Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of pre-cooling agent on intensity of pricking pain at intraoral injection site in adults: An experimental study.

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of pre-cooling agent on the intensity of pricking pain at the intraoral injection site in adult patients. METHODS The in-vivo interventional study was conducted at the Department of Operative Dentistry, Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, from September 2018 to August 2019, and comprised adult patients of either gender. The pricking pain perception during needle administration was assessed using split-mouth technique. Topical anaesthesia benzocaine gel was applied on the left side, which was treated as controls, for 1 min, while on the right side, which was treated as the experimental side, refrigerated cartridge was placed for 2 min. Infiltration anaesthesia was then administered on both sides. Pain perception ratings were measured through visual analogue scale. After profound anaesthesia was achieved, restorative treatment was performed under rubber dam isolation. Data was analysed using SPSS 24. Results Of the 152 subjects, 77(50.65%) were females and 75(49.34%) were males. The overall mean age was 35.97±8.669 years (range: 21-50 years). The effect of refrigerated cartridge was significant on the intensity of pricking pain at the intraoral injection site in patients aged 41-50 years, and in female patients aged 21-30 years (p<0.05), whereas its effect was non-significant in males aged 21-30 years and patients aged 31-40 years (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS Pre-cooling agent was found to be effective in decreasing pricking pain felt by patients.
Compatibility of Thermally Reduced Graphene with Polyesters

ABSTRACT The compatibility of thermally reduced graphene (TRG) with multiblock copolyesters, composed of poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) segments and poly(tetramethylene ether) glycol segments, was examined in detail. The morphology observed by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy showed that the compatibility was enhanced with increasing content of the PBT segment in the polyester. This compatibility behavior was analyzed quantitatively, by using the percolation threshold of electrical conductivity, and then further analyzed by using the Hansen solubility parameters to provide a general quantitative guideline to predict the compatibility of TRG with various polymers. The results suggest that the total solubility parameter, δT, value of TRG is larger than 24.0 (MPa)½, and thus that the compatibility with polymer is enhanced as the δT value of a polymer increases toward 24.0 (MPa)½. However, this prediction does not fit well in the presence of a comonomer such as acrylic acid, which has a high tendency to hydrogen bond with itself.
Effect of Soil Management on Erosion in Mountain Vineyards (N-W Italy)

We studied the effects of three soil management approaches (permanent grassing, chemical weeding, and buffer strips), and the additional impact of tractor passage on soil erosion in a sloping vineyard located in the inner part of Aosta Valley (N-W Italian Alps). The vineyard rows were equipped with a sediment collection system with channels and barrel tanks. A total of 12 events with sediment production were observed across 6 years, and the collected sediments were weighted and analyzed. Average erosion rates ranged from negligible (mainly in grassed rows) to 1.1 t ha−1 per event (after weeding). The most erosive event occurred in July 2015, with a total rainfall of 32.2 mm, of which 20.1 were recorded in 1 h. Despite the limited number of erosive events observed, and the low measured erosion rates, permanent grassing reduced soil erosion considerably with respect to weeding; buffering had a comparable effect to grassing. The tractor passage, independent of the soil management approaches adopted, visibly accelerated the erosion process. The collected sediments were highly enriched in organic C, total N, and fine size fractions, indicating a potential loss of fertility over time. Despite the measured erosion rates being low over the experiment’s duration, more severe events are well documented in the recent past, and the number of intense storms is likely to increase due to climate change. Thus, the potential effects of erosion in the medium and long term need to be limited to a minimum rate of soil loss. Our experiment helped to compare soil losses by erosion under different soil management practices, including permanent grassing, i.e., a nature-based erosion mitigation measure. The results of the research can provide useful indications for planners and practitioners in similar regions, for sustainable, cross-sectoral soil management, and the enhancement of soil ecosystem services.
Preparation and characterization of groundnut shell-based activated charcoal

Groundnut shell, an agricultural waste was used as a precursor for the preparation of activated charcoal using zinc chloride as a chemical activating agent. The results of the optimization studies showed that the activated charcoal had best iodine adsorption capacity at 1.0 mol dm-3 activator’s concentration, 2:1 impregnation ratio, 70 ℃ impregnation temperature, 12 hr impregnation time, 500 ℃ activation temperature, and 2hr activationtime. The surface chemistry of the adsorbent was studied by Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The activated charcoal was found to contain porous structures with adsorption capacities significantly correlated with iodine value, porosity, and surface area. The surface morphology of the activated charcoal was altered as compared with the un-activated product, signifying that the adsorbent had been chemically modified. The disappearance of some functional groups and shift in some absorption bands were further indication that surface structural modification took place during activation and carbonization.This research has revealed that groundnut shell could be employed for the production of an alternative adsorbent which can be utilize for filtration and detoxification of impure water, treatment of effluent and wastewater, adsorption of pesticides, heavy metals and dyes from aqueous media.
Long-term Fertilization with Liquid Cattle Manure Leaves Legacy Nutrients, but not Organic Carbon and Has No Effect on Soil Microbial and Physical Properties a Year after Last Application

