Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determination of accident modification factors for the median bus lanes on urban arterials

This paper presents the results of a study which examined accident modification factors for median bus lanes on urban arterials. Although taken for granted that median bus lanes will boost bus ridership and relieve traffic congestion, the full utilization of this useful design is not undertaken because highway engineers often are concerned with the increase of crashes in median bus lanes. However, the installation of the median bus lanes does not always lead to an increase in crashes and, to demonstrate that this argument is correct, this research proposes the use of accident modification factors. The following tasks were carried out: first, aliterature review of the major geometric elements of median bus lanes was undertaken. Second, both existing crash and geometric information data were gathered. Third, a statistical analysis was made to examine the effects of crash occurrences on major geometric elements. In addition, the crash models resulting from this analysis were subsequently applied in developing accident modification factors. A verification process was also carried out. As a result, it was found thataccident modification factors for median bus lanes could be successfully developed, and that crash occurrences were very sensitive to the widths of the bus lane, the travel lanes and the shoulders, in that order. The findings from this research should be useful in comparing several safety design alternatives in the future.
Perinatal Outcome in Term Pregnancies with Isolated Oligohydroamnios

Objective: To evaluate the frequency of adversative perinatal outcome in pregnancies with oligohydramnios isolation at term. Study Design: Case series Place and Duration of Study: Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Sadiq Abbasi Hospital Bahawalpur from 1st January 2021 to 30th June 2021. Methodology: Two hundred women with term pregnancy 37+0 to 41+6 weeks, pregnancy with isolated oligohydramnios, active phase of labour were included. CTG and obstetrical ultrasound for biophysical profile were done. Patient’s labour was monitored closely and followed till delivery. Results: Majority of the patients 87 (43.5%) were between 20-25 years with mean age was 28.43±4.27 years. Seventy six (38%) were between para 1-2, 83 (41.5%) were para 3-4, while 41 (20.5%) were para >4. Perinatal outcome reveals that APGAR score <6 at 1 minute was calculated in 21 (10.5%) and <7 at 5 minutes in 17 (8.5%) which is not very significant. Conclusion: Oligohydramnios Isolation was not related with adversative perinatal consequences. Keywords: Isolated oligohydramnios, Perinatal outcome, Amniotic fluid index, Term pregnancy, APGAR score
Effect of Pomegranate Peel Extract on the Production of Some Enzymes in Proteus spp Isolated from Different Clinical Samples in Kirkuk city.

DOI:http://dx.doi. org/10.32894/kujss. 2021.169993 Abstract The study investigates the effects of pomegranate peel extracts on some virulence factors such as the production of some enzymes produced by Proteus spp isolated from different clinical samples. Among 310 different clinical samples, 48 isolates of proteus were obtained, 14 isolates(29.16%)were obtained from urine, 15 isolates (31.25%) were obtained from stool, 7 isolates (14.58%) from ear swabs, 4 isolates (8.33%) were obtained from wounds, 5 isolates (10.41% (from burns and 3 isolates) 6.25%) of the high cervical. The study showed that from 48 isolates of Proteus spp 25 isolates (52.08%) identified as P.mirabilis, 15 isolates (31.25%)of P. penerri, while 8 isolates of P. vulgaris were obtained with a percentage of (16.66%) and it was found that 18 isolates (72%) of P.mirabilis isolates were positive for the production of beta-lactamase enzyme, 24 isolates (96%) are positive for proteases and 14 isolates (56%) produced lipase, while 13 isolates from P. penerri (86.66%) produced beta-lactamases and proteases and 10 isolates (66.66%) produced lipase, also found that 5 isolates (62.5%) of P. vulgaris produced Beta-lactamase and all the isolates (100%) produced protease while 7 isolates (87.5%) produced lipase. It was found that the hot aqueous extract of pomegranate peels inhibited the production of beta-lactamase enzyme in 4 out of 7 isolates that produced this enzyme, while all tested isolates did not produce lipase by using extracts of pomegranate peel extracts. The isolates lost their ability to produce protease enzyme, except for two isolates that were not affected by extracts of pomegranate peel fruits.
Optics measurements and corrections for colliders and other storage rings

