Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anti-hypertensive medication access and affordability and their association with blood pressure control at a teaching hospital in Ghana

Introduction many hypertensive patients require two or more anti-hypertensive drugs, but in low- and middle-income countries there may be challenges with medication access or affordability. The objective of this study was to determine accessibility and affordability of anti-hypertensive medicines and their association with blood pressure (BP) control among hypertensive patients attending the Korle-Bu teaching hospital (KBTH) polyclinic. Methods a cross-sectional study was conducted among 310 systematically sampled hypertensive patients attending the KBTH Polyclinic in Ghana. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain data on patient demographics and clinical characteristics, prices, availability and mode of payment of generic anti-hypertensive medicines. Results fifty-nine patients (19.4%) made out-of-pocket payments. At the private pharmacy and hospital, 123 (40.5%) and 77 patients (25.3%) respectively could not afford four anti-hypertensive medicines. Medicines availability at KBTH was 60%. Continuous access to BP drugs at KBTH was 14.8%. Overall access was 74.9% (SD ± 41.3). Out-of-pocket affordability of the medicines was positively correlated with BP control (R=0.12, p=0.037). Obtaining medicines via health insurance only was more likely to result in BP control than making any out-of-pocket payments (OR= 2.185; 95% CI, 1.215 - 3.927). Access at KBTH was more likely to result in BP control (OR=1.642; 95% C.I, 0.843 - 3.201). Conclusion there were access challenges although most patients obtained BP medication free. Out-of-pocket affordability is a challenge for some hypertensive patients. Access to affordable BP medication can improve BP control. These findings provide an impetus for urgently evaluating access to affordable anti-hypertensive medicines in other hospitals in Ghana.
Approach for Identification of Geometry Change on Cultural Heritage Surface

Application of optical metrology techniques in the collection of surface data and its 3D representation can improve the digital documentation of the conservation and restoration process of artworks. The tracking of induced change after the restoration process on cultural heritage (CH) surfaces involves a computational analysis of surface geometry. In the analysis, the conservation scientists were interested to see what impact the fillings of some holes have on its nearby surrounding during the reconstruction. In theory, the loss compensation method for stone should allow conservators to make a filling that only exists in the place of the void, but it is highly unlikely to make a filling that will only adhere to the substrate at the void site and not protrude elsewhere. According to the conservator scientists, we proposed an approach of local geometry changes to identify and visualize changes and presented the outcome through a local neighborhood distance histogram. This analysis will give us overall surface change considering each surface point and its respective neighborhood points and what impact it faced due to the reconstruction process. The work is also focused on developing the representation of each type of loss compensation method to make it more objective according to a restorer’s point of view and simplify their work visibility.
Morphological and anatomical study of the genus Sambucus L. (Adoxaceae) in Iran

Sambucus (Adoxaceae) is a tall tree-like shrub distributed throughout temperate and subtropical regions in Europe, Asia, North Africa and North America. Since there is not any morphological and anatomical comprehensive study on Sambucus species in Iran and Sambucus nigra is located in the Arasbaran region with very limited distribution, we have encouraged studying the patterns of morphological variation and anatomical structure among Sambucus taxa. In this study, the morphological and anatomical structure of 18 populations from two species of Sambucus (S. ebulus and S. nigra) has been considered to evaluate the relationships in this genus. In total, nine quantitative and nine qualitative morphological features were evaluated and measured. Ward’s dendrogram showed two main clusters. The first cluster is composed of a population of S. nigra. The second cluster was composed of two subsets and contained populations of S. ebulus in Golestan, Mazandaran and Gilan provinces. There were two types of epidermal cells, puzzle-shaped in S. ebulus and oblong cells in S. nigra. The stems are rounded shape in both species. The margin is quite wavy in S. ebulus and straight in S. nigra. Both species showed a rounded shape with a wavy margin in petiole cross-sections. Pedicel cross-sections of both species are similar to each other in the general shape of cross-sections and margins. Both are rounded in shape and the margin is quite sinuous shapes in S. ebulus and wavy in S. nigra. The present study showed that a combination of morphological and anatomical data provides reliable evidence for the differentiation of two species of S. nigra and S. ebulus.
Multiagent DDPG-Based Joint Task Partitioning and Power Control in Fog Computing Networks

