate iodine status in pregnant Dutch women. Since little is known about their selenium intake, we investigated the iodine status and selenium intake in relation to iodine and selenium supplement use during pregnancy. Iodine status was established in 201 apparently healthy pregnant women as 24 h iodine excretion (24H-UIE; sufficient if median ≥225 µg), iodine concentration (24H-UIC; ≥150 µg/L) and iodine/creatinine ratio (24H-UICR; ≥150 µg/g). Selenium intake was calculated from 24 h selenium excretion. Iodine status in pregnancy proved insufficient (medians: 24H-UIE 185 µg; 24H-UIC 95 µg/L; 24H-UICR 141 µg/g). Only women taking 150 µg iodine/day were sufficient (median 24H-UIE 244 µg). Selenium intake was below the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR; 49 µg/day) in 53.8%, below the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA; 60 µg/day) in 77.4% and below the Adequate Intake (AI; 70 µg/day) in 88.7%. Combined inadequate iodine status and selenium intake <RDA was found in 61%. Women who want to become pregnant should, consistently with WHO and ETA recommendations, be advised to use a 150 µg iodine-containing supplement. Concomitant selenium supplementation should be added to this advice, at least in The Netherlands.
Exploring the Acute Effects of the Daily Mile™ vs. Shuttle Runs on Children’s Cognitive and Affective Responses

Background: This study investigated the acute effects of two physical activity (PA) bouts on children’s cognitive and affective responses. Methods: Twenty-nine participants (16 boys and 13 girls; Mage = 9.34 years, SD = 0.48), using a within-subjects crossover design, performed three 15-min conditions: (a) TDM—The Daily Mile™; (b) 12 repeated 30–45-s shuttle runs at ≥ 85% HRMAX; and (c) a sedentary control condition. Cognitive performance (i.e., Stroop, Digit Span, and Corsi blocks) was measured before PA and 1 and 30 min post-PA. Felt Arousal and Feeling Scale self-report scales were administered before, during, and after PA. Results: The results show no changes following the TDM condition relative to the sedentary control condition in cognitive responses. However, when comparing the shuttle runs condition to the sedentary control condition, participants showed higher arousal, an improved reaction time, and lower self-reported pleasure at 1 min post-PA. Nevertheless, at 30 min post-PA, participants’ pleasure values were higher in the shuttle runs condition than they were before PA. Conclusions: When comparing PA conditions, shuttle runs enhanced reaction time and might thus be seen as an option to implement or modify PA opportunities in school settings.
Mechanistic insights of glycosylation-dependent cell adhesion molecule-1 with L-selectin expressed in the lactating bovine mammary gland

Most of the dairy cows often have immune suppression during calving time and leads several metabolic disorders and manifesting of poorly functioning immune system. Hence, the interaction between the immune system and metabolism of dairy cows is core important to read in terms of benefit to dairy industries. In this, the transition of dry period to lactation period is at most risk periods for the dairy cow’s body mechanism and by this time, there are several changes occur in the protein level. There have been several studies focused on casein protein and its functions in the lactation mechanism in mammary glands. But there are few other proteins, which are contributing directly or indirectly in the lactation process, and it is compulsory to understand those contributions up to its structural level. In dairy cows, the Interactions between the L-selectin and Glycam1 is core important protein -protein interactions, but the information’s on these systems are lacking. This study aims to provide the mechanical insights of L-selectin binding over the Glycosylation-dependent cell adhesion molecule 1 (Glycam1) in Bos taurus. Through this work, we have represented the structural details of Glycam1 and L-selectin along with their interactions is visualized.
AGGFORCLUS: A hybrid methodology integrating forecasting with clustering to assess mitigation plans and contagion risk in pandemic outbreaks: the COVID-19 Case Study

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic showed governments’ unpreparedness as decision-makers hastily created restrictions and policies to contain its spread. Identifying prospective areas with a higher contagion risk can reduce mitigation planning uncertainty. This research proposes a risk assessment metric called AGGFORCLUS that integrates time-series forecasting and clustering to convey joint information on predicted caseload growth and variability, thereby providing an educated yet visually simple view of the risk status. In AGGFORCLUS, the development is sectioned into three phases. Phase I forecasts confirmed cases using a mixture of five different forecasting methods. Phase II develops the identified best model forecasts for an extended ten-day horizon, including their prediction intervals. In Phase III, we calculate average growth metrics for predictions and use them to cluster series by their multidimensional average growth. We present the results for various countries framed into a nine-quadrant risk-grouped associated measure linked to the expected cumulative caseload progress and uncertainty.
Prevalence and Characteristics of Frailty at 6 months FollOwing Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty in Patients With End-Stage OA

