Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence and socio-economic determinants of inadequate dietary diversity among adolescent girls and boys in Bangladesh: findings from a nationwide cross-sectional survey

Abstract Malnutrition among adolescents is often associated with inadequate dietary diversity (DD). We aimed to explore the prevalence of inadequate DD and its socio-economic determinants among adolescent girls and boys in Bangladesh. A cross-sectional survey was conducted during the 2018–19 round of national nutrition surveillance in Bangladesh. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify the determinants of inadequate DD among adolescent girls and boys separately. This population-based survey covered eighty-two rural, non-slum urban and slum clusters from all divisions of Bangladesh. A total of 4865 adolescent girls and 4907 adolescent boys were interviewed. The overall prevalence of inadequate DD was higher among girls (55⋅4 %) than the boys (50⋅6 %). Moreover, compared to boys, the prevalence of inadequate DD was higher among the girls for almost all socio-economic categories. Poor educational attainment, poor maternal education, female-headed household, household food insecurity and poor household wealth were associated with increased chances of having inadequate DD in both sexes. In conclusion, more than half of the Bangladeshi adolescent girls and boys consumed an inadequately diversified diet. The socio-economic determinants of inadequate DD should be addressed through context-specific multisectoral interventions.
Analysis, design and experimental results for a passive current limiting device

The authors report on the development of a passive magnetic fault current limiter (FCL) with the following attributes: compactness, small size, reliable and fail-safe operation, and zero reset time. The limiter consists of two magnetic devices connected in series and in magnetic counter opposition to each other. Two designs are considered. In one design, Nd–Fe–B permanent magnets are sandwiched between the pole faces of two saturable ferrite E-cores. In the other design, Nd–Fe–B permanent magnets are sandwiched between the pole faces of two steel E-cores with built in zones of constriction. A design procedure is developed and a design example for the ferrite and steel based core is illustrated. The transient performance of both FCL designs is simulated by means of the tableau approach. Experimental results for both designs are presented to verify the validity of the proposed tableau approach, the design procedure and the functional operation.
Epidemiological Study of Dengue Fever in Lahore

Background: Dengue is a tropical disease caused by dengue virus (DENV). It is one of the most significant arthropodborne viral infections. Objectives: The aim of the current study was to characterize epidemiological, laboratory markers of dengue infection during the recent epidemic in Lahore. Methods: During the prospective laboratory based observational study, 1,082dengue suspected cases were haematological examined. CBC tests were conducted for the confirmation of dengue infection due to decrease rate of platelets count. Data regarding the laboratory features, platelet count tests were also recorded for the dengue positive patients. Results: Out of total samples 300 cases including were223 (74.3%) were male and 77 (25.6%) were female detected positive for the dengue infection. In the dengue positive patients, the highest prevalence was observed in the age group41-50 years, 76(25.3%) followed age group1120years, 28(9.3%), 31-40 years, 37 (12.3%), 51-60 years 34(11.3%), 61-70 years, 29(9.6%), 71-80 years, 25 (8.3%), 0-10 years are 9(3%). The highly affected area in District Lahore was Johar Town block B 61(20.3%) followed by Multan chungi (17%), Ewan town and Johar town block A are 34 (11.3%), Mustafa Town 29(9.6%), Gulberg 27 (9%), Shadman 24(8%), Johar Town block D 21(7%) and Iqbal town 19(6.3%). Conclusion: The highly affected area in district Lahore was found Johar town block B. Therefore, the health department should take actions by educating the public about basic cleanliness of the environment. The community should be encouraged to participate in the control of such vector based diseases/infections. Keyworlds: Dengue, Epidemics, vaccination. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s): This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use provided the original author and source are credited.
Test-Time Classifier Adjustment Module for Model-Agnostic Domain Generalization