ABSTRACT Long-term liquid cattle manure (LCM) application can enhance soil fertility, increase soil organic carbon, and improve soil properties. We investigated the residual effects of long-term fertilization with LCM on physical, chemical and microbial properties of a calcareous soil. The effects of LCM, common inorganic fertilization, recommended fertilization or non-fertilized control were investigated in field plots with corn (Zea mays L.), 1 year after the cessation of 16-years of experimentation. The residual concentrations of soil available P, K, Cu, Zn, B and total N but not NO3-N remained significantly higher with LCM, while there were no differences in soil pH, electrical conductivity and sodium adsorption ratio, compared to the other treatments. The previously observed increase of soil organic C with LCM was no longer evidenced. For aggregate size distribution and stability, microbial biomass N, easily extractable glomalin-related soil protein, number and morphotypes of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal spores and percentage of root length colonization, there was no difference among treatments. Microbial growth and activity were limited by C, while the calcareous nature of the soil was more important than glomalin for soil aggregation. In conclusion, the residual effects of LCM were limited to soil nutrient increase.
On the development of a trait-based approach for studying Neotropical bats

New World bats are involved in key ecological processes and are good indicators of environmental changes. Recently, trait-based approaches have been used in several taxa to better understand mechanisms underlying species assemblages, biotic interactions, environmental relationships and ecosystem functions. However, despite the relevance of bats on ecosystem dynamics, so far, there is no conceptual framework that relies on the measurement of bat traits to address functional studies. Here, we present a set of 50 bat biological traits, which are suitable to assess environmental stressors and can potentially affect ecological processes. Several examples were provided to show the applicability of this framework in the study of Neotropical bat ecology. We suggest some considerations regarding trait-based approach including the importance of intraspecific variation, correlations between traits, response-effect framework, global dataset, and future directions to assess the reliability of functional relations across species and Neotropical regions by using traits. This could be helpful in tackling ecological questions associated with community assembly and habitat filtering, species diversity patterns along environmental gradients, and ecological processes. We envision this paper as a first step toward an integrative bat functional trait protocol held up with solid evidence.
A Study of Risk Factors Predicting School Disruption in Children and Youth Living in Ontario

School disruption (SD) places students at risk of early school departure and other negative psychological outcomes. Based on the data derived from a sample of Ontario children and youth, this study aims to identify risk factors associated with SD among 1,241 school-aged students. A logistic regression model revealed that substance use, family functioning, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and experiencing bullying, significantly predicted SD. Substance use and family functioning resulted in the largest contributions to SD when holding other variables constant. This study provides supporting evidence of risk factors predicting SD and suggests that mental health and school personnel should consider family functioning and substance use in particular, when creating interventions to decrease premature school termination.
Stakeholders' Engagement and Performance Efficiency at Oil and Gas Industry in Yemen

Oil and Gas industry in Yemen is considered as the biggest and variable sector. Therefore, the performance efficiency is very important to be attained during all the activities and phases that include searching, drilling, upstream, midstream, and downstream. As a crucial factor, stakeholders’ engagement theories have been emphasized the central role of stakeholders’ engagement to strategic planning efforts in contemporary organizations. This study therefore examined the impact of stakeholders’ engagement on the performance efficiency (time, cost, and quality) at the Yemeni oil and gas industry. The quantitative method was employed and online questionnaire was used as a primary source for collecting data. The sample size was 312, selected from three oil and gas companies; namely; Yemen Liquid Natural Gas Company, Safer Exploration and Production Oil Company and OMV Company. This study targeted managers and non-managers. The results show that stakeholders’ engagement has a significant relationship with the performance efficiency. In addition, stakeholders’ engagement has a significant impact on the performance efficiency. The results suggest the consideration of early stakeholders’ engagement in the planning, development, implementation, controlling and evaluation the performance. Managers should enhance every step regarding the participation of the stakeholders in the decision-making process. In addition, more effective practices will support achieving performance efficiency.
Development of precise off-diagonal magnetoimpedance gradiometer for magnetocardiography