Introduction Lower-limb osteoarthritis (OA) in the elderly can be a risk factor for frailty, which is the preliminary of disability, but it may be reversible with appropriate interventions. We aimed to use the Kihon Check List (KCL) to assess multiple domains of frailty and to identify the characteristics of frailty in patients with hip or knee OA following total joint arthroplasty. Materials and Methods This study included 136 ≥ 65-year-old patients (mean age: 73.0 years) who underwent total arthroplasty with end-stage hip and knee OA. We assessed frailty status, instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) according to the KCL, functional ambulatory index (FAI) and EuroQol-5 Dimension (EQ5D), respectively, as well as the extent of pain preoperatively and at postoperative 6 months. Results Using KCL, seventy-eight (57.4%) patients were frail preoperatively, but the prevalence significantly decreased to 52 patients (38.2%) at postoperative 6 months. Total arthroplasty intervention provided significant improvements in the total KCL scores, including the physical domain (P < .01), pain (P < .01), FAI scores (P < .01), and EQ5D (P < .01), but not the social domain. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified age at surgery (OR: .93, 95% CI: .86-.99) and preoperative FAI score (OR: 1.10, 95% CI: 1.03-1.19) as independent predictors of postoperative frailty. Conclusions Total arthroplasty procedures on patients with hip and knee OA reduced their KCL score, but social aspects were less improved than physical aspects in the shortterm. Older age and preoperative lower IADL score can be useful for accurately estimating less improvement of frailty in the early postoperative phase. Our results suggest that long term follow-up of OA is needed to provide comprehensive interventions, including in social aspects, especially for patients with lower activity.
Klinične značilnosti in ledvična prizadetost bolnikov s tuberozno sklerozo v UKC Maribor

Namen: Tuberozna skleroza je avtosomno dominantni nevrokutani sindrom, ki prizadene približno 1/6.000–10.000 ljudi. Klinična slika se s starostjo spreminja, saj so pri različnih starostih prisotni različni klinični znaki. Ledvična prizadetost je prisotna pri 48–80 %, in sicer v obliki angiomiolipomov, ledvičnih cist ali ledvičnega karcinoma. Namen naše raziskave je bil pregled kliničnih manifestacij pri bolnikih s tuberozno sklerozo, obravnavanih znotraj Univerzitetnega kliničnega centra (UKC) Maribor v zadnjih desetih letih, in opredelitev števila tistih, ki imajo ledvično prizadetost. Metode: Pregledali smo kartoteke bolnikov, ki so vodeni v UKC Maribor z diagnozo tuberozna skleroza (MKB– Q85.1). Iz medicinskih zapisov smo razbrali njihove antropometrične meritve, starost ob diagnozi, laboratorijske izvide, slikovne preiskave in morebitne rezultate genetskega testiranja ter trenutni režim zdravljenja. Rezultati: V naši kohorti je 13 bolnikov s tuberozno sklerozo, starih od 7 do 71 let, mediana starost je 16 let, povprečje 25,2 (14,6; 35,9). 92 % (12) ima kožno simptomatiko, ledvična prizadetost je prisotna pri 60 % naših bolnikov. 46 % ima angiomiolipome, 23 % ledvične ciste. Pomembnejše prizadetosti ledvične funkcije nimajo. Sistemsko terapijo z everolimusom prejemata dva bolnika, dva imata predpisan topični everolimus za kožne lezije. Genetsko testiranje je bilo opravljeno pri 7 bolnikih, pri 5 je bilo pozitivno. Zaključek: Rezultati potrjujejo pogosto prizadetost ledvic pri bolnikih s tuberozno sklerozo v naši kohorti, primerljivo z literaturo. Ker je kohorta sestavljena predvsem iz pediatričnih bolnikov, je ledvična funkcija dobra, zdravljenje pa redko nujno. Redno spremljanje in multidisciplinarna obravnava sta ključna za dolgoročno blaginjo bolnikov.
Effectiveness of a Modified Administration Protocol for the Medical Treatment of Feline Pyometra

Simple Summary Pyometra is a common reproductive disorder traditionally managed by ovariohysterectomy, although in selected cases (such as breeding subjects or patients with anesthesiologic risk) medical treatment is preferable. This paper aimed to describe the effectiveness of a modified aglepristone administration protocol. Five intact queens were referred for pyometra and were treated with 15 mg/kg of aglepristone on Day 0 (D0), D2, D5, and D8, along with antibiotic treatment (marbofloxacine, 3 mg/kg). Regular ultrasonographic exams confirmed the complete resolution of the infection. After treatment, 3 out of 4 mated cats had an uneventful pregnancy. The results obtained, although limited to a small group, are promising. Further studies are planned to verify its effectiveness in the long-term prevention of recurrence. Abstract Pyometra is a common uterine disease of dogs and cats, typical of the luteal phase. Traditionally, ovariohysterectomy was considered the elective treatment for pyometra, but in some cases, such as breeding subjects or patients with a high anesthesiologic risk, medical treatment is preferred. Aglepristone is a progesterone receptor blocker and its use proved to be effective for the medical treatment of pyometra in bitches and queens. The aim of this work is to report the effectiveness, in the feline species, of a modified aglepristone administration protocol. Five intact queens were referred to veterinary care centers for pyometra. Aglepristone (15 mg/kg) was administered at D0, D2, D5, and D8, as described by Contri and collaborators for dogs. An antibiotic treatment (marbofloxacin, 3 mg/kg) was associated, and uterine conditions were checked with regular ultrasonographic exams. The uterus returned to its normal condition 10 days after starting the treatment and no adverse effects were reported. After treatment, three queens had an uneventful pregnancy. Even if the treated group was restricted and homogeneous, the proposed modified protocol proved to be useful and promising for the medical treatment of pyometra in cats; further studies are planned to verify its effectiveness in the long-term prevention of recurrence.
Democratic Deliberation and the Resource Curse

