Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Digital Balanced Scorecard System as a Supporting Strategy for Digital Transformation

Reports of the high percentage of failed digital transformation ventures motivate the need to find a comprehensive framework with regulatory attributes to support these initiatives. Due to its structure, consistent strategy decomposition capabilities, and strategic map architecture, the assumption is that a customized version of the Balanced Scorecard can ensure the better overall success of digital transformation projects. The qualitative analysis methodology was applied to previous research, and this study identified critical issues and challenges related to the strategy and overall endeavor of digital transformation. Based on the methodology of the traditional Balanced Scorecard, a draft version of the Digital Balanced Scorecard was formulated. The Digital Balanced Scorecard is a comprehensive, primarily prescriptive model that is focused directly on the challenges, opportunities, and obstacles of transformation. The proposed BSC model can consistently interpret a digital strategy and assist organization leaders in successfully formulating and coordinating all necessary activities and projects to apply technologies. The Digital BSC provides the projection of financial results and improvements in sustainability after transformation. The proposed solution to support digital transformation can accelerate an organization’s development, improve efficiency, and strengthen efforts to achieve an organization’s sustainability goals.
Assessment of Genetic Diversity of Bread Wheat Genotypes for Drought Tolerance Using Canopy Reflectance-Based Phenotyping and SSR Marker-Based Genotyping

This study investigated the genetic diversity of bread-wheat genotypes using canopy reflectance-based vegetation indices (VIs) and simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker-based genotyping for drought tolerance. A total of 56 wheat genotypes were assessed using phenotypic traits (combination of VIs and yield traits) and 30 SSR markers. The data of the phenotypic traits were averaged over two growing seasons under irrigated and drought-stressed conditions. The hierarchical clustering of the wheat genotypes unveiled three drought-tolerant groups. Cluster 1 genotypes showed minimal phenotypic alterations, conferring superior drought tolerance and yield stability than clusters 2 and 3. The polymorphism information content values for the SSR markers ranged from 0.434 to 0.932, averaging 0.83. A total of 458 alleles (18.32 alleles per locus) were detected, with the most polymorphic markers, wmc177 and wms292, having the most alleles (24). A comparative study of SSR diversity among phenotypic clusters indicated that genotypes under cluster 1 had higher genetic diversity (0.879) and unique alleles (47%), suggesting their potential in future breeding programs. The unweighted neighbor-joining tree grouped the wheat genotypes into five major clusters. Wheat genotypes from all phenotypic clusters were distributed throughout all SSR-based clusters, indicating that genetically heterogeneous genotypes were allocated to different drought-tolerant groups. However, SSR-based clusters and model-based populations showed significant co-linearity (86.7%). The findings of the present study suggest that combining reflectance-based indirect phenotyping with SSR-based genotyping might be an effective technique for assessing genetic diversity to improve the drought tolerance of bread-wheat genotypes.
Seropositivity of Leptospira spp. Antibodies among Febrile Patients Attending Outpatient Clinics in Mwanza, Tanzania: Should It Be Included in Routine Diagnosis?

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic neglected tropical disease with a worldwide distribution caused by the pathogenic spirochetes of the genus Leptospira. Despite being a widespread disease in tropical regions, it has never been considered in the routine diagnostic panel for febrile patients. This study determined seropositivity and factors associated with Leptospira antibodies among febrile adult patients in Mwanza, Tanzania. The cross-sectional study involving 296 febrile patients attending different outpatient clinics in Mwanza region was conducted between May and July 2019. Detection of Leptospira serovars antibodies was done using a microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Descriptive analysis was done using STATA version 13. The median age of the febrile patients was 32 (IQR: 24–45 years). Out of 296 patients, 36 (12.16%, 95%CI: 8–15) were seropositive for Leptospira antibodies. Common circulating serovars were Sokoine 28 (9.45%), followed by Lora 12 (4.05%) and Grippotyphosa 2 (0.67%). In the multivariable logistic regression analysis, the odds of being Leptospira seropositive were significantly higher with increased age (aOR: 1.03, 95%CI 1.00–1.07, p = 0.03). About one tenth of febrile patients in Mwanza were seropositive for Leptospira antibodies and this was significantly associated with age. With the decline of malaria fever in endemic areas, other causes of febrile illness like Leptospiral spp. should be considered in the routine diagnostic panel for febrile patients.
Dietary AhR Ligands Have No Anti-Fibrotic Properties in TGF-β1-Stimulated Human Colonic Fibroblasts

Background: Intestinal fibrosis is a common complication in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients without specific treatment. Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) activation is associated with better outcomes in intestinal inflammation. Development of novel therapies targeting fibrogenic pathways is required and we aimed to screen dietary AhR ligands for their anti-fibrotic properties in TGF-β1-stimulated human colonic fibroblast cells. Methods: The study was conducted using TGF-β1-stimulated CCD-18Co, a human colonic fibroblast cell line in response to increased concentrations of dietary ligands of AhR such as FICZ, ITE, L-kynurenine and curcumin. Fibrosis markers such as α-SMA, COL1A1, COL3A1 and CTGF were assessed. AhR and ANRT RNA were evaluated. Results: TGF-β1 at 10 ng/mL significantly induced mRNA levels for ECM-associated proteins such as CTGF, COL1A1 and COL3A1 in CCD-18Co cells. FICZ from 10 to 1000 nM, L-kynurenine from 0.1 to 10 μM, ITE from 1 to 100 μM or curcumin from 5 to 20 μM had no significant effect on fibrosis markers in TGF-β1-induced CCD-18Co. Conclusions: Our data highlight that none of the tested dietary AhR ligands had an effect on fibrosis markers in TGF-β1-stimulated human colonic fibroblast cells in our experimental conditions. Further studies are now required to identify novel potential targets in intestinal fibrosis.
Comparison of Hand Hygiene Behaviors among Primary Care Unit Outpatients and Visitors before and after Installation of Behavioral Nudges during the COVID-19 Situation: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Objective: To describe the probability of appropriate hand hygiene behaviors among outpatients and visitors at a primary care unit before and after installation of additionally strategically placed hand rub dispensers and empirically-designed behavioral nudges. Material and Methods: We conducted a quasi-experimental study at a suburban primary care unit in southern Thailand. The intervention consisted of included installation of hand rub dispensers and attachment of behavioral nudges. We designed the behavioral nudges using qualitative data from a focus-group discussion with local residents, who identified disgust and normative expectations from children as the main behavioral drivers for following appropriate hand hygiene behaviors. We then conducted surreptitious observations of hand hygiene behaviors among outpatients and visitors before intervention delivery during Wave 1 and Wave 2 of the pandemic (Phase 1 and Phase 2, respectively), after installation of the hand gel dispensers alone (Phase 3), and after attaching behavioral nudge signs to the dispensers (Phase 4). Results: The probability of appropriate hand hygiene behavior increased from 0.6 percent in Phase 1 to 13.5 percent in Phase 4. However, the increase was statistically significant only from Phase 2 to Phase 3 in the zones where the dispensers were located (adjusted odds ratio 10.58; 95% confidence interval 1.95, 57.24). Conclusion: The probability of appropriate hand hygiene behavior after installation of the dispensers was significantly higher than at pre-intervention, but the difference in appropriate hand hygiene before and after attachment of the nudges to the dispensers was not statistically significant. The study findings could nonetheless contribute empirical evidence on observed changes in hand hygiene behaviors in a primary care setting.
Effect of slopes on rainfall interception by leaf litter under simulated rainfall conditions

