Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Hydraulic Head and Slope on Water Distribution Uniformity of a Low-Cost Drip Irrigation System

Assessment of the effect of topography and operating heads on the water distribution uniformity in drip irrigation systems is important in irrigation water management and could serve as the basis for optimizing water use efficiency and crop productivity. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of hydraulic head and slope on the water distribution uniformity of a low-cost drip irrigation system developed by the International Development Enterprises (IDE), a non-profit organization dedicated to ending poverty in the developing world. The drip system was tested in the laboratory for water distribution uniformity under varying system heads and slope conditions. A drum reservoir served as water supply for the IDE drip system. A sub-main of 10 m with adjustable slope and lateral-sub holder of 10 m were fabricated to enable slope variations during laboratory experiments. The drip system was operated at pre-specified operating heads of 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 m for sub-main slopes of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% and 0% slope for the laterals. The discharge in each emitter was monitored for each chosen slope through direct volumetric measurements. The water distribution uniformity was then evaluated using the Christiansen's method and Merriam and Keller's method. Mathematical relationships were developed to characterize the effect of slope and head on uniformity coefficient. We found that the coefficient of uniformity (CU) and the distribution uniformity (DU) generally increase with increasing heads and decrease with increasing slope. The coefficient of uniformity generally followed a linear relationship with either head or slope. The CU and DU decrease substantially at submain slopes steeper than 30%. For a level surface, a head differential of 0.5 m does not cause significant change in either CU or DU. For all slopes tested, we found that a head of 3.0 m with respect to the junction of the most upstream lateral may be considered to be recommendable from both hydraulic and practical standpoints. On the basis of the results, appropriate recommendations were formulated to minimize non-uniformity of water distribution under field conditions in sloping drip-irrigated lands.
Gratitude and future time perspective during the COVID-19 pandemic: effects of age and virus worry

ABSTRACT The current study examined the nature of gratitude and future time perspective (FTP) during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the effects of age and virus worry on the associations between gratitude and remaining opportunities and time. Data came from a survey of a representative sample of Swiss adults (N = 1,008; 18–90 years) assessed during the pandemic in 2020. Local structural equation modeling (LSEM) was used to investigate the effects of continuous age and virus worry on mean-levels and correlations. While gratitude was unaffected by age and worry, the remaining opportunities and time factors of FTP decreased across age and levels of worry. The associations between gratitude and the FTP factors were invariant across age and levels of worry. Additionally, using previous cross-sectional data, the study found that associations between gratitude and future time perspective were significantly smaller during the pandemic as compared to an assessment in 2018.
The Clinical Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of Rituximab Versus Natalizumab in Patients With Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease in which the myelin sheaths of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, which are responsible for communication, are destroyed and cause physical signs and symptoms. According to studies, anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies have significant results in the treatment of this disease. Thus, the aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Rituximab against Natalizumab in the patients with MS in southern Iran in 2020. Methods: This is an economic evaluation including cost-effectiveness analysis in which the Markov model with a lifetime horizon was used. The study sample consisted of 120 patients randomly selected from among those referred to the MS Association and the Special Diseases Unit of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. In this study, the costs were collected from a societal perspective, and the outcomes were obtained in the form of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY) and the mean recurrence rate. The TreeAge pro 2020 and Excel 2016 software were used for data analysis. Results: The comparative study of Rituximab and Natalizumab showed that the patients receiving Rituximab had lower costs ($ 58307.931 vs. $ 354174.85) and more QALYs (7.77 vs. 7.65). In addition, the incidence of relapse by Rituximab was lower compared to Natalizumab (1.15 vs. 2.57). The probabilistic one-way sensitivity analysis showed the robustness of the results. The scatter plots also showed that Rituximab was more cost-effective for the patients in 100% of the simulations for the threshold of >$ 37,641. Discussion and Conclusion: According to the results of this study, Rituximab had higher cost-utility and cost-effectiveness than Natalizumab. Therefore, it could be a priority for MS patients compared to Natalizumab because it reduced treatment costs and increased effectiveness.
Hospitalizations for ketoacidosis in type 1 diabetes mellitus, 2008 to 2018

Abstract The objective of this study was to characterize epidemiological trends, outcomes in hospitalized patients, and the disease burden of hospitalizations for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). This was a retrospective interrupted trends study involving hospitalizations for DKA in patients with T1DM in the US from 2008 to 2018 using data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. The total number of hospitalizations during each calendar year was obtained, and trends in inpatient mortality rate, mean length of hospital stay (LOS), and mean total hospital cost (THC) were calculated. Between 2008 and 2018, there was a trend toward increasing hospitalizations for T1DM with DKA (P-trend <0.001). Over the decade, there was a steady rise in the proportion of patients with a Charlson comorbidity index >1. There was no statistically significant change in adjusted inpatient mortality in patients with T1DM admitted for DKA over the study period despite an apparent trend of a decreasing crude mortality rate (P-trend = 0.063). There was a statistically significant decrease in both LOS and THC over the study period. In conclusion, there was a significant decrease in both LOS and THC, potentially reflecting improvements in the management of DKA in patients with T1DM.
Prediction of Troponin elevation in Non- ST Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients presenting to The Emergency Department Using Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio

The neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is considered an independent predictor of mortality and myocardial infarction (MI) in stable coronary artery disease (SCAD). Also NLR have prognostic value in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACSs). However the diagnostic power of NLR in patients suspected of ACS is still under study is to determine the ability of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio to predict troponin elevation in patients presenting to emergency department with acute coronary syndrome From June 2018 to March 2019, 100 patients were enrolled who presented to the ER with NST-ACS. Patients were divided into 2 groups based upon the troponin positivity in the 12- to 24-hour follow-up. Baseline Complete blood count with calculation of NLR is done The study population was divided into 2 groups: troponin- negative group (n = 50) and troponin-positive group (n = 50). Mean age was 55.8 ± 11.3. 77% of the patients were male. No significance difference in the level of hemoglobin, WBCs and platelets between the 2 groups. The neutrophil count was significantly higher in the troponin-positive group (p < 0.001). The median admission. NLR was significantly higher in the troponin-positive group (2 vs. 3.9, P < 0.001). A cutoff point of 3.4 for NLR measured on admission had 84% sensitivity and 84% specificity in predicting follow-up troponin positivity. A highly significant correlation was found between NLR and level of troponin change (p value <0.01) NLR can be used as a diagnostic tool in the differentiation of patients with acute coronary syndrome. NLR is a non-expensive, simple and available parameter that can be used in diagnosis of NSTEMI.
Comparison of the health-related quality of life of community dwelling patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the general population

Background The goal of care for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is not only diagnosis and treatment, but also improving health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study compared the HRQoL of community dwelling patients with COPD and the general population, using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Methods We defined COPD groups among patients with less than 70% of forced expiratory volume in 1 second value (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio in a pulmonary function test. To control for covariates that affect HRQoL, we used propensity score matching with a 1:1 ratio. Finally, 2,230 people were analyzed in both the COPD and non-COPD groups. Results There were no significant differences between COPD and matched non-COPD groups on the EuroQol-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D), after adjusting for clinico-socioeconomic status (e.g., age, sex, education, household income level, marital status, BMI, current smoking, drinking and comorbidities). However, according to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria, as the severity of COPD increased, HRQoL decreased. In particular, this difference was prominent in the domain related to physical health. Conclusion Proper community support and financial stability might be important for the maintenance of HRQoL of persons with COPD, in addition to early detection and treatment.
Hybrid microlaser encoder

We have developed a microlaser encoder that can detect displacements relative to an external grating scale with a resolution on the order of 10 nm. Its size is only a few tens of a percent of a conventional encoder's. A long-lasting InP laser diode with a wavelength of 1550 nm was bonded, along with several photodiode chips, within an alignment accuracy of 1 /spl mu/m onto a silicon planar lightwave circuit chip. The chip is 2.3 mm /spl times/ 1.7 mm and includes a fluorinated polyimide lightwaveguide fabricated in advance. A wide gap of more than 600 /spl mu/m was obtained between the external grating scale and the encoder despite the tiny size of the sensor. When used as a rotary encoder, the number of rotations could also be detected. Thus, this microencoder satisfies the market requirements for practical use.
Optimal instrumentation of uncertain structural systems subject to earthquake ground motions

A criterion is proposed for making decisions regarding the optimal location of a given number of sensors to record the seismic response of a structure for identification purposes. The optimal location of the sensors is selected so that the expected value of a Bayesian loss function, expressed in terms of the Fisher information in the recordings, is minimized. The criterion is applied to the case of multi-degree-of-freedom systems with uncertain structural properties subjected to earthquake ground motions modelled as stationary stochastic processes. The use and capabilities of the criterion are thoroughly illustrated by means of an example. Results are used to assess the influence of record duration, recording noise, and ground motion frequency content and amplitude, on the optimal location of accelerometers as well as on the reduction of prior uncertainty about the structural parameters. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Development of the Psychological Maltreatment Inventory