Abstract Oil and gas discoveries in developing countries are often associated with shortsighted economic policies and, in response, with calls to insulate resource management from populist impulses. The authors report on a randomized experiment that tested methods to overcome this apparent tension between sound resource governance and democratic politics. Soon after Tanzania's discovery of major natural gas reserves, the authors invited a nationally representative sample of voters to take part in an intensive public deliberation of policy options, at an event featuring nationally recognized experts and small-group discussions. Democratic deliberation reinforced the public's strong preference for rapid spending of gas revenues, but also increased support for various prudential and economically orthodox measures, such as the independent oversight of gas revenues, limits on government borrowing, and selling gas abroad rather than subsidizing fuel at home. These effects were driven by deliberation per se, rather than a pure information treatment, and show no evidence of contamination by facilitator effects or peer effects in group deliberations.
Quantitative Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Serological Responses Post Three Doses of Immunization and Prior to Breakthrough COVID-19 Infections

Background: Vaccine mediated SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses should be carefully evaluated. With regular follow-up in healthy individuals, we aimed to determine SARS-CoV-2 serological responses post three doses of immunization and prior to breakthrough infections in the Canadian population. Methods: In a prospective cohort study, we enrolled 140 healthy participants post COVID-19 vaccination in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. IgG antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor–binding domain were quantified by immunoassay post three doses of immunization. With COVID-19 rapid antigen test, polymerase chain reaction, and whole genome sequencing, 27 breakthrough infections were identified. Results: Following SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (including BNT162b2, AZD1222, and mRNA-1273), the median serum anti-spike protein antibody level was 143.6 BAU/mL (binding antibody unit, interquartile range 79.0–266.6) post the first dose of immunization, 1046.4 BAU/mL (423.9–1738.2) post the second dose, and 1604.7 BAU/mL (700.1–3764.0) post the third dose. Observed differences were significant (p ≤ 0.001). The median antibody level of 1604.7 BAU/mL post third dose is 45.6 times that of the seroconversion level (35.2 BAU/mL). This indicates that most vaccines approved are effective in producing robust antibody responses. In seven breakthrough cases characterized by whole genome sequencing, prior to infection, antibody concentrations of breakthrough cases were at 3249.4 (Delta), 2748.4 (Delta), 4893.9 (Omicron), 209.1 (Omicron), and 231.5 (Omicron), 725.7 (Omicron), and 2346.6 (Omicron) BAU/mL. Compared with the average antibody concentration of 2057.7 BAU/mL (58 times that of the seroconversion concentration) from above seven cases, 37.2% of triple vaccinated, 19.0% of double vaccinated, and 1.5% single dosed individuals have higher SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels. Conclusions: Most vaccines are effective in producing robust antibody responses when more than one dose is given, and the more doses the higher the serological response. Likely due to the highly contagious nature of SARS-CoV-2 variants, a significant number of participants have SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses lower than the average antibody concentration prior to the known breakthrough infections. Additional vaccination is likely required to ensure immunity against infection by SARS-CoV-2.
Evaluation of biofilm formation and associated slime encoding determinants in Staphylococcus aureus isolated from clinically diseased pets

Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) is an important zoonotic pathogen implemented in various hospital, community as well as livestock infections. Pets as dogs and cats have increased their close social relation with human leading to significant elevation in transmission of zoonoticmultidrug resistant virulent pathogens.Diplex polymerase chain reaction was applied on ten clinical Staphylococcus aureus isolates obtained from wound and nasal samples from dogs and cats for detection of twoslime formation encoding genes;icaA andicaD. The positive genes carrying isolates were encouraged to produce biofilm and evaluated phenotypically by cultivation onto Congo red medium. Quantitative assessment was done using a microtiter plate assay, also the formed biofilm examined by fluorescent and scanning electron microscopy. Four out of tested tenStaphylococcus aureus isolates were found to harbor the two genes separately.The four isolates displayed positive biofilm production onto Congo red medium while only three isolates produced biofilmin sterile polystyrene 96-well microtiter plate. One isolate associated dog infection developed strong biofilm formation which examined byboth fluorescent and scanning electron microscopy.Staphylococcus aureus isolates obtained from diseased dogs and cats can produce biofilm that increasing their virulence and pathogenicity as well as public health concern.