Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Past and projected climate change impacts on heat-related child mortality in Africa

Children (<5 years) are highly vulnerable during hot weather due to their reduced ability to thermoregulate. There has been limited quantification of the burden of climate change on health in sub-Saharan Africa, in part due to a lack of evidence on the impacts of weather extremes on mortality and morbidity. Using a linear threshold model of the relationship between daily temperature and child mortality, we estimated the impact of climate change on annual heat-related child deaths for the current (1995–2020) and future time periods (2020–2050). By 2009, heat-related child mortality was double what it would have been without climate change; this outweighed reductions in heat mortality from improvements associated with development. We estimated future burdens of child mortality for three emission scenarios (SSP119, SSP245 and SSP585), and a single scenario of population growth. Under the high emission scenario (SSP585), including changes to population and mortality rates, heat-related child mortality is projected to double by 2049 compared to 2005–2014. If 2050 temperature increases were kept within the Paris target of 1.5 °C (SSP119 scenario), approximately 4000–6000 child deaths per year could be avoided in Africa. The estimates of future heat-related mortality include the assumption of the significant population growth projected for Africa, and declines in child mortality consistent with Global Burden of Disease estimates of health improvement. Our findings support the need for urgent mitigation and adaptation measures that are focussed on the health of children.
Hepatitis E virus detection in hunted wild boar (Sus scrofa) livers in Central Italy

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a zoonotic pathogen, responsible for numerous cases of infection in humans. Transmission occurs through the orofecal route, and ingestion of contaminated foods represents an important risk factor for final consumer’s health. Wild animal species, in particular wild boar (Sus scrofa), are the main virus reservoirs; liver is the target organ, from which, through the hematic diffusion, HEV reaches different tissues and organs, as muscular one. The hygienic-sanitary critical issues connected with game meat food chain in general, and particularly wild boar, with special regards to any geographical area where this animal species can be directly in contact with humans, domestic ones (i.e., domestic pig), and other wild reservoirs (i.e., wild ruminants), finds favorable environmental conditions, have induced us to conduce the present scientific investigation. During the hunting season 2019/2020, a total of 156 wild boar livers were collected from provided plucks at slaughterhouse in Ascoli Piceno. Nested RT-PCR was used for the viral RNA detection. Results demonstrated a positivity of 5.12% (8/156), and the circulation in the screened area of genotype 3 subtype c, which is frequently identified in Central Italy. HEV sanitary relevance and the emerging role of any food chains in its transmission impose further detailed studies. The molecular screening of hunted wild boars’ livers can provide important information about virus’s circulation in wild animal populations in a specific area.
In Situ Decoration of ZnSnO3 Nanosheets on the Surface of Hollow Zn2SnO4 Octahedrons for Enhanced Solar Energy Application

Hierarchical ZnSnO3/Zn2SnO4 porous hollow octahedrons were constructed using the method of combining the acid etching process with the in situ decoration technique for photovoltaic and photocatalytic applications. The composite was used as photoanode of the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), an overall 4.31% photovoltaic conversion efficiency was obtained, nearly a 73.1% improvement over the DSSCs that used Zn2SnO4 solid octahedrons. The composite was also determined to be a high-performance photocatalyst for the removal of heavy metal ion Cr (VI) and antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CIP) in single and co-existing systems under simulated sunlight irradiation. It was remarkable that the composite displayed good reusability and stability in a co-existing system, and the simultaneous removal performance could be restored by a simple acid treatment. These improvements of solar energy utilization were ascribed to the synergetic effect of the hierarchical porous hollow morphology, the introduction of ZnSnO3 nanosheets, and the heterojunction formed between ZnSnO3 and Zn2SnO4, which could improve light harvesting capacity, expedite electron transport and charge-separation efficiencies.
Quantitative estimation and influencing factors of ecosystem soil conservation in Shangri-La, China

Abstract Shangri-La is one of the regions with fragile ecological environment in China. It is also a key ecological protection area in northwestern Yunnan. Evaluation of soil conservation capability plays an important role in maintaining the ecosystem safety and sustainable development of the area. This study uses remote sensing image data, meteorological data, soil types data and DEM (Digital Elevation Model) to estimate the soil conservation capacity in different land use types, different grades of slopes, different vegetation coverage, different precipitation, and different soil types through the USLE (Universal Soil Loss Equation). The result shows that soil conservation capacity is the comprehensive influence of factors such as topography, soil types,vegetation coverage and precipitation condition,and the areas with forest, gentle slopes and above gentle slope, high vegetation coverage, precipitation of 500 mm to 600 mm, and dark brown soil, where the quantity of soil conservation is relatively large. It provides a basis for Shangri-La to carry out water and soil conservation, and to achieve ecological governance.
Sensitivity-based Geometric Parameterization for Aerodynamic Shape Optimization