Fog computing is an energy-efficient and cost-effective paradigm to help alleviate the pressure of resource-constrained mobile devices (MDs) running computation-intensive applications. In this article, we investigate the joint task partitioning and power control problem in a fog computing network with multiple MDs and fog devices (FDs), where each MD has to complete a periodic computation task under the constraints of delay and energy consumption. Each task can be partitioned into multiple subtasks and offloaded to the FDs according to the task partition strategy and transmission power strategy to reduce task execution delay and energy consumption. To this end, we present a multiagent deep deterministic policy gradient (MADDPG)-based task offloading algorithm for MDs to maximize the long-term system utility including the execution delay and energy consumption. Each MD inputs the local information, e.g., the task requirements, the available communication, and computation resources of the FDs, the computation resources, and the battery level of the MD into a distributed actor network to generate a task offloading policy, while a centralized critic network is used to update the weights of the actor networks to improve offloading performance. Numerical simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in improving the system utility, reducing the average execution delay as well as the average energy consumption.
Morphological examination of the domestic cat’s cervicothoracic ganglion in ontogenesis

The cervicothoracic ganglion belongs to the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system. It is responsible for transmitting signals from the central nervous system to the organs of the thorax. Its most important function is to transmit impulses modulating heart activity. We present the results of an anatomical study that was conduct on 33 domestic cats from three age groups. The results allow us to determine which changes occur in the morphology of the cervicothoracic ganglion during the development of the domestic cat and those that occur already in adult life . The variability of this structure manifests itself in the shape, location and size of the bilateral ganglia. There is also a difference in the course of the cardiac branches and of the bilateral ganglia. In adult cats, the predominant location of the ganglion was the first intercostal space. In contrast, in young cats and fetuses, the ganglia were more distributed between the first and second intercostal spaces. Additionally, the younger the cat, the more often the ganglia occurred under the second rib. The ganglia in domestic cats show some similarities with other species, but retain species-specific features such as the direction of propagation of the subclavian loop fibres.
CO2 utilization in the production of biomass and biocompounds by three different microalgae

The atmospheric CO2 increase is considered the main cause of global warming. Microalgae are photosynthetic microorganisms that can help in CO2 mitigation and at the same time produce value‐added compounds. In this study, Scenedesmus obliquus, Chlorella vulgaris, and Chlorella protothecoides were cultivated under 0.035 (air), 5 and 10% (v/v) of CO2 concentrations in air to evaluate the performance of the microalgae in terms of kinetic growth parameters, theoretical CO2 biofixation rate, and biomass composition. Among the microalgae studied, S. obliquus presented the highest values of specific growth rate (μ = 1.28 d−1), maximum productivities (Pmax = 0.28 g L−1d−1), and theoretical CO2 biofixation rates (0.56 g L−1d−1) at 10% CO2. The highest oil content was found at 5% CO2, and the fatty acid profile was not influenced by the concentration of CO2 in the inflow gas mixture and was in compliance with EN 14214, being suitable for biodiesel purposes. The impact of the CO2 on S. obliquus cells’ viability/cell membrane integrity evaluated by the in‐line flow cytometry is quite innovative and fast, and revealed that 86.4% of the cells were damaged/permeabilized in cultures without the addition of CO2.
Incidence of surgical site infections after emergency laparotomy for perforation peritonitis

Background: Generalized peritonitis as a result of gastrointestinal perforation is a common surgical emergency and one of important morbidity is surgical site infection (SSI). Objectives: to evaluate the incidence of SSI after emergency laparotomy for perforation peritonitis. Methodology: A prospective interventional study was conducted in the Department of Surgery, Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, Sylhet from December 2019 to November 2020. Ninety patients who underwent emergency laparotomy for perforation peritonitis aged 18 years or above were included. After laparotomy standard closure technique was applied in all cases and subcutaneous closed suction drain was given in 43 cases. Results: The mean age of the patients was 32.59 ± 11.88 years, 58.9% of patients were in 21-40 years and male preponderance (66.7%). Peritonitis was most commonly due to peptic ulcer perforation (38.7%) followed by burst appendix (27.8%). Incidence of SSI was 26.7%. Subcutaneous closed suction drain was used in 47.8% of cases and its use reduced the incidence of SSI [OR=0.344 (95% CI=0.126-0.937) χ2=4.543; p=0.033]. Conclusion: Perforation peritonitis is associated with higher incidence of SSI and subcutaneous closed suction drain is effective in reducing the chances of SSI.
Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy (CRDS), Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy, Cold Vapour Atomic Fluorescence Spectroscopy and Correlation Spectroscopy Comparative Study on Malignant and Benign Human Cancer Cells and Tissues with the Passage of Time under Synchrotron Radiation

*Corresponding author: Alireza Heidari, Faculty of Chemistry, California South University, USA, E-mail: Scholar.Researcher. Scientist@gmail.com; Alireza.Heidari@calsu.us Citation: Heidari A (2017) Cavity Ring–Down Spectroscopy (CRDS), Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy, Cold Vapour Atomic Fluorescence Spectroscopy and Correlation Spectroscopy Comparative Study on Malignant and Benign Human Cancer Cells and Tissues with the Passage of Time under Synchrotron Radiation. Enliven: Challenges Cancer Detect Ther 4(2): e001.
Prevalence and Predisposing Factors Associated with Facial and Dentoalveolar Trauma Among Children and Adolescents Aged Between 06 Months and 15 Years Having Consulted Casablanca Dental Emergency Department

Objective: The present study aimed to determine the sociodemographic profiles, the injury circumstances, the clinical data, and the immediate management of traumatic dental injuries (TDI) in children and adolescents attending the only public dental emergency service in Casablanca. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among children and adolescents, aged between 6 months and 15 years, who consulted the Casablanca dental emergency department between January and April 2019. The data obtained from questionnaires by a calibrated interviewer were collected and analyzed by using SPSS IBM. Results: The results showed a prevalence of 18.1% of TDI with a sex ratio of 2.5 in favor of boys, a mean age of the participants was 10.1±2.9 years. The 9to 12-year-old group was the most affected (41.2%). The street was the main place where the trauma occurred (47.3%). Meanwhile, accidental falls were the predominant reported etiology (59.5%). The percentage of patients who consulted on the day of the trauma was 36.6%, and 40.4% of children consulted the dental emergency service as a second line. The prevalence of permanent teeth affected was 75.9%. In the primary dentition, the most frequent type of trauma was avulsion, while in permanent dentition, uncomplicated crown fractures were predominant. Concerning the management of trauma, 6 out of 11 avulsed teeth were re-implanted, and only 9 out of 77 coronal fragments were picked up at the site of the trauma. Conclusion: Considering the prevalence of 18.1% of TDI in children and the high percentage of falls and traffic accidents as common causes, the level of social awareness and knowledge of the importance of emergency intervention immediately following dental trauma should be increased.
Structural Formation of Cyclic Olefin Copolymer (COC) Films as Revealed by Real Time Retardation Measurements during Fast Stretching Process

This work reports on an experimental study of the fast stretching of a cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) film. We measured the stress retardation of the polymer film during fast stretching and identified a relationship between stress and birefringence. This relationship indicates that the film obeys the stress optical rule (SOR) at the onset of stretching. At slower stretching speeds, the stress optical constant (SOC) settles at a certain value. With faster stretching speeds, SOC values approach the photo-elastic constant (PEC). Our study also investigated the effects of stretching temperatures and stretching modes for both uniaxial stretching and biaxial stretching. We applied techniques of thermal analysis to evaluate higher order structures after fast stretching.
Financial Frictions and International Trade

This paper reviews recent studies on the impact of financial frictions on international trade. We first present evidence on the relation between measures of access to external finance and export decisions. We then present an analytical framework to analyze the impact of financial frictions on firms' export decisions. Finally, we review recent applications of this framework to investigate the impact of financial frictions on international trade dynamics across firms, industries, and in the aggregate. We discuss related empirical, theoretical, and quantitative studies throughout.
Methane emission from rice cultivation in different agro-ecological zones of the Mekong river delta: seasonal patterns and emission factors for baseline water management

ABSTRACT This study comprises a set of methane emission measurements in rice fields located in the four agro-ecological zones of the Mekong River Delta (MRD), namely the zones with (i) alluvial soils, (ii) salinity intrusion, (iii) deep flood, and (iv) acid sulfate soils. These zones have very distinct bio-physical conditions and cropping cycles that will affect methane emissions in various forms. Our study includes comprehensive mapping of these zones as well as an overview of rice statistics (activity data) at provincial level for each cropping season. Emission data were obtained by the closed chamber method. The available data set comprises 7 sites with 15 cropping seasons. Mean emission rates showed large variations ranging from 0.31 to 9.14 kg CH4 ha−1 d−1. Statistical analysis resulted in weighted means for all zones that we use as zone-specific CH4 emission factors (EFz) in the context of the IPCC Tier 2 approach. The lowest EFz was computed for the saline accounting for 1.14 kg CH4 ha−1 d−1 (confidence interval: 0.60–2.14). The EFz values of the alluvial and acid sulfate zones were 2.39 kg CH4 ha−1 d−1 (2.19–4.13) and 2.78 kg CH4 ha−1 d−1 (2.65–3.76), respectively, which indicated that they were not different from each other derived from their confidence intervals. The deep flood zone, however, required a season-specific, assessment of EFz because emission in the autumn–winter cropping season, corresponding to the wet period, was significantly higher (9.14 kg CH4 ha−1 d−1 (7.08–11.2)) than the other seasons (2.24 kg CH4 ha−1 d−1 (1.59–3.47)). Although these emission factors correspond to baseline water management and do not capture the diversity of farmers’ practices, we see the availability of zone-specific data as an important step for a more detailed assessment of Business as Usual emissions as well as possible mitigation potentials in one of the most important rice growing regions of the world.
A Training Program On Emotional Adjustment And Its Social Communication Effect In Children With Behavioral Disorders

The present study seeks to investigate the effect of using a training program in improving the emotional adjustment and its effect in reducing the social communication disorder (pragmatic) for a sample of behaviorally disorderly children. The setting was a primary school in Rafha, Saudi Arabia. 60 students were identified as a final sample out of 90 students in many schools in Rafha province with 9.4 years as an average age using standard and validated scales. The quasiexperimental method has been used whereby these students were divided into two groups each 30 students, the experimental group, received 25 sessions from 2030 minutes each ،three times a week, for two months during 2019\2020. The study concluded that the program was efficient in improving the emotional adjustment (the ability to temper control, social assertiveness, mood Repair, and anxiety control), and was efficient in reducing social communication disorder (pragmatic) for a sample of behavioral disorder children. The training program could improve the emotional adjustment of the behavioral disorder children and this was significantly reflected in reducing their level of social communication disorder (pragmatic).
Can the Supreme Court Convince the American People? — A Survey Experiment on Public Response to the Court’s Opinion Reasoning

The nine justices of the Supreme Court are traditionally expected to vote out a binding ruling because its compelling legal reasoning convinces a majority of the justices to support it, but can such reasoning convince regular Americans? Existing literature on the Court as a legitimizer of policies focuses on the causality between the Court’s mere endorsement of a policy and greater public support for that policy. I investigate whether the Court’s reasoning, either on its own or along with the Court’s endorsement, could impact public opinion. Using an online survey experiment on a nationally representative sample of 1399 respondents, I find that the Court’s reasoning, regardless of whether the Court’s endorsement is presented, increases public support for its position overall. Specifically, this is because Democrats respond to the Court’s reasoning from conservative decisions and increase their support for those positions accordingly, but Republicans don’t respond to such conservative reasoning. Neither Democrats nor Republicans respond to liberal reasoning.
Innovation approaches to estimate financial performance of banking sector: the case for Saudi Arabia

A robust financial structure is considered essential for the swift development and growth and of an economic system. The banking structure is a vital constituent of the financial structure of a nation. The banking system performance assessment is an influential determinant and indicator of the economy's financial strength. Financial Innovation approaches resulting from new technology helps in better estimation of Financial Performances of the banking sector. Banks need to be more closely and accurately watched as they play the role of facilitator of monetary policy of the economy. The prime objective is to examine the financial performance of Saudi Arabia's banking sector through Innovative approaches. With this view, a case study of XYZ Bank has been undertaken. For financial performance evaluation, the CAMEL model has been applied as one of the innovative approaches. This tool is a widely accepted criterion in the field of financial performance evaluation of the banking sector. CAMEL is a ratio-supported mechanism that evaluates bank performance through capital adequacy, quality of assets, management efficiency, quality of earnings, and liquidity. For analyzing the CAMEL model, the various ratios of the model in terms of proxy ratios are given below: For the analysis, nine-year data from 2009 to 2018 has been analyzed using a multiple linear regression model using the SPSS package. The study observed that this innovative approach, i.e., CAMEL specific factors, has mixed influence on the financial performance of XYZ Bank. Capital adequacy and asset quality have a positive effect on bank performance. Moreover, the study also highlights that management efficiency insignificantly affects the profitability of the bank. Moreover, earning quality also signifies a negative influence on profitability. The correlation between asset quality and ROA is negative. It is inferred that those banks with more operating profits and better liquidity management could report high profits. The study further advocates that XYZ Bank must improve its earning quality and management efficiency to come at the same level with the banks having good financial performance and should use innovative methods to estimate financial performance from time to time.
Exploring causes and consequences of squatter settlement in Jimma Town, Oromia Regional 
State, Ethiopia

This study conducted on the area of squatter settlement in Jimma town is aimed to explore the socio-economic factors contributing to squatter settlement and its effect on social, economic and institutional conditions of settler and development of the town. The study was guided by qualitative approach and employed a cross-sectional and phenomenological design. The primary data required for the analysis was collected through key informant interview, focus group discussion, non-participant observation as well as secondary data from document and analyzed by thematic analysis. The finding of this study revealed that, the root cause identified for squatter settlement are shortage of residential house and its consequential high price of house rent, the need of holding large plot of land and inefficient land administration system. The other finding indicated that, squatter settlement has negative impact on both the government and the squatter. It created fear and lack of confidence on the land they hold illegally, poor infrastructure due to lack of government intervention and low social service delivery, social distress within the community. The study also found out that squatting displaces the host ex-farmers from their farmland and leads to consequent poverty and livelihood disasters. It is recommended that, political will in accessing residential land and financial commitment of the government is required. Active participation of the public and abiding legal procedures of getting residential land is vital. Key words: Informal, misery, squatter, settlement, slum.