Glenn Vanbavinckhove ontwikkelde onder meer een nieuw algoritme, de segment-by-segment-techniek, om sterke lokale fouten voor belangrijke optische parameters te identificeren in versnellers en andere opslagringen. Vanbavinckhove presenteert methodes en technieken voor de meting en correctie van de lineaire optica in versnellers en andere opslagringen. De segment-by-segment-techniek bleek zeer nuttig te zijn tijdens de ingebruikname van de LHC (Large Hadron Collider, ondergrondse deeltjesversneller). Door een meer geautomatiseerde manier van het identificeren van lokale fouten, bijvoorbeeld door gebruik te maken van een lokaal matching script of lokale responsmatrix, kan de segment-by-segment-techniek verbeterd worden. Ook beschrijft Vanbavinckhove in detail de modus operandi voor het meten en corrigeren van de optiek. De turn by turn-data verkregen in de beam position monitors (monitoren die de positie van de bundel waarnemen) werden gebruikt om de optische parameters te meten.
Empirical Models to Formulate the Nonlinear Response of Rocking Shallow Foundations

This paper aims to introduce a simplified moment-rotation backbone model for exploring the nonlinear behavior of shallow foundations subjected to rocking. The model is developed based on parametric numerical investigations of rectangular footings on dense dry sand, taking advantage of a nonlinear macro-element model verified based on a set of experimental results. Empirical expressions are proposed for rocking stiffness degradation due to gravity loads and foundation rotation as a function of the factor of safety against vertical loads and aspect ratio of foundations. Similar to previous researches, the uplift reference rotation was introduced to explore a new closedform expression appropriate for normalizing the foundation response in a non-dimensional form. The proposed approach for stiffness degradation and nonlinear backbone model of rocking foundations aims to be simple, to minimize the dependence on the variable parameters, and to provide physically sound selections for engineering applications.
Infrared-based vehicular positioning with the automatic radiation-strength control

Infrared dedicated short-range communication (IR-DSRC) has been used in single-lane vehicle-to-roadside applications, and is challenged for its application in multi-lane-free-flow vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) conditions. However, based on IR positioning technology, the IR-DSRC is expected to be useful and valuable under V2V conditions for several intelligent-transportation-system applications. In the previous studies, a three-dimensional IR positioning system was developed to position a preceding vehicle. However, the positioning performance degrades as the longitudinal or the lateral distance between vehicles increases because the resolution of the received signal is deteriorated for weak signals. In this study, onboard units (OBUs) with wide radiation-pattern designs and automatic radiation-strength control are realised to provide stable signal strength for positioning, and the non-ideality of the IR positioning system is compensated by the calibrating procedures as well. A two-vehicle trial is performed, in which the positioning OBU is installed on the most front of the following vehicle to reduce the scattering effect of the vehicle body. The experimental result demonstrates that the positioning performance is greatly improved after aforementioned improvements.
Temporal Patterns of Bacterial and Viral Communities during Algae Blooms of a Reservoir in Macau

Compositions of microbial communities associated with blooms of algae in a storage reservoir in Macau, China were investigated between 2013 and 2016. Algae were enumerated by visible light microscopy. Profiles of organisms in water were examined by 16S rRNA sequences and viral metagenomics, based on next generation sequencing. Results of 16S rRNA sequencing indicated that majority of the identified organisms were bacteria closely related to Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria. Metagenomics sequences demonstrated that the dominant virus was Phycodnavirus, accounting for 70% of the total population. Patterns of relative numbers of bacteria in the microbial community and their temporal changes were determined through alpha diversity indices, principal coordinates analysis (PCoA), relative abundance, and visualized by Venn diagrams. Ways in which the bacterial and viral communities are influenced by various water-related variables were elucidated based on redundancy analysis (RDA). Relationships of the relative numbers of bacteria with trophic status in a reservoir used for drinking water in Macau, provided insight into associations of Phycodnavirus and Proteobacteria with changes in blooms of algae.
The Effectiveness of Virtual Reality on Anxiety and Performance in Female Soccer Players