Aerodynamic shape optimization has become a well-established process, with designers routinely performing wing and full aircraft optimizations with hundreds of geometric design variables. However, with increased geometric design freedom comes increased optimization difficulty. These optimizations tend to converge very slowly, often taking many hundreds of design iterations. In addition, designers have to manually obtain suitable design variable scaling through trial and error in order to have a well-behaved optimization problem, which is a tedious and time-consuming task. In this work, we propose a sensitivity-based geometric parameterization approach that, while keeping the same optimization problem, maps the design space onto one which is better suited for gradient-based optimization. At the same time, we can automatically determine appropriate design variable scaling such that the new optimization problem can be solved more rapidly. We demonstrate the approach on aerodynamic optimizations, and show improved convergence behaviour compared to the traditional approach.
Self-regulation and Learning Strategies of Beginner and Advanced University Students

The authors analyze the self-regulation learning processes of university students from a degree in the area of computer systems in a private University in Uruguay. An analysis is made of the main features that characterize self-regulation processes drawn from a quant-qual investigation based on a pre-existing questionnaire adapted to this particular context. Such is the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), which was administered to 187 students; semi-structured interviews were also carried out to 10 students. Among the most important results of the study, it is worth emphasizing the high level of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and the diversity in the self-regulation learning strategies used by beginner and advanced students. Concerning the cognitive strategies, students mainly use deep information-processing strategies. Some of the self-regulation processes are developed in keeping with the beginner and advanced students' academic progress.
Does bank shareholding affect corporate debt restructuring? Evidence from financially distressed firms in China

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the impact of bank shareholding on corporate debt restructuring. Using a sample of financially distressed firms in China from 2007 to 2016, we find that distressed firms with bank shareholders are more likely to restructure their debt than firms without bank shareholders. Moreover, the alleviation of renegotiation friction in both distressed state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) and reducing information asymmetry in non-SOEs facilitate the positive impacts of bank shareholding on debt restructuring. In addition, the impact is more evident in distressed non-SOEs characterized by higher profitability prior to restructuring. Further, distressed non-SOEs with bank shareholders are more likely to recover from distress than their peers, while the results are opposite for distressed SOEs. We argue that while bank shareholding facilitates restructuring in distressed non-SOEs, it aggravates the soft budget constraint in troubled SOEs. Our results are robust after accounting for the selection bias of bank shareholding.
Global sex differences in hygiene norms and their relation to sex equality

Strict norms about hygiene may sometimes have health benefits but may also be a burden. Based on research in the United States, it has been suggested that women traditionally shoulder responsibility for hygiene standards and therefore tend to have stricter views on hygiene. However, there is little systematic research on sex differences in hygiene norms at the global scale. We set up two hypotheses: (1) Stricter hygiene norms among women than among men is a global phenomenon. (2) The size of this sex difference varies across nations with the level of sex equality. We examine these hypotheses using data from a recent international survey (N = 17,632). Participants in 56 countries were asked for their views of where it is not appropriate for people to spit and in which situations people should wash their hands. As a measure of sex equality, we use an existing country-level measure of attitudes to equality between the sexes, available for 49 nations in the study. Stricter hygiene norms among women than among men are observed almost everywhere, but there are a few exceptions (most notably Nigeria and Saudi Arabia). The size of the sex difference in hygiene norms varies strongly with the level of sex equality, but in a non-linear way. The sex difference is most pronounced in moderately egalitarian countries with the highest recorded difference being in Chile. In more egalitarian parts of the world, more sex equality is associated with a smaller sex difference in hygiene norms. In the less egalitarian parts of the world, the opposite relation holds. We offer an interpretation in terms of what different levels of sex equality mean for the content of sex roles.
KALMAN-FILTERING WITH COLOURED MEASUREMENT NOISE FOR DEFORMATION ANALYSIS

Kalman filter is an important tool for deformation analysis combining information on object behaviour and measurement quantities. It is applicable to the four well-known deformation models. Kalman filtering usually requires white measurement and process noise. Due to electronic measurement devices with high sampling rate used nowadays, time dependent systematic deviations arise in neighbouring epochs in a similar way, resulting in autocorrelation. Especially in case of GPS measurements deviations due to multipath and signal propagation are changing slowly, and thus the assumption of white noise is not justified. To eliminate this deficiency within a shaping filter the state vector in Kalman filter is augmented and thus formulating an adequate noise process. In this paper the modification of Kalman-Filter algorithm with a shaping filter for coloured measurement noise is presented together with an example for deformation analysis using GPS measurements. The differences to an approach neglecting auto-correlation are shown.
The Quadratic Pathways Model to Promote Principals' Self-efficacy and Resilience in Low-socioeconomic Schools in Alberta

This paper presents the Quadratic Pathways Model (O’Neill, 2013), which emerged from the findings of a doctoral study that investigated the influences on principals’ self-efficacy and resilience in low-socioeconomic-status (SES) schools. This model was developed to promote principals’ efficacy and resilience while exercising leadership agency in these challenging contexts. Principals leading in low-socioeconomic-status (SES) schools experience unique challenges from their counterparts in wealthier contexts. The literature identified that educators cope with students with academic problems, student disengagement, mental health concerns, behavioral issues, and parental disengagement. Additionally, many students lack the basics of life. Principals also contend with many teachers who believe some parents and students do not value education. Consequently, while cognizant of their need to be instructional leaders, some principals believe they cannot fully engage in the instructional aspect of their role due to the many pressures and competing demands on their attention, and the subsequent frustration influences their efficacy. This study employed a theoretical framework founded upon Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (1986, 1997), particularly pertaining to self-efficacy, and also integrated resilience research (Patterson & Kelleher, 2005), leadership theories (Leithwood et al., 2004), and contextual literature, which explored the complexities of low socioeconomic status schools. The methodology was mixed methods utilizing questionnaires (n=42) and interviews (n=13) with principals in low-SES schools across the province of Alberta, Canada (Creswell & Guetterman, 2019). Although there were several key themes to emerge from the research, this paper focuses on the synthesis of a new model, the Quadratic Pathways Model, which was designed to inform system leaders of the various components that could enhance and sustain high principal efficacy and resilience in low-SES contexts. It offers principals a template that positively reconceptualises instructional leadership practices that enhance and nurture student success in challenging school contexts.
Analysis of the Effect of Marketing Mix on Consumer Decisions to Use Service Services at Anugerah Perdana Palu Official Workshop

This study aims to see whether there is a relationship between the independent variables, namely the marketing mix including product, price, promotion, location, people/HR, physical evidence, and processes, and the dependent, namely the consumer decision at Bengkel Anugerah Perdana Monginsidi Palu. Using multiple regression analysis techniques. "In this study, for a population of 11,147, people and samples obtained by the 'incidental sampling method are 99 people. " This study has seven variables, namely product, price, promotion, location, people/HR, physical evidence, and processes for the independent variable (X)" and consumer decisions as to the dependent variable (Y). " The results contained in this test are simultaneously the marketing mix consisting of product, price, promotion, location, people/ Human resources, physical evidence, and processes have a significant effect on consumer decisions with count 784.106 with 0.000, whereas partially the marketing mix consisting of product, price, promotion, location, people/HR has a positive and significant effect on physical evidence, and the process has no significant effect. The coefficient of determination (r2) in this study was 0.775 at a significant level of 0.05. It can be interpreted that 77.5% of consumer decisions at the Anugerah Perdana Monginsidi workshop in Palu are affected by the seven marketing mix variables, namely product, price, promotion, location, physical evidence, pouring/HR, and process, for 22.5% p is influenced by variables that are not examined carefully. *
Training Data-Driven Speech Intelligibility Predictors on Heterogeneous Listening Test Data

Prediction of Speech Intelligibility (SI) is a topic of interest for most speech processing applications, where intelligibility is of any importance, e.g., speech coding, transmission and enhancement. Traditionally, SI predictors have been based on signal processing methods and heuristics, but more recently, an increasing number of data-driven SI-predictors have been proposed. Data-driven prediction of SI requires large quantities of labelled data, ideally from many listening tests. Listening tests differ in factors such as vocabulary, talker, listener’s task, etc. collectively referred to as the paradigm. A naïve strategy of training SI-predictors directly on stimuli, pooled from different listening tests, is futile because the exact map from the stimulus to SI is determined, not only by the stimulus, but also by the paradigm. Data-driven SI-predictors trained in this way become specialized to the paradigms of the training data by erroneously attributing all paradigm influences on SI to the stimulus. The problem is fundamental and persists even in the idealized situation where training data is abundant. We propose a strategy for training data-driven SI-predictors that is independent of the paradigms, underlying the training data. The proposed strategy is to concatenate an SI-predictor and a layer of trainable dataset-specific mapping functions, each corresponding to a single paradigm in the training data. These mapping functions are trained jointly with the SI-predictor and serve to efficiently approximate the psychometric functions implied by each paradigm. The mapping functions prevent the predictor from specializing to these paradigms during training. We present an SI-predictor with a novel architecture that incorporates a convolutional network and an ESTOI back-end, train it with this strategy, compare it to naïve training and a range of existing non-data-driven predictors. The proposed training strategy and architecture results in higher performance overall and increased robustness to unseen paradigms.
Experimental Study on the Influence of Particle Diameter, Mass Concentration, and Impeller Material on the Wear Performance of Solid–Liquid Two-Phase Centrifugal Pump Blade

A centrifugal pump is an important solid–liquid mixture conveying machinery, which is widely used in mineral mining, water conservancy engineering, and other fields. Solid particles will wear the impeller of the centrifugal pump in the process of transportation, resulting in lower service life of the impeller, especially in the transportation of a high concentration of solid particles. Many scholars use numerical simulation to study the wear of centrifugal pumps, but few efforts have been made in the wear experiment. In this study, the effect of three factors, namely, diameter of solid particles, mass concentration of particles, and material of impellers on the wear of a solid–liquid two-phase centrifugal pump was studied by the wear experiment. The solid particles are SiO2 with irregular shapes, and the diameter ranges are 0.125–0.212 mm, 0.212–0.425 mm, and 0.425–0.710 mm. The mass concentration of solid particles is 15%, 20%, and 30%. The material of impellers is carbon structural steel (Q235), gray cast iron (HT200), and low-alloy high-strength steel (16 Mn). The amount of wear is determined by measuring the thickness of the impeller material before and after wear experiments. The wear morphology of the impeller was observed by using a digital microscope. The results showed that the wear mainly concentrated on the middle and trailing edges of the blade. Impellers of different materials suffer different wear forms, among which the impeller made of HT200 has the best erosion resistance. The increase of solid mass concentration will aggravate the wear of the impeller. The change of particle diameters also has a great influence on impeller wear.
Health Promotion for Outpatient Careworkers in Germany

Due to ongoing demographic changes, the need for care is increasing in Germany. The number of outpatient care services is also rising, and with it, the number of employees in outpatient care, who are also continuously becoming older. Workplace health promotion (WHP) becomes relevant in this context, as it can reduce negative strain reactions and promote employees’ health. The aim of this study was (1) to reveal implemented WHP interventions in German outpatient care services; (2) to examine the potential challenges regarding a successful implementation of WHP measures; and (3) to illuminate further requests and needs experienced by outpatient careworkers. In qualitative field research, 30 semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with German caregivers, using the problem-centered interview method. The collected data were deductively and inductively evaluated and interpreted, using qualitative content analysis according to Mayring. Outpatient caregivers reported various WHP measures known from their workplaces, such as the provision of fruit baskets, programmes to increase physical activity, or a subsidy for a personal gym. They further reported WHP, such as back training, known from other care services. However, the respondents spoke of the challenges regarding the implementation or the use of WHP interventions in general. The most frequently named barriers were a lack of time after work and interventions that were only offered in their leisure time. In the same course, the participants still needed offers to increase physical activity, joint activities, or relaxation techniques. However, respondents highlighted that they preferred the interventions to take place during working hours. This way, they would also be more likely to take advantage of the interventions. The results of this study provide an insight into various WHP measures that already exist, or that are desirable for implementation with regard to caregivers’ needs. Subjectively perceived challenges for a successful implementation of WHP measures represent the importance of adjustments in the work organization of caregivers. It becomes clear that WHP is not yet established in the ambulant care sector, although it appears to be imperative for keeping caregivers healthy. Considering the different needs of employees, the results can provide a basis for the development of needs-based health promotion measures for caregivers.
High Sucrose Ingestion during a Critical Period of Vessel Development Promotes the Synthetic Phenotype of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells and Modifies Vascular Contractility Leading to Hypertension in Adult Rats

Cardiometabolic diseases, including hypertension, may result from exposure to high sugar diets during critical periods of development. Here, we studied the effect of sucrose ingestion during a critical period (CP) between postnatal days 12 and 28 of the rat on blood pressure, aortic histology, vascular smooth muscle phenotype, expression of metalloproteinases 2 and 9, and vascular contractility in adult rats and compared it with those of adult rats that received sucrose for 6 months and developed metabolic syndrome (MS). Blood pressure increased to a similar level in CP and MS rats. The diameter of lumen, media, and adventitia of aortas from CP rats was decreased. Muscle fibers were discontinuous. There was a decrease in the expression of alpha-actin in CP and MS rat aortas, suggesting a change to the secretory phenotype in vascular smooth muscle. Metalloproteinases 2 and 9 were decreased in CP and MS rats, suggesting that phenotype remains in an altered steady stationary state with little interchange of the vessel matrix. Aortic contraction to norepinephrine did not change, but aortic relaxation was diminished in CP and MS aortas. In conclusion, high sugar diets during the CP increase predisposition to hypertension in adults.