This paper presents a new algorithm for domain generalization (DG), test-time template adjuster (T3A) , aiming to robustify a model to unknown distribution shift. Unlike existing methods that focus on training phase , our method focuses test phase , i.e., correcting its prediction by itself during test time. Speciﬁcally, T3A adjusts a trained linear classiﬁer (the last layer of deep neural networks) with the following procedure: (1) compute a pseudo-prototype representation for each class using online unlabeled data augmented by the base classiﬁer trained in the source domains, (2) and then classify each sample based on its distance to the pseudo-prototypes. T3A is back-propagation-free and modiﬁes only the linear layer; therefore, the increase in computational cost during inference is negligible and avoids the catastrophic failure might caused by stochastic optimization. Despite its simplicity, T3A can leverage knowledge about the target domain by using off-the-shelf test-time data and improve performance. We tested our method on four domain generalization benchmarks, namely PACS, VLCS, OfﬁceHome, and TerraIncognita, along with various backbone networks including ResNet18, ResNet50, Big Transfer (BiT), Vision Transformers (ViT), and MLP-Mixer. The results show T3A stably improves performance on unseen domains across choices of backbone networks, and outperforms existing domain generalization methods.
Compressed Video Contrastive Learning

This work concerns self-supervised video representation learning (SSVRL), one topic that has received much attention recently. Since videos are storage-intensive and contain a rich source of visual content, models designed for SSVRL are expected to be storage-and computation-efﬁcient, as well as effective. However, most existing methods only focus on one of the two objectives, failing to consider both at the same time. In this work, for the ﬁrst time, the seemingly contradictory goals are simultaneously achieved by exploiting compressed videos and capturing mutual information between two input streams. Speciﬁcally, a novel Motion Vector based Cross Guidance Contrastive learning approach (MVCGC) is proposed. For storage and computation efﬁciency, we choose to directly decode RGB frames and motion vectors (that resemble low-resolution optical ﬂows) from compressed videos on-the-ﬂy. To enhance the representation ability of the motion vectors, hence the effectiveness of our method, we design a cross guidance contrastive learning algorithm based on multi-instance InfoNCE loss, where motion vectors can take supervision signals from RGB frames and vice versa. Comprehensive experiments on two downstream tasks show that our MVCGC yields new state-of-the-art while being signiﬁcantly more efﬁcient than its competitors.
Comparison of Trace Element Contents in Normal and Adenomatous Thyroid investigated using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis

Thyroid adenomas (TA) are benign tumors, but there is a 20% possibility of malignant transformation. The distinguishing between the TA and thyroid cancer (TC) is tricky, therefore new TA biomarkers are needed. Furthermore, the role of trace elements (TE) in etiology and pathogenesis of TA is unclear. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine the content of ten trace elements (TE): silver (Ag), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), mercury (Hg), rubidium (Rb), antimony (Sb), scandium (Sc), selenium (Se), and zinc (Zn) in the normal and adenomatous thyroid. Thyroid tissue levels of TE were prospectively evaluated in 46 patients with TA and 105 healthy inhabitants. Measurements were performed using non-destructive instrumental neutron activation analysis with high resolution spectrometry of long-lived radionuclides. Tissue samples were divided into two portions. One was used for morphological study while the other was intended for TE analysis. It was found that in adenomatous thyroid content of Ag, Cr, Hg, and Zn were significantly higher than in normal gland tissues. Thus, it is possible to suppose that the considerable changes in TE contents in the adenomatous transformed tissue of thyroid can be used as TA biomarkers.
The Country-of-Origin Effects on Brand Equity: A Study of the Banking Industry in Ghana

Quick Response Code Abstract: Purpose: This study compared country-of-origin effects on brand equity. The study was guided by four specific objectives; to explore the influence of country of origin on brand association, brand awareness, brand loyalty and perceived quality in the banking industry in Ghana. Design: To achieve the objective of the study a descriptive research design was adopted, using the quantitative approach and the administration of questionnaires to 380 respondents in the data collection process using convenience sampling. Four assumptions preceded the study but after the structural analysis, three were accepted while one was rejected. Findings: The findings show that there is a positive significant relationship between country of origin and brand awareness, country of origin and perceived quality, and country of origin and brand association. However, the findings show no significant relationship between country of origin and brand loyalty. The findings contribute to the scant empirical works that compare brand equity and country of origin on consumer attitude and purchase intention in a single study. Implication: The study would like to conclude that as part of the profitability drive, banks should invest in brand awareness programs including advertising, publicity, and brand-building programs and hence promoting the image of their bank‟s country of origin that pave way to brand association. Banks should maintain exceptional long-term country of origin posture by providing quality products, services, and after sales services to their customers which will ultimately enhance brand equity. Originality/value – This paper is important to identifying country of origin effects on brand equity.
Trapped Between: ‘Coming Out’ and Forced to Stay Closeted