With the increased use of technology, relaxation interventions are finding their way into technology devices like virtual reality head-mounted displays (VR HMDs). However, there is a lack of evidence on the efficacy of VR relaxation interventions to reduce anxiety in athletes and how that is portrayed in their movement patterns. The purpose of the current study was to examine how a VR relaxation intervention affected perceived anxiety levels and penalty kick performance of female soccer players. Thirteen female soccer players took five penalty kicks in baseline, stress-induced, and VR relaxation conditions. Perceived levels of anxiety, self-confidence, mental effort, heart rate (HR), accelerometry of the lumbar spine and thigh, and performance in each condition was obtained. Results indicated that the VR intervention significantly reduced cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety from baseline (p = 0.002; p = 0.001) and stress (p < 0.001; p < 0.001) with large effect sizes (Kendall’s W = 0.72; 0.83). VR significantly increased self-confidence from baseline (p = 0.002) and stress (p = 0.001) with a large effect size (Kendall’s W = 0.71). Additionally, all participants felt that VR helped them relax. Mental effort was significantly higher in the stress condition compared to that in baseline (p = 0.007) with moderate effect size (Kendall’s W = 0.39). Peak acceleration and performance were not significantly influenced by stress or VR. This study serves as an initial step to evaluate VR relaxation interventions on performance in female soccer players.
The Effects of Physical Factors on Bacterial Cell Proliferation

In the present work there have been studied the frequency-dependent effects of mechanical vibration (MV) and extremely low frequency electromagnetic field (ELF EMF) on bacterial cell proliferation. It was suggested that the aqua medium can serve as a target through which the biological effect of MV and ELF EMF on microbes could be realized. To check this hypothesis the frequency-dependent effect (2, 4, 6, 8, 10 Hz) of both MV (8 mm displacement) and EMF (0.4 mT intensity) on the bacterial cell proliferation were studied in both cases where the microbes were in the culture media during the exposure and when culture media was preliminarily exposed to the ELF EMF and MV prior to the addition of bacteria. For investigating the cell proliferation a tritiated thymidine ([3H]dT) assay was used. This study demonstrated that 4 and 8 Hz EMF and MV have different biological effects on bacterial cell proliferation.
Bayesian Estimation ofWarner’s Randomized Response Technique with Transmuted Kumaraswamy Prior

In recent time, the Bayesian approach to randomized response technique has been used for estimating the population proportion especially of respondents possessing sensitive attributes such as induced abortion, tax evasion and shoplifting. This is done by combining suitable prior information about an unknown parameter of the population with the sample information for the estimation of the unknown parameter. In this study, possibility of using a transmuted Kumaraswamy prior is raised, yielding a new Bayes estimator for estimating population proportion of sensitive attribute for Warner’s randomized response technique. Consequently, the proposed Bayes estimator with transmuted Kumaraswamy prior is compared with existing Bayes estimators developed with a simple beta and Kumaraswamy priors in terms of their mean square error. The proposed estimator competes well with the existing estimators for some values of population proportion. The performances of Bayes estimators were also compared using some benchmark data.
Update with out-of-sequence measurements in tracking: exact solution

In target tracking systems measurements are typically collected in scans or frames and then they are transmitted to a processing center. In multisensor tracking systems that operate in a centralized manner there are usually different time delays in transmitting the scans or frames from the various sensors to the center. This can lead to situations where measurements from the same target arrive out of sequence. Such out-of-sequence measurement (OOSM) arrivals can occur even in the absence of scan/frame communication time delays. The resulting negative- time measurement update problem, which is quite common in real multisensor systems, was solved approximately in [2] by neglecting the process nosie in the backward prediction or retrodiction. In the standard case, the (forward) state prediction can be easily carried out, since the process noise, because of its whiteness, is independent of the current state. However, in retrodiction this independence does not hold anymore. The standard smoothing algorithms cannot be used because the time stamp of the measurement is, in general, arbitrary. The results of [4,3] accounted only partially for the process noise. In view of this, the exact state update equation for such a problem is presented. The three algorithms are compared on a number of realistic examples, including a GMTI (ground moving target indicator) radar case.
Investigating Factors of Customer Loyalty Formation for Wellness Spa