This article introduces the development and implementation of the Psychological Maltreatment Inventory (PMI) assessment with child respondents receiving services because of an open child abuse and/or neglect case in the Midwest (N = 166). Sixteen items were selected based on the literature, subject matter expert refinement, and readability assessments. Results indicate the PMI has high reliability (α = .91). There was no evidence the PMI total score was influenced by demographic characteristics. A positive relationship was discovered between PMI scores and general trauma symptom scores on the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children Screening Form (TSCC-SF; r = .78, p = .01). Evidence from this study demonstrates the need to refine the PMI for continued use with children. Implications for future research include identification of psychological maltreatment in isolation, further testing and refinement of the PMI, and exploring the potential relationship between psychological maltreatment and suicidal ideation.
A novel bioflocculant produced by Klebsiella sp. and its application to sludge dewatering

A bioflocculant‐producing bacterium, named N‐10, was isolated from activated sludge and was identified as Klebsiella sp. The bioflocculant (named MBF10) produced by Klebsiella sp. had a good flocculating capability and could achieve a flocculating rate of 86.5% to kaolin suspension at the dosage of 0.034 g/L. Compared with chemical flocculants, such as Al2(SO4)3, polyaluminum chloride (PAC) and cationic polyacrylamide (PAM) at their optimal dosages, MBF10 showed a similar performance for sludge dewatering. After preconditioning, dry solids (DS) and specific resistance to filtration (SRF) of the sludge were 17.5% and 3.36 × 1012 m/kg, respectively. The combined use of MBF10 and Al2(SO4)3 resulted in optimum sludge dewatering properties, SRF reduced from 10.87 × 1012 m/kg to 1.72 × 1012 m/kg, and DS increased from 13.1% to 21.3%. Charge neutralisation and interparticle bridging were proposed as the reasons for the enhanced performance based upon the experimental observations.
Analysis of occupational and environmental hazards associated with cassava processing in Edo state Nigeria

Farming has been described as one of the most hazardous activities by many authors. The study was conducted to analyse occupational and environmental hazards associated with cassava processing and analysed the knowledge level of the processors on the hazards associated with cassava processing. A multistage sampling procedure was adopted in selecting the respondents for the study. One hundred and eighty respondents were sampled for the study using interview schedule but only one hundred and seventy-one questionaires were suitable for analysis. The data collected were described using frequency count, percent, mean, standard deviation and pie charts while perason’ correlation was employed to make deductions. Results show that majority (79.9 %) of the respondents were female with about 68.4 percent married. Majority (62.6%) of the respondents were rated as having moderate knowledge of hazards associated with cassava processing. Age (r=0.5271), years of schooling (r=0.7251) and level of travelling (r=0.4139) were found to be significantly correlated with knowledge of hazards at 0.01 level of significance while household size (r=0.3815) had positive and significant relationship with hazards at 0.05 level of significance. The study therefore established that education could be used to educate cassava processors on the various hazards associated with cassava processing in the study area.
Apply Lagrangian relaxation to multi-zone congestion management

In order to deal with the emerging multi-zone congestion management problem, a novel Lagrangian relaxation based algorithm for area-decomposition optimal power flow is presented in this paper. By using this method, zonal operators can relieve network congestion coordinatedly and independently without knowing any other zones' network information but the correspondent Lagrangian multipliers. Two different ways to multi-zone congestion management are also discussed. The IEEE RTS-96 is used as a test system to illustrate the proposed algorithm.
Framework for Privacy-Preserving Wearable Health Data Analysis: Proof-of-Concept Study for Atrial Fibrillation Detection

Medical wearable devices monitor health data and, coupled with data analytics, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence (AI), enable early detection of disease. Privacy issues arise when personal health information is sent or processed outside the device. We propose a framework that ensures the privacy and integrity of personal medical data while performing AI-based homomorphically encrypted data analytics in the cloud. The main contributions are: (i) a privacy-preserving cloud-based machine learning framework for wearable devices, (ii) CipherML—a library for fast implementation and deployment of deep learning-based solutions on homomorphically encrypted data, and (iii) a proof-of-concept study for atrial fibrillation (AF) detection from electrocardiograms recorded on a wearable device. In the context of AF detection, two approaches are considered: a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) which receives as input the ECG features computed and encrypted on the wearable device, and an end-to-end deep convolutional neural network (1D-CNN), which receives as input the encrypted raw ECG data. The CNN model achieves a lower mean F1-score than the hand-crafted feature-based model. This illustrates the benefit of hand-crafted features over deep convolutional neural networks, especially in a setting with a small training data. Compared to state-of-the-art results, the two privacy-preserving approaches lead, with reasonable computational overhead, to slightly lower, but still similar results: the small performance drop is caused by limitations related to the use of homomorphically encrypted data instead of plaintext data. The findings highlight the potential of the proposed framework to enhance the functionality of wearables through privacy-preserving AI, by providing, within a reasonable amount of time, results equivalent to those achieved without privacy enhancing mechanisms. While the chosen homomorphic encryption scheme prioritizes performance and utility, certain security shortcomings remain open for future development.
Comparison of Vertical and Inclined Toothbrush Filaments: Impact on Shear Force and Penetration Depth

This paper presents a semi-analytical model to describe the action of vertical and 16°-inclined toothbrush filaments onto flat tooth surfaces and into approximal areas. The theory is based on the analytical solution of the beam equation about normal and transversal (shear) forces that deform the filaments. A 15% increase of penetration depth (approximal area model) and a 60% increase of transversal force (tooth surface model) for an inclination angle of 16° compared to a vertical filament were determined. Furthermore, that 16°-inclined filaments are able to transfer higher shear forces to the tooth compared to vertical ones was shown experimentally, which could account for the higher efficiency of plaque removal by inclined filaments compared to vertical filaments. The theoretical findings for manual and oscillating-rotating toothbrushes are discussed, and implications for their design are drawn.
Effect of NH/sub 3/-plasma treatment and CMP modification on TDDB improvement in Cu metallization

Time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) between Cu interconnects is investigated. TDDB lifetime strongly depends on the surface condition of the Cu interconnect and surrounding pTEOS. A NH/sub 3/-plasma treatment prior to cap-pSiN deposition on Cu interconnect improved the dielectric breakdown lifetime (T/sub BD/) over cap-pSiN deposition only. The plasma treatment also has the beneficial effect of suppressing wiring resistance increase during pSiN deposition. These results suggest that CuO reduction to Cu, and CuN formation at the Cu interconnect surface prevents Cu silicidation during pSiN deposition. Furthermore, SiN formation and bond termination by hydrogen radicals at the pTEOS surface diminish surface defects such as dangling bonds. TDDB lifetime also strongly depends on the Cu CMP process, in which mechanical damage of the SiO/sub 2/ surface during CMP process degrades TDDB. Adoption of a mechanical damage free slurry or a post-CMP HF treatment to remove the damaged layer from the surface improves TDDB.
A low-pass digital optical filter for optical fiber communications

A passive, all-optical fiber device that limits the rate at which digital information can be transmitted over a single-node fiber is described. Experimental results that demonstrate the frequency response of the device and its effect on baseband intensity-modulated digital transmission are presented. A variety of issues related to the performance of these devices is discussed. >
The impact of paternalistic leadership behaviour on organizational trust among healthcare professionals

Objective: The aim of the current study was to investigate the impact of paternalistic leadership on organizational trust among healthcare professionals. As a starting point, it acknowledges that the impact of paternalistic leadership may vary depending on the cultural values of a given society. The study then offers the regression model between the variables among with implications of this relationship for healthcare management. Methods: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study and face-to-face interviews were conducted at a private hospital group in Istanbul. The study sample encompassed 329 employees. In data analysis and evaluations, frequency tables, central and prevalence criteria, Pearson’s correlation test and simple linear regression analysis were employed and analysed with the SPSS 20 statistical package program. Results: A statistically significant and positive correlation was found between paternalistic leadership behaviour and organizational trust (r = 0.669, p = 0.000; R2 = 0.448). The analysis indicated that paternalistic leadership behaviour explained about 45% of the variance in organizational trust. Conclusion: In study, it was found that paternalistic leadership behaviours are strongly related to organizational trust among healthcare professionals. Paternalistic leadership, particularly in collectivist cultures with high power-distance structures, may yield to positive organizational outcomes.
Farmers’ knowledge, perception and management practices of fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda Smith) in Manica province, Mozambique

This study aimed to gather information about farmers’ knowledge, perception and management practices of the newly introduced insect pest, the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda Smith (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Manica province, Mozambique. A total of 200 smallholder farmers with experience in maize cultivation were surveyed using a semi-structured questionnaire. The survey was conducted between May and August 2019 in four districts: Macate, Manica, Sussundenga and Vanduzi. Most farmers were unable to morphologically identify fall armyworm (FAW) (from 93.9% in Vanduzi to 98.0% in Manica). Most farmers have experienced FAW damage in their farms (from 92% in Macate to 98.0% in Manica). Maize is mostly planted in October and November (from 44.0% in Sussundenga to 60.0% of farmers in Manica), but the highest infestation period is believed to be between November and February. With the exception of Vanduzi where 65.3% of farmers apply insecticides, most farmers in other districts do not use any method to control FAW (from 60.8% in Macate to 88.0% in Manica and Sussundenga respectively). Among those applying insecticides, from 65.0% in Manica to 75.0% in Vanduzi have confidence in the efficiency of the insecticides being used against FAW. Most farmers reported an increase in the spread of FAW. The lack of financial resources is reported as the main constraint in the fight against FAW. This study is the first of its nature in the province of Manica and provides valuable information that may support extension services and researchers when designing FAW management options for local smallholder farmers.