Abstract Research with a specific focus on bisexual students’ schooling experiences is still quite rare, and studies focusing on bisexual students’ positive schooling experiences are even more uncommon. The present study addresses this scarcity by analyzing interviews with students from a lower secondary school in Sweden. In the article, the center of analysis is one key informant, a male bisexual student who has had positive experiences of ‘coming out’ at school. The results reveal a local school culture at the school that could be categorized as inclusive and safe. The study also explores everyday situations in which the key informant is forced to stay closeted. These narratives are framed in relation to heteronormativity and loneliness. At the investigated school, the student welfare team is aware of the student’s life situation and supports him. The overall picture that emerges in the narratives is an everyday life situation that could be described as being trapped between being out and being closeted.
HOW UNSAFE DOES THE ROAD LOOK - MEASURING PERCEIVED RISK

Road safety professionals have a relatively good understanding of the 'objective' crash reduction benefits of the majority of 'generic' safety improvement measures, but generally a lower level understanding of perceived risk. Perceived risk is important as drivers behavour is linked to how safe they think a specific section of road is. Road safety can be compromised when the perceived risk is a lot lower than the objective crash risk. We want drivers to have clear messages of where the road is safe and where it is less safe, so they drive more carefully in less safe situations. This research compares the perceived risk specified by drivers for various road links (from surveys) with the objective risk as specified by KiwiRAP. Drivers were asked to rate perceived risk using three different surveys methods. In the first method, an on-line web-survey, over 500 drivers were asked to rate the risk of various sites from photos. A smaller sample of drivers were then asked to rate road links from video files and photos of several road links in Waikato and Canterbury. In the final survey participants did a driver-over along a route in Canterbury and were asked to rate the risk of various sections along the route. Participants were also asked to rank the benefit of a possible series of counter-measures along a surveyed route. The surveys showed that drivers rated curves as having a high perceived risk, while road-side hazards typically had a lower level of perceived risk.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Hand-Arm Vibration

The clinical significance of this paper is the statistically significant increased risk for carpal tunnel syndrome due to hand-arm vibration exposure. The highest increased risk was found among younger men. The results show the importance of investigating hand-arm vibration exposure among carpal tunnel syndrome patients. Objective: To investigate the increased risk for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in men and women with hand-arm vibration (HAV) exposure. Design: Case–control study of CTS where 4396 cases was obtained from National Outpatient Register between 2005 through 2016. Cases were matched to controls and exposure was estimated using a job exposure matrix. Results: Exposure to HAV increased the risk of CTS with an OR of 1.61 (95% CI 1.46–1.77). The risk was highest in men <30 years of age and among women <30 years no increased risk was observed. The risk increased with a mean year exposure above 2.5 m/s2 to OR 1.84 (95% CI 1.38–2.46). Conclusions: HAV exposure increase the risk of CTS in both genders, with highest risk increase in younger men. This emphasize identification of HAV exposure in patients with CTS.
AutoBalance: Optimized Loss Functions for Imbalanced Data