Research question: The objective of this paper is to examine the level of the development of spa tourism with a special review of the wellness tourist offer of the Republic of Serbia, and also which factors of this tourist offer we should pay special attention to and improve, to achieve the highest level of tourist loyalty. Motivation: The tourism potential of the Republic of Serbia has not been sufficiently researched and that served as a basic motivational factor. Idea: Considering the tourist potential that Serbia has and partly the work of Han et al., (2017), the fact that spa tourism is the fastest-growing sector in the entire tourism industry, and that the wellness tourism offer is a very important segment of spa tourism, there is a need to identify factors that influence the visitors' loyalty formation for such tourist destinations. As the Republic of Serbia has a lot of wellness centres, it represents a very convenient location for conducting such research. Data: This research included 298 guests of wellness centres in Vrnjačka Banja: "Solaris", "Aleksandar", "Merkur", "Zepter", "Kralj", "Slatina" and "Iwa Wellness Centre". Data collection was performed during July and August 2019. Methods: The PLS-SEM method was used in this paper to test the defined research hypotheses. Factors that contribute to loyalty and revisit for the wellness and spa tourist destination were investigated, and they were measured by the appropriate number of questions: quality of wellness and spa tourism, the value of wellness and spa services, attraction of wellness and spa tourist destination and satisfaction with wellness and spa tourist destination. All attitudes were measured using a five-point Likert scale. Results: The quality and value of wellness and spa services positively impact the affection for wellness and spa tourist destination and satisfaction with wellness and spa tourist destination, while the attraction of wellness and spa tourist destination positively affects satisfaction with wellness and spa tourist destination and tendency to revisit by tourists. The existence of a positive influence of satisfaction with wellness and spa tourist destination and the desire to revisit the tourist loyalty formation was also shown. Contribution: Improving the quality, value, and effect with the Republic of Serbia as a wellness and spa tourist destination will increase the satisfaction of visitors and their desire to revisit this tourist destination, which will lead to greater loyalty in the future. This will increase the revenue generated from this type of tourism and accelerate local and regional development.
Determination of Combining Ability and Type of Gene Action Using Half-Diallel Cross Among Seven S6 White Maize Inbred Lines

Seven S 6 white maize inbred lines were derived from selfing of S 4 inbred lines of two populations; three way cross-324 and Giza-2 were used as parents of a 7 x 7 half-diallel cross and were obtained on 21 F 1 crosses. These 7 S 6 inbred lines and their 21 F 1 crosses along with the 2 checks i.e., SC-128 and SC-129 were evaluated at Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Assiut Branch in 2021. Highly significant differences were detected among genotypes, parents, crosses, parents vs. crosses, general and specific combining abilities for all traits. σ 2 GCA/σ 2 SCA was less than the unity for all traits. The 4 crosses; P 4 x P 7 , P 5 x P 6 , P 5 x P 7 and P 6 x P 7 possessed desirable significant positive heterotic effects for increasing grain yield/plant relative to the checks SC-128 and SC-129, and among them the 3 crosses; P 5 x P 6 , P 5 x P 7 and P 6 x P 7 , also possessed significant negative desirable standard heterotic effects for tasseling and silking earliness relative to both the checks. The 2 parents; P 6 and P 7 , which derived from Giza-2 population could be considered as good general combiners for improving maize genotypes for earliness and high yielding ability. The 9 crosses; P 1 × P 2 , P 1 × P 4 , P 1 × P 5 , P 2 × P 6 , P 3 × P 4 , P 3 × P 7 , P 5 × P 6 , P 5 × P 7 and P 6 × P 7 possessed significant positive desirable SCA effects for high yielding ability, as well as significant negative desirable SCA effects for earliness. The dominance was in over dominance range for all the studied traits, where the average degree of dominance was more than one.
Influence of Potassium Silicate on Water Deficit Tolerance for Some Rice Genotype تأثير سلکيات البوتاسيوم لتحمل نقص الماء لبعض الطرز الوراثية لمحصول الارز

Field experiments were conducted during the 2019 and 2020 seasons at The Experimental Farm of Sakha Research Station, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt, to study the impact of different irrigation regimes, potassium silicate on growth, grain yield, and water productivity of some rice genotypes. The experiments were laid out in a strip-split plot design, with three replications. The vertical plots contained four irrigation regimes, i.e., irrigation every 4-day (I1), alternate 4-day on and 4(I2),6(I3), and 8(I4) days off. However, the horizontal plots consisted of four potassium silicate rates, namely, 0, 1, 2, and 3 % potassium silicate. Meanwhile, the sub-sub plots consisted of three rice genotypes (Sakha 108, Giza 178, and Egy-Kor 27). The main results revealed the growth characteristics, grain yield, and its components were significantly decreased with increasing period from I1 up to I4. The potassium silicate at 3% followed by 2 % registered high values of the study traits. Giza 178 had the highest values of the study traits except for panicle length, panicle weight, and 1000-grain weight which recorded the highest value with Sakha 108. Irrigation every 4-day consumed the highest amount of irrigation water while the lowest amount was received by I4. The treatment I3 irrigation recorded the highest water productivity as compared to other treatments. Generally, under the same conditions, it is possible to cultivate Giza 178 rice cultivar and alternate irrigation as 4-day on + 4-day off with spray 2 % of potassium silicate for highest grain yield and acceptable water productivity.
Public Awareness and Perceptions of Invasive Alien Species in Small Towns

Simple Summary Every year, the South African government spends approximately ZAR 2 billion to control invasive alien species (IAS) that are intentionally or unintentionally introduced into new areas by humans, and have a variety of social, ecological, and economic impacts. Given the link between people and the introduction and spread of IAS, it is important to understand citizens’ knowledge and perceptions of IAS to guide management. For this reason, we conducted a study in small towns of South Africa to assess (1) awareness of IAS by the general public, (2) local perceptions of the impacts associated with IAS, (3) if awareness of IAS is associated with demographic covariates and IAS density, and, (4) people’s willingness to detect, report, and support IAS management. We found that people were not aware of IAS and their impacts, and many perceived them as beneficial. We found that IAS density, education level, and gender influenced people’s knowledge and perceptions about IAS in the region. Some people showed interest and willingness to learn more about IAS. These results could help to inform outreach and educational programs to promote public awareness and engagement in IAS management. Abstract Invasive alien species (IAS) are a growing threat globally and cause a variety of ecological, economic, and social impacts. People can introduce IAS and facilitate their spread, and can also implement, support, or oppose their management. Understanding local knowledge, awareness, and perceptions are therefore crucial if management and policy are to be effective. We administered questionnaires to members of the public in eight small towns along the Berg River Catchment in the biodiverse fynbos biome of South Africa. We aimed to assess: (1) awareness of IAS by the general public, (2) local perceptions of the impacts associated with IAS, (3) whether awareness of IAS is correlated with demographic covariates and IAS density, and (4) people’s willingness to detect, report, and support IAS management. Overall, 262 respondents participated in the survey. Most respondents (65%) did not know what IAS are, and 10% were unsure. Many respondents also perceived IAS as beneficial. Using a logistic regression, we found that IAS density, educational level, and gender influenced people’s knowledge and perceptions about IAS in the region. There were a small number (4%) of respondents currently detecting and reporting IAS, but many respondents were interested to learn more. We concluded that people living in small towns in the Western Cape of South Africa remain largely unaware of IAS and their impacts. It is crucial to increase awareness-raising initiatives, and build support and engagement in management of IAS in small towns.