We have developed a precise off-diagonal magnetoimpedance (MI) gradiometer that can operate in an unshielded environment and at room temperature with 200 pT root-mean-square noise in a 100 Hz bandwidth. The MI sensor probe is compact and easy to handle. The achieved noise level corresponds approximately to the maximum magnetocardiography (MCG) signal reported so far. We have performed MCG measurements using the developed gradiometer system in an unshielded environment, and a real-time signal like MCG can be identified by the MI gradiometer when the distance between the sensor head and chest surface is less than 3 mm. However, the signal seems to be affected by the movement of the chest surface caused by the heartbeat. A peak magnetic signal of 100 pT (corresponding to conventional MCG) was observed when the sensor head was set 10 mm apart from the chest surface to avoid the influence of the chest movement. Under such conditions, the signal needed to be averaged over more than 50 cycles to identify the pea.
Effect of Different Types of Warm-up on Strength and Skin Temperature of Paralympic Powerlifting Athletes

(1) Background: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of different types of warm-ups on the strength and skin temperature of Paralympic powerlifting athletes; (2) Methods: The participants were 15 male Paralympic powerlifting athletes. It was analyzed the effects of three different types of warm-up (without warm-up (WW), traditional warm-up (TW), or stretching warm-up (SW)) on static and dynamic strength tests as well as in the skin temperature, which was monitored by thermal imaging; (3) Results: show no differences in the dynamic and static indicators of the force in relation to the different types of warm-up. No significant differences were found in relation to the Peak Torque (p = 0.055, F=4.560, η2p= 0.246 medium effect), and 1-Repetition Maximum (p = 0.139, F=3.191, η2p = 0.186, medium effect) between the different types of warm-up. In the thermographic analysis, there was a significant difference only in the Pectoral muscle clavicular portion between the TW (33.04 ± 0.71ºC) and the WW (32.51 ± 0.74ºC) (p = 0.038). The TW method also presented slightly higher values than the SW and WW in the Pectoral Muscles Sternal portion and in the Deltoid anterior portion, but with p-value &gt; 0.05; (4) Conclusions: that the types of warm-up studied do not seem to interfere with the performance of Paralympic Powerlifting athletes. However, the thermal images showed that traditional warm-up best meets the objectives expected for this preparation phase.
Publishing Patterns in Greek Media Websites

The concept of different publishing patterns during a day has been employed for many decades in the broadcasting industry. These patterns are close related with dayparts, which are defined as sequential time blocks on comparable days during which the audience size is homogeneous, as is the group depiction using the specific medium. During the first decade of the World Wide Web, Internet media strategy was focused on total web reach, demographics and affinity of content without particular attention to how the nature of the audience changes by time of day. This paper studies the variation of publishing patterns of the top 22 Greek media websites. More than 550 thousand articles were indexed in a period of four and a half months. The study identified distinct WWW time periods that exhibit specific publishing characteristics. Specifically, different categories of news articles present different publishing patterns during weekdays and weekends. The results appear to be in agreement with findings of previous studies.
Size Distribution, Length-Weight Relationship and Condition Index of Tagelus adansonii Bosc 1801 (Mollusca: Bivalvia, Solecurtidae) in the Joal-Fadiouth Lagoon (Senegal)

Size distribution, length-weight relationship and condition index are some of the many parameters that contribute to the study of the growth, environmental conditions and reproduction of an aquatic species. For Tagelus adansonii, only a few studies were carried out on these parameters. This species is a bivalve of the solecurtidae family only found on the East Atlantic Coast between Mauritania and Angola. The objective of this study was to examine the biometric relationships as well as size and condition index variations, within the perspective of resource management. In this study, the average size obtained (47.78mm) from the monthly sampling in Joal Fadiouth lagoon was smaller compared to sizes obtained in other countries for the same genus and species. The size frequency distribution is unimodal, the most abundant class is 45-50mm. The mean condition index is 18.41±16.47 using the formula by Beninger and Lucas (1984). The values of the condition indices varied throughout the duration of the study. In the period of cold-to-warm transition (June) the maximum values of the condition indices were observed, while in the period of warm-to-cold transition (November to December), the minimum values were registered. The allometry is positive (3.07) in Joal as in most studies on this genus.
Alienation from Leisure: Smartphones and the Loss of Presence

ABSTRACT Smartphones have exacerbated the devolution of humans’ ability to maintain presence, or the practice of being aware of what is happening while it is happening in all manners of their lives, especially in their leisure. Further exploration is needed to understand the numerous, diverse, and nuanced ramifications smartphones have on our health and well-being, especially as it relates to our leisure experiences which tap into a sociocognitive system of behaviours that require our full attention. What remains underexplored is how leisure experiences are trivialized, minimalized, disempowered, and adulterated by the omnipresent interloping of the smartphone. Is our pervasive use of smartphones disconnecting us from our leisure? This think-piece examines how the omnipresence of smartphones in our lives leads to a loss of presence and the potential for alienation in our lives and leisure.
Thermodynamic analysis of sorption‐enhanced water–gas shift reaction using syngases