Imbalanced datasets are commonplace in modern machine learning problems. The presence of under-represented classes or groups with sensitive attributes results in concerns about generalization and fairness. Such concerns are further exacerbated by the fact that large capacity deep nets can perfectly fit the training data and appear to achieve perfect accuracy and fairness during training, but perform poorly during test. To address these challenges, we propose AutoBalance, a bi-level optimization framework that automatically designs a training loss function to optimize a blend of accuracy and fairness-seeking objectives. Specifically, a lower-level problem trains the model weights, and an upper-level problem tunes the loss function by monitoring and optimizing the desired objective over the validation data. Our loss design enables personalized treatment for classes/groups by employing a parametric cross-entropy loss and individualized data augmentation schemes. We evaluate the benefits and performance of our approach for the application scenarios of imbalanced and group-sensitive classification. Extensive empirical evaluations demonstrate the benefits of AutoBalance over state-of-the-art approaches. Our experimental findings are complemented with theoretical insights on loss function design and the benefits of train-validation split. All code is available open-source.
Control of Leaf Vein Patterning by Regulated Plasmodesma Aperture

To form tissue networks, animal cells migrate and interact through proteins protruding from their plasma membranes. Plant cells can do neither, yet plants form vein networks. How plants do so is unclear, but veins are thought to form by the coordinated action of the polar transport and signal transduction of the plant hormone auxin. However, plants inhibited in both pathways still form veins. Patterning of vascular cells into veins is instead prevented in mutants lacking the function of the GNOM (GN) regulator of auxin transport and signaling, suggesting the existence of at least one more GN-dependent vein-patterning pathway. Here we show that pathway depends on the movement of an auxin signal through plasmodesmata (PDs) intercellular channels. PD permeability is high where veins are forming, lowers between veins and nonvascular tissues, but remains high between vein cells. Impaired ability to regulate PD aperture leads to defects in auxin transport and signaling, ultimately leading to vein patterning defects that are enhanced by inhibition of auxin transport or signaling. GN controls PD aperture regulation, and simultaneous inhibition of auxin signaling, auxin transport, and regulated PD aperture phenocopies null gn mutants. Therefore, veins are patterned by the coordinated action of three GN-dependent pathways: auxin signaling, polar auxin transport, and movement of an auxin signal through PDs. We have identified all the key vein-patterning pathways in plants and an unprecedented mechanism of tissue network formation in multicellular organisms.
High-speed GaAs multipliers fabricated with a high-yield 0.4- mu m process

A 0.4- mu m GaAs IC fabrication process which demonstrates excellent yields for direct-coupled FET logic circuits of up to 5000 gates for high-speed LSI digital applications is discussed. The refractory self-aligned gate process uses 1- mu m stepper lithography. An n/sup +//n'/buried-p structure results in superior threshold voltage uniformity for a 0.4- mu m gate length, with sigma V/sub T/ as low as 8 mV over 3-in wafers. Simple parallel array multipliers were used for process validation. Die-sort yields for a 16-b*16-b multiplier are typically better than 55%, and as high as 88%. A 5000-gate 20-b*20-b multiplier shows yield as high as 61%, and a Poisson yield model predicts a die-sort yield of 30% for a 10000-gate circuit. Multiplication times of 3.6 ns for the 16-b*16-b and 4.5 ns for the 20-b*20-b multiplier have been measured. The corresponding loaded gate delay and power-delay product are 46 ps/gate and 40 fJ, respectively, at room temperature. >
Surface Pretreatments of AA5083 Aluminum Alloy with Enhanced Corrosion Protection for Cerium-Based Conversion Coatings Application: Combined Experimental and Computational Analysis

The effects of surface pretreatments on the cerium-based conversion coating applied on an AA5083 aluminum alloy were investigated using a combination of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), polarization testing, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Two steps of pretreatments containing acidic or alkaline solutions were applied to the surface to study the effects of surface pretreatments. Among the pretreated samples, the sample prepared by the pretreatment of the alkaline solution then acid washing presented higher corrosion protection (~3 orders of magnitude higher than the sample without pretreatment). This pretreatment provided a more active surface for the deposition of the cerium layer and provided a more suitable substrate for film formation, and made a more uniform film. The surface morphology of samples confirmed that the best surface coverage was presented by alkaline solution then acid washing pretreatment. The presence of cerium in the (EDS) analysis demonstrated that pretreatment with the alkaline solution then acid washing resulted in a higher deposition of the cerium layer on the aluminum surