Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cost-Effectiveness of Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery

Study Design: Review article. Objective: A review of the literature evaluating the cost-effectiveness of undergoing adult spinal deformity surgery and potential avenues for reducing costs. Methods: A review of the current literature and synthesis of data to provide an update on the cost effectiveness of undergoing adult spinal deformity surgery. Results: Compared with nonoperative management, operative management for adult spinal deformity is associated with improved patient-reported outcomes and quality of life; however, it is associated with significant financial and resource use. Conclusion: Operative management for adult spinal deformity has been shown to be effective but is associated with significant cost and resource utilization. The optimal operative treatment is highly dependent on the patients’ symptomatology and is surgeon dependent. Maximizing preoperative surgical health and minimizing postoperative complications are key measures in reducing the cost and resource utilization of adult spinal deformity surgery. Future studies are needed to evaluate how to optimize the cost-effectiveness.
Ownership Structure And Dividend Policy In Jordan

This study aims to examine the effect of ownership structure on dividend policy ofJordanian manufacturing companies listed in Amman stock exchange. More specifically, the studyexamine several hypotheses regarding the relationship between ownership structure (namely:concentration, foreign, institutional, and managerial) and dividend policy. To achieve studyobjective, this study uses a combination of time-series and cross-section data. Five year (2014-2018) panel data of 61 companies are examined. In order to test the study hypotheses, the studyconduct F-test, Lagrange Multiplier test (LM- test), and the Hausman test to determine the beststatistical method (ordinary least squares method (OLS), fixed effects or random effects models). The empirical findings of this study show that all the ownership variables (ownershipconcentration, institutional ownership, and managerial ownership are insignificant in affecting thedividend policy, and the direction of the relationship is positive except a negative relationshipbetween foreign ownership and dividend policy. Also, the empirical finding showed that thecompany size and return on assets (ROA) were found to have a significant positive effect ondividend policy, where as leverage was found to have a significant negative effect on dividendpolicy.
Spatial adaptation: modeling a key spatial ability

ABSTRACT Spatial adaptation is the process of adjusting one’s mental representations for a task, so that spatial details necessary for performing the task are captured in the representations, whereas irrelevant details are ignored. We believe this process plays a critical role both in spatial ability tests and in STEM domains because it produces problem-tailored representations that can facilitate mental manipulation by representing only task-relevant details. Here, we present a computational model that illustrates the importance of spatial adaptation in a mental rotation task. The model automatically generates shape representations by segmenting objects into parts at concavities. It adjusts its representations in two ways: by varying the number of parts used to represent a shape, and by varying the types of information encoded for each part. Critically, the model can adapt to a mental rotation task by adjusting the degree of detail in its shape representations automatically, based on how much detail is needed to distinguish the shapes from distractors.
When do coalitions form under presidentialism, and why does it matter? A configurational analysis from Latin America

This article proposes a new approach to the study of coalition formation in presidential regimes. Drawing on a dataset covering 33 Latin American governments, the article shows that coalition cabinets are, mostly, the product of pre-electoral agreements. I present a six-stage timing of coalition agreements, including four degrees of earliness. Then, I challenge this consideration with the most common – institutional – arguments from the literature about the survival of coalitions in presidential regimes. The findings are quite interesting since they point out that earlier agreements are relevant conditions for enduring coalitions. Moreover, and surprisingly, I show that the institutional argument seems to have been overrated by the literature.
Ranking of Z‐numbers based on value and ambiguity at levels of decision making

The concept of Z‐number, is very new in the literature, proposed by Zadeh in 2011. The Z‐number Z = ( A , B ) is a pair of fuzzy numbers where the first component represents the restriction and the second component represents the certainty of the first component. Further, its application is evident in decision‐making problems, risk assessment, linear programming problems, and so forth. Hence, under such circumstances ranking of Z‐numbers need an utmost attention, as such, a few methods of ranking Z‐numbers are proposed by various researcher. However, in many situations the existing methods depict drawbacks and limitations as discussed in this paper. Hence, a new method of ranking Z‐numbers is essential for an appropriate decision‐making. In this paper, a new method of ranking Z‐numbers based on the concept of value and ambiguity at levels of decision‐making have been proposed. The method seems to deliver a reasonable decision and proper ranking of Z‐numbers of various types. A few numerical examples are discussed which show the out‐performance of the proposed method.
A Research Roadmap for Sustainable Design Methods and Tools

Sustainable design methods and tools abound, but their implementation in practice remains marginal. This article brings together results from previous literature reviews and analyses of sustainable design methods and tools, as well as input from design researchers and professional practitioners to identify the needs and gaps in the area. It results in a shared vision of how sustainable design methods and tools can be more tightly integrated into mainstream product design and development, as well as the current state of practice and research in relation to four central questions: What are the needs and values of industry regarding sustainable design? What improvements in sustainable design methods and tools would most drive industry forward? How should researchers move forward with developing more useful sustainable design methods and tools? How can sustainable design be more effectively integrated into industry? A roadmap for the international sustainable design research community is proposed with descriptions of short-, medium-, and long-term tasks for addressing each question. The purpose is to support collective progress and discussions on method and tool development and adoption, and to enable more tangible success in mainstreaming sustainable design practices in industry.
Tolerance Patterns and Transcriptomic Response to Extreme and Fluctuating Salinities across Populations of the Intertidal Copepod Tigriopus californicus

Populations that tolerate extreme environmental conditions with frequent fluctuations can give valuable insights into physiological limits and adaptation. In some estuarine and marine ecosystems, organisms must adapt to extreme and fluctuating salinities, but not much is known about how varying salinities impact local adaptation across a wide geographic range. We used eight geographically and genetically divergent populations of the intertidal copepod Tigriopus californicus to test whether northern populations have greater tolerance to low salinity stresses, as they experience greater precipitation and less evaporation. We used a common-garden experiment approach and exposed all populations to acute low (1 and 3 ppt) and high (110 and 130 ppt) salinities for 24 h and to a fluctuation between baseline salinity and moderate low (7 ppt) and high (80 ppt) salinities for over 49 h. We also performed RNA sequencing at several time points during the fluctuation between baseline and salinity of 7 ppt to understand the molecular basis of divergence between two populations with differing physiological responses. We present these novel findings: (1) acute low salinity conditions caused more deaths than high salinity; (2) molecular processes that elevate proline levels increased in salinity of 7 ppt, which contrasts with other physiological studies in T. californicus that mainly associated accumulation of proline with hyperosmotic stress; and (3) tolerance to a salinity fluctuation did not follow a latitudinal trend but was instead governed by a complex interplay of factors, including population and duration of salinity stress. This highlights the importance of including a wider variety of environmental conditions in empirical studies to understand local adaptation.
Asset, Capital Structure, Liquidity, Firm Size’s Impact on Stock Return

The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of Asset and Capital Structure, Liquidity and Firm Size on Stock Return of companies grouped as LQ-45 index listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) during 2015 up to 2019 period. T he research involves the secondary data in the form of financial annual report collected from IDX website, sample used is purposive sampling and research object is Asset and Capital Structure, Liquidity and Firm Size as independent variables and Stock Return as dependent variable while analyzing used SPSS 2.0, E-views 9.0 version. The result shown that when Stork Return measured by market price, Firm Size affects significantly on Stock Return, meanwhile Asset Structure, Capital Structure, Liquidity does not and Firm Size does not moderate the relation between Asset Structure, Capital Structure, Liquidity and Stock Return. But when Stock Return measured by Return on Equity (ROE) it is found that Capital Structure, Liquidity and Firm Size affect Return on Equity, meanwhile Asset Structure and Firm Size also moderates the relation between Asset Structure, Capital Structure, Liquidity and ROE. This finding implies that firm management must pay attention on market measurement performance in their strategy to achieve company goals. The originality of this study is that about the period as the last 5 years and the research object of companies grouped as LQ-45 index and measurement comparation between book value and market value of stock return.
Next Event Estimation++: Visibility Mapping for Efficient Light Transport Simulation

Monte‐Carlo rendering requires determining the visibility between scene points as the most common and compute intense operation to establish paths between camera and light source. Unfortunately, many tests reveal occlusions and the corresponding paths do not contribute to the final image. In this work, we present next event estimation++ (NEE++): a visibility mapping technique to perform visibility tests in a more informed way by caching voxel to voxel visibility probabilities. We show two scenarios: Russian roulette style rejection of visibility tests and direct importance sampling of the visibility. We show applications to next event estimation and light sampling in a uni‐directional path tracer, and light‐subpath sampling in Bi‐Directional Path Tracing. The technique is simple to implement, easy to add to existing rendering systems, and comes at almost no cost, as the required information can be directly extracted from the rendering process itself. It discards up to 80% of visibility tests on average, while reducing variance by ∼20% compared to other state‐of‐the‐art light sampling techniques with the same number of samples. It gracefully handles complex scenes with efficiency similar to Metropolis light transport techniques but with a more uniform convergence.
INVESTIGATING THE NEXUS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN NIGERIA

This study examined the relationship between climate change and agricultural production (crop and livestock) in Nigeria using time series data from 1981-2017. Variables used to depict climate change are mean annual rainfall, temperature and carbon dioxide emissions. Data on crop yield was collated for 17 major crops produced in Nigeria with the livestock production index of Nigeria. Econometric analysis was carried out using autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL). The results showed that there is a long run relationship between climate change and crop production while no long run relationship exists between climate change and livestock production. Furthermore, evidence is provided that rainfall and CO2 emissions have a positive and significant effect on crop yield in the long run while temperature has a negative and significant effect on crop yield in the long run. It also was seen that four period lagged rainfall has a positive and significant effect on livestock production; two period lagged temperature had a negative significant effect and one period lagged CO2 emissions had a negative significant effect on livestock production in Nigeria. Consequently, policy recommendations are offered for the government to meet its sustainable development goals.
Urban Pulse - Gendered urban toponyms in the global South: a time for de-colonization?

ABSTRACT This short commentary scrutinizes the contemporary toponymic phenomenon of gendered street naming in the global South with an emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa’s cities. It reveals the problematic prevalence of masculine street names in comparison to feminine names in the region’s urban spatialities and provides a comparative glimpse into similar realities in the global North. The paper offers explanations for this phenomenon as a consequence of the (post-)colonial experiences of many Southern cities and reports on the socio-political implications of this problem. Our recommendation on a toponymic de-colonization in terms of gender is part of a broader aspiration for more just and inclusionary urban management policies, better accommodated to the challenging realities of urban life in Southern cities.
Physicochemical, microbiological and heavy metal studies on water samples and bacteria obtained from Dandaru River in Ibadan, South-western Nigeri

The physicochemical, microbiological and heavy metal studies of water samples and bacteria obtained from the Dandaru River were investigated. Water samples were collected from six different sampling points along the course of the river and analysed using standard procedures. The physicochemical parameters showed that the water samples at point 5 had the highest value for all the parameters except Total Dissolved Solids. The heavy metal analysis revealed that the mean concentration of zinc, lead, chromium and iron were highest at point 5; 2.11, 0.02, 0.04 and 0.54 mg/l respectively, while that of copper and manganese concentration was highest at point 4 (0.59 and 0.41 mg/l respectively). The total heterotrophic bacteria count was between 3.6 - 64.0 ×101 cfu/ml, with point 3 having the least value (3.6×101 cfu/ml); while the coliform count using Most Probable Number (MPN) tube method ranged from 350 - ≥1600 MPN index/100 ml. The bacteria obtained belonged to the genera Bacillus, Enterobacter, Escherichia, Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus. On exposure to increasing concentration of six heavy metals, 47.62% of the total bacteria obtained were observed to be growing at 500 µg/ml for all the six metals employed in this study, while the others showed varying degree of tolerance to the metals. Key words: Heavy metals, physicochemical, microbiological, river, bacteria.
Shortening Delivery Times by Predicting Customers’ Online Purchases: A Case Study in the Fashion Industry

ABSTRACT Limited research exists that investigates how big data can be used to optimize delivery times for customers. The goal of this paper is to develop a prediction model for anticipatory shipping, which predicts customers’ online purchases with the aim of shipping products in advance, and subsequently minimizing delivery times. Results indicate that customer purchases are, to a certain extent, predictable, but anticipatory shipping comes at a high cost due to wrongly sent products.
Improvement in Gait Pattern and its Relationship With Preoperative Pelvic Compensation After Surgery in Patients With Sagittal Plane Deformity.

STUDY DESIGN Prospective observational study. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate the improvement in gait parameters after surgery and whether corrective surgery for sagittal imbalance would be influenced by preoperative pelvic compensation. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA There have been no other studies investigating the influence of preoperative pelvic compensation on surgical outcomes. METHODS A total of 32 patients who were scheduled to undergo corrective surgery for sagittal plane deformity were included and were followed-up for 1 year after surgery. Radiological parameters were measured on biplanar full-body imaging. Before surgery and 6 months after surgery, three-dimensional motion analyses were performed to estimate center of gravity (CoG) deviation from the center of mass (CoM), mean trunk kyphosis (TK) angle, gait deviation index (GDI), and kinematic parameters. Before surgery, the patients were classified into CoG+ and CoG- groups. "+" and "-" representing increases and decreases in the distance of CoG from CoM of the pelvic segment from first to third trials, respectively. Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D) were measured for 1 year after surgery. RESULTS All radiological parameters improved significantly after surgery. For gait parameters, CoG from CoM, mean TK angle, and minimum angle of the hip and knee joints in the stance phase during walking were significantly decreased after surgery and GDI scores significantly improved after surgery. The mean changes of the CoG distance from the CoG and the mean TK from first to third trials of gait analysis significantly decreased postoperatively. There were no significant differences in ODI and EQ-5D scores over 1-year follow-up assessment between CoG+ and CoG- groups. CONCLUSION Preoperative abnormal stooping gait, and progressive worsening of sagittal imbalance in patients with sagittal plane deformity improved after corrective surgery. Patients with preoperative dynamic sagittal imbalance could have similar surgical results to those without it after corrective surgery. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 3.
Lung ultrasound: The future ahead and the lessons learned from COVID-19a)

Lung ultrasound (LUS) is a rapidly evolving field of application for ultrasound technologies. Especially during the current pandemic, many clinicians around the world have employed LUS to assess the condition of the lung for patients suspected and/or affected by COVID-19. However, LUS is currently performed with standard ultrasound imaging, which is not designed to cope with the high air content present in lung tissues. Nowadays LUS lacks standardization and suffers from the absence of quantitative approaches. To elevate LUS to the level of other ultrasound imaging applications, several aspects deserve attention from the technical and clinical world. This overview piece tries to provide the reader with a forward-looking view on the future for LUS.
Cascade effect of rock bridge failure in planar rock slides: explicit numerical modelling with a distinct element code

Abstract. Plane failure along inclined joints is a classical mechanism involved in rock slopes movements. It is known that the number, size and position of rock bridges along the potential failure plane are of main importance when assessing slope stability. However, the rock bridges failure phenomenology itself has not been comprehensively understood up to now. In this study, the propagation cascade effect of rock bridges failure leading to catastrophic block sliding is studied and the influence of rock bridges position in regard to the rockfall failure mode (shear or tensile) is highlighted. Numerical modelling using the distinct element method (UDEC-ITASCA) is undertaken in order to assess the stability of a 10 m3 rock block lying on an inclined joint with a dip angle of 40° or 80°. The progressive failure of rock bridges is simulated assuming a Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion and considering stress transfers from a failed bridge to the surrounding ones. Two phases of the failure process are described: (1) a stable propagation of the rock bridge failures along the joint and (2) an unstable propagation (cascade effect) of rock bridges failures until the block slides down. Additionally, the most critical position of rock bridges has been identified. It corresponds to the top of the rock block for a dip angle of 40° and to its bottom for an angle of 80°.
The Effects of Personality and Age on Job Satisfaction and Job Stress

Past research has found that personality assist us in coping with job stressors and boost performance. In the current study, we aim to examine whether age or personality has a stronger role in predicting job satisfaction and job stress. We proposed that higher agreeableness and older adult will have higher job satisfaction. We also proposed that individuals with higher neuroticism and younger employees will have higher stress with their job. One hundred and thirty-one full time employees (64 males, 67 females) aged between 18 to 65 years old from Malaysia were recruited. Participants completed the Big Five Inventory, Facet Satisfaction Scale, Perceived Stress Scale and demographic form. Findings indicated that higher agreeableness predicted higher job satisfaction while higher neuroticism predicted higher job stress. Personality played a stronger role than age in predicting job satisfaction and job stress. The paper further suggested to research on the impact of personality and age on employee retention rate. Keywords: personality, agreeableness, age, job satisfaction, job stress
The Effect of the Covid-19 Lockdown on Air Quality in Three Italian Medium-Sized Cities

Despite the societal and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdown measures put in place by the Italian government provided an unprecedented opportunity to increase our knowledge of the effect transportation and industry-related emissions have on the air quality in our cities. This study assessed the effect of reduced emissions during the lockdown period, due to COVID-19, on air quality in three Italian cities, Florence, Pisa, and Lucca. For this study, we compared the concentration of particulate matter PM10, PM2.5, NO2, and O3 measured during the lockdown period, with values obtained in the same period of 2019. Our results show no evidence of a direct relationship between the lockdown measures implemented and PM reduction in urban centers, except in areas with heavy traffic. Consistent with recently published studies, we did, however, observe a significant decrease in NO2 concentrations among all the air-monitoring stations for each city in this study. Finally, O3 levels remained unchanged during the lockdown period. Of note, there were slight variations in the meteorological conditions for the same periods of different years. Our results suggest a need for further studies on the impact of vehicular traffic and industrial activities on PM air pollution, including adopting holistic source-control measures for improved air quality in urban environments.