Sorption‐enhanced water–gas shift (SEWGS) reaction performance using syngas as the feedstock is investigated in this study based on thermodynamic equilibrium analysis. It was found that the capability of CO2 sorbent in CO2 removal was independent of the dry syngas composition. Regardless of the dry gas composition, CO2 sorbent loses its adsorption capability as the reaction temperature increases higher than a temperature limit. This CO2 adsorption temperature limit was found to depend on the steam to carbon (SC) ratio and reaction pressure. With the decrease in SC and increase in pressure the CO2 adsorption temperature limit can be raised to a higher value. However, the initial CO2 content in the syngas composition affects the carbon and CH4 formations in SEWGS. For syngas with low CO2 concentration, carbon formation can be completely eliminated and CH4 formation can be reduced by CO2 removal. For syngas with high CO2 concentration, no carbon and CH4 suppression can be found. It was also found that the temperature at which no carbon and CH4 formations was increased to a higher value as the initial CO2 concentration was increased. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Study of a Mesoscale Convective Complex associated with the coupling between jets in South America

It is known as “coupling between jets” when the Upper-Level Jet (ULJ) overlaps the Low-Level Jet (LLJ). The literature shows that such couplings tend to generate or intensify surface instabilities. Thus, the objective of this study is to analyze the synoptic configuration of a Mesoscale Convective Complex (MCC) associated with the coupling between jets that occurred on November 18, 2009. The instabilities reached the south of Brazil, causing intense precipitation and several damages. The present study was carried out through the analysis of meteorological fields using ERA5 reanalysis data and images from the GOES-13 satellite. Upward vertical movements were observed at 500 hPa in the same area of occurrence of the upper-levels diffluent flow, as well as an intense northerly flow at 850 hPa, a large amount of moisture associated with the Northwestern Argentinean Low and the presence of a frontal system between Uruguay and southern Brazil. The coupling was observed on the LLJ exit and on the tropical sector of ULJ. Storm development was observed to the east (downstream) and under the area where the coupling occurred, which was observed before, during and after the meteorological system development. However, the peak of coupling did not occur at the same time of the most intense phase of the system, it occurred in its formation, where values close to orthogonality were observed. As indicated in the literature, there was low-levels warm advection and mid-levels cold advection according to the MCC life cycle.
Design and Experimental Analysis of 166 kW Medium-Voltage Medium-Frequency Air-Core Transformer for 1:1-DCX Applications

The galvanic isolation of solid-state transformers (SSTs) is typically realized with a medium-frequency (MF) magnetic-core transformer (MCT). Previous demonstrations indicate that achieving highly power-dense and lightweight MCTs imposes several challenges on the design because of stringent requirements related to insulation and cooling. This work investigates the achievable efficiency of an optimized 166 kW/7 kV air-core transformer (ACT), which is a core part of a dc transformer (DCX), i.e., an unregulated dc–dc SST with a voltage scaling defined by the transformer turns ratio. The ACT features relatively low complexity of the construction, comparably high coupling values, and high efficiency. Modeling, optimization, and construction of the realized ACT are explained and guidelines regarding insulation, cooling, and shielding of the magnetic stray flux are discussed in detail. Furthermore, the prototype is experimentally validated to demonstrate its full functionality. In the investigated DCX, which is based on a series resonant converter (SRC) topology, the realized ACT is found to achieve a full-load efficiency of 99.5% and an unprecedented gravimetric power density of 16.5 kW/kg. With the use of 10 kV SiC MOSFETs, the complete DCX is estimated to reach an efficiency of 99% at 166 kW output power.
(Un)Sustainability of the Time Devoted to Selected Housework—Evidence from Slovakia

Domestic appliances play a vital role in modern households. Appliances help simplify domestic work, but individuals become dependent on them. The present paper aims to contribute to the long-standing dilemma among scholars whether domestic appliances help to shorten the time devoted to household chores or not. The paper focuses on the utilization of various domestic appliances in Slovak households and on the influence of their utilization on the time of men and women in partner households and in the single-person households devoted to routine unpaid work activities. The results of the paper are based on the data from original field research conducted in Slovakia in 2015. A total of 1179 partner households, 182 single-man households and 226 single-woman households were included in the analysis. The jamovi version 1.2 statistical program was used to verify the hypothesis by chi-squared goodness of fit test and nonparametric Mann–Whitney U-test. In partner households and in single-man households, usage of automatic washing machines significantly influences time devoted to preparation and maintenance of the clothes. In single-woman households, usage of dishwasher significantly influences time devoted to food preparation. In partner households, men devote less time to routine unpaid work activities than women, regardless of usage or non-usage of domestic appliances.