Rainfall interception is one of the main hydrological functions of leaf litter. However, the effect of slope on the interception capacity of leaf litter has received little attention. The objectives of this study were to determine the capacities of leaf litters to intercept rainwater under different slopes (i.e., flat ground at 0° and inclined slopes at 5°, 15°, 25° and 35°) and to analyse the ways in which the slope affects the interception capacity of leaf litter. Under a simulated rainfall intensity of 50 mm/h, litter flows (i.e., infiltration flow, slope flow and lateral flow) through three types of leaf litter (i.e., Pinus massoniana needleleaves and Osmanthus fragrans and Magnolia grandiflora broadleaves) were measured. The leaf litter biomass per unit area was 0.5 kg/m2 in the experimental box, and the interception capacity was calculated using the difference between rainfall and litter flow. The results show that the interception capacity of broadleaves was greater than that of needleleaves. The effect of slope was more pronounced than that of leaf shape because the rainwater stored on the leaf surfaces contributed to the generation of litter flow as the slope increased. The rainfall amount intercepted by each leaf litter decreased with increasing slope, and changes in the proportion of rainfall interception by leaf litter with increasing rainfall duration can be described by an exponential function (R2 > 0.80, p < 0.001). The maximum dynamic interception capacity (Cmax) and effective interception capacity (Cmin) of the three leaf litter types decreased as the slope increased. Statistical analyses show that 15° is a critical slope threshold that influences rainfall interception by leaf litter and litter flow. When the slope was greater than 15°, leaf litter interception capacities significantly decreased and the level of litter flow significantly increased. Therefore, slope affects the interception capacity of leaf litter and this impact should be considered in the estimation of litter interception storage on an inclined slope.
Cellular Electrical Impedance as a Method to Decipher CCR7 Signalling and Biased Agonism

The human C-C chemokine receptor type 7 (CCR7) has two endogenous ligands, C-C chemokine ligand 19 (CCL19) and CCL21, displaying biased agonism reflected by a pronounced difference in the level of β-arrestin recruitment. Detecting this preferential activation generally requires the use of separate, pathway-specific label-based assays. In this study, we evaluated an alternative methodology to study CCR7 signalling. Cellular electrical impedance (CEI) is a label-free technology which yields a readout that reflects an integrated cellular response to ligand stimulation. CCR7-expressing HEK293 cells were stimulated with CCL19 or CCL21, which induced distinct impedance profiles with an apparent bias during the desensitisation phase of the response. This discrepancy was mainly modulated by differential β-arrestin recruitment, which shaped the impedance profile but did not seem to contribute to it directly. Pathway deconvolution revealed that Gαi-mediated signalling contributed most to the impedance profile, but Gαq- and Gα12/13-mediated pathways were also involved. To corroborate these results, label-based pathway-specific assays were performed. While CCL19 more potently induced β-arrestin2 recruitment and receptor internalisation than CCL21, both chemokines showed a similar level of Gαi protein activation. Altogether, these findings indicate that CEI is a powerful method to analyse receptor signalling and biased agonism.
Cellular Regulation of Kynurenic Acid-Induced Cell Apoptosis Pathways in AGS Cells

Kynurenic acid was included in the three compounds (caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, and kynurenic acid) that showed high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential among the phenolic compounds contained in Gynura procumbens. In this study, the mechanism of cancer cell death induced by kynurenic acid (KYNA), which has the highest molecular binding affinity, in the gastric cancer cell line AGS was confirmed in molecular docking analysis. KYNA showed the most cancer cell death effect on AGS cells among several gastric cancer cell lines (MKN, AGS, and SNU). AGS cells were used for later experiments, and KYNA concentrations of 0, 150, 200, and 250 µM were used. KYNA inhibited cell migration and proliferation in AGS cells in a concentration-dependent manner. G2/M phase cell cycle arrest and reduction of related proteins (Cdc25C, CDK1 and CyclinB1) were confirmed in KYNA-treated AGS cells. Apoptosis of KYNA-treated AGS cells was confirmed by Annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) staining flow cytometry analysis. As a result of morphological chromatin condensation through DAPI (4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole), intense blue fluorescence was confirmed. The mechanism of apoptosis induction of KYNA-treated AGS cells was confirmed by western blotting. In the extrinsic pathway, apoptosis induction markers FasL, Fas, and Caspase-3 and -8 were increased in a concentration-dependent manner upon KYNA treatment. In the intrinsic pathway, the expression of anti-apoptotic factors PI3K, AKT, and Bcl-xL was down-regulated, and the expression of apoptosis-inducing factors BAD, Bak, Bax, Cytochrom C, and Caspase-9 was up-regulated. Therefore, in the present study, we strongly imply that KYNA induces apoptosis in AGS gastric cancer cells. This suggests that KYNA, a natural compound, could be the basis for drug for the treatment of gastric cancer.
Adolescents’ Motivation and Conflict Resolution Orientation in Influencing Parents’ Decisions Regarding Family Vacations: A Taiwan Perspective

ABSTRACT Individuals’ motivation explains their efforts to meet their preference in consumption situations within family. This study aims to examine the relative importance of intrinsic and external elements of adolescents’ tourist motivation in explaining their influence over parents’ decisions regarding family vacation. We also look at the moderating role of disagreement resolution approach used in their family life. Data from 571 responses by adolescents in Taiwan revealed that seeking force (SF) is positively related to their perceived influence across the stages of family travel decisions. In contrast, adolescents’ escape force (EF) is unrelated to these outcomes. Furthermore, adolescents’ problem-solving orientation (PSO) to conflict resolution appears to strengthen the relatedness of SF to adolescents’ perceived influence at the initiation stage (II), the search and evaluation stage (SEI) and the final decision stage (FDI). The non-problem-solving orientation (NPSO) to conflict resolution appears to weaken the relationship between EF and SEI. We also found an inverse-V-shaped pattern of influence as speculated. This contrasts with the conventional view of this as a declining or V-shaped pattern in family purchase decisions.
Awareness of Vaccination against Respiratory Tract Diseases, Including Pneumonia, Influenza, and COVID-19 in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

Patients with diabetes have an increased risk of severe acute respiratory infections, and vaccination is their life-saving option. This study aimed to investigate the interest and knowledge of patients about influenza, pneumonia, and COVID-19(coronavirus disease 2019) vaccines. Materials. We handed out a questionnaire to patients with diabetes who were admitted to the endocrinology clinic between April and August 2021. The questionnaire collected information on demographic data, knowledge about respiratory tract disease vaccines, and hesitancy about vaccines. Results. Four hundred twenty-four patients (female = 256, male = 168) enrolled in the study. In this study, 148 (34.9%) participants were vaccinated against pneumonia, 155 (36.6%) against flu, and 312 (73.6%) against COVID-19. In addition, antivaccination sentiment was recorded in 8.7% of patients with diabetes. We found that participants in the study primarily rely on doctors as the source of information about vaccines (doctor (46.7%), nurse (1.2%), television (8.7%), friend/neighbour (8.7%), and others (2.6%)). The rate of vaccination was statistically higher than the presence of comorbid diseases. Conclusions. We examined the vaccine awareness of patients with diabetes and investigated factors affecting it. İt was determined that vaccination awareness is affected by many factors, especially comorbid diseases and educational status. The study showed that patients primarily relied on doctors as their source of information for vaccination. Doctor-centered vaccination promotion programmes can increase the rate of vaccination.
Diagnostic accuracy and prognostic value of lung ultrasound in coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

Purpose This study aimed to assess the correlation between lung ultrasound (LUS) and computed tomography (CT) findings and the predictability of LUS scores to anticipate disease characteristics, lab data, clinical severity, and mortality in patients with COVID-19. Material and methods Fifty consecutive hospitalized PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients who underwent chest CT scan and LUS on the first day of admission were enrolled. The LUS score was calculated based on the presence, severity, and distribution of parenchymal abnormalities in 14 regions. Results The participants’ mean age was 54.60 ± 19.93 years, and 26 (52%) were female. All patients had CT and LUS findings typical of COVID-19. The mean value of CT and LUS severity scores were 11.80 ± 3.89 (ranging from 2 to 20) and 13.74 ± 6.43 (ranging from 1 to 29), respectively. The LUS score was significantly higher in females (p = 0.016), and patients with dyspnoea (p = 0.048), HTN (p = 0.034), immunodeficiency (p = 0.034), room air SpO2 ≤ 93 (p = 0.02), and pleural effusion (p = 0.036). LUS findings were strongly correlated with CT scan results regarding lesion type, distribution, and severity in a region-by-region fashion (92-100% agreement). An LUS score of 14 or higher was predictive of room air SpO2 ≤ 93 and ICU admission, while an LUS score ≥ 12 was predictive of death (p = 0.011, 0.023, and 0.003, respectively). Conclusions Our results suggested that LUS can be used as a valuable tool for detecting COVID-19 pneumonia and determining high-risk hospitalized patients, helping to triage and stratify high-risk patients, which waives the need to undertake irradiating chest CT and reduces the burden of overworked CT department staff.
Ultrasound-modulated optical tomography for dense turbid media

Continuous-wave ultrasonic modulation of scattered laser light has been used to image objects in tissue-simulating turbid media for the first time. We hypothesized that the ultrasound wave focused into the turbid media modulates the laser light passing through the ultrasonic focal zone. The modulated laser light collected by a photomultiplier tube reflects the local mechanical and optical properties in the focal zone. Buried objects in 5-cm thick tissue phantoms (absorption coefficient (mu) $a) equals 0.1 cm-1, reduced scattering coefficient (mu) s' equals 10 cm-1) were located with millimeter resolution by scanning and detecting alterations of the ultrasound-modulated optical signal.
Performer, consumer or expert? A critical review of building performance simulation training paradigms for building design decision-making

In response to swift changes in the building industry, and the need to evaluate impacts of design decisions for energy-efficiency and legislation, universities are introducing training initiatives in building performance simulation (BPS) for building design decision-making. This work aims to identify and discuss prevalent paradigms used to teach BPS. Through a comprehensive and critical literature review, three paradigms are found: training the simulation ‘expert’ and training the architecture student to become either a ‘consumer’ or ‘performer’ of simulations. Examples from the literature are presented to illustrate each paradigm, followed by a discussion of where trainees of each paradigm would be situated in practical project environments. Recognizing these paradigms serves as a foundation to set up future teaching initiatives and research in this area. However, there is a need for members of both architecture and BPS communities to work together towards harmonizing distinguishing features of each paradigm, to fully exploit the potentials offered by them.
Optimal Stealthy Attack on Cyber-Physical Systems and Its Application to a Networked PMSM System

This article investigates the stealthy attack on cyber-physical systems under the stochastic communication protocol (SCP), which is used to avoid data collisions. The attack stealthiness is characterized by the Kullback–Leibler divergence and the attack performance is measured by the corrupted error covariance. This article aims to maximize the attack performance for a certain stealthy level. Different from the existing results, our proposed attack strategy takes the SCP-introduced effects into account and exploits incomplete measurement outputs at each time instant to construct an attack model. Then, a nonconvex optimization problem is formulated to achieve the desired attack performance for a given stealthy level. By applying the monotonic optimization technique, the nonconvex problem is converted to two optimization problems with equality constraints. Then, the analytical expressions of the attack parameters are derived. Finally, simulations on a three-tank system and experiments on a networked permanent magnet synchronous machine prototype system are conducted to validate our proposed theoretical results.
Experimental and theoretical studies of lightning arcs and their interaction with aeronautical materials

Nowadays, the study of the direct effects of lightning on aeronautical structures could be based, at least in part, on simulation tools. Nevertheless, the lack of experimental data on the transient phase of the lightning arc does not allow us to justify the predictive nature of the simulation tools. The objective of this thesis is to produce an experimental database based on the characterization of lightning arcs in standardized situations. These data can be used both for the understanding of the phenomena observed during the tests, but especially as a reference comparable to the simulation tools. First, we are interested in the free arc column in air, without interaction with the electrodes. Furthermore, time- and space-resolved profiles of temperature and pressure are evaluated by emission spectroscopy. For a 100 kA arc, it is shown that the temperature reaches 37400 K in the arc axis at 2 μs after arc ignition, with a corresponding pressure of 45 bar. Second, we are interested in the interaction of the lightning arc with aeronautical materials. The dynamics of the arc roots and the characteristics of the shock wave are analyzed for different aeronautical materials such as aluminum or carbon fiber composites. The thermo-mechanical constraints applied on the material are studied by infrared thermography and by rapid deflection measurements at the center of panel, leading to an evaluation of the pressure exercised by the arc at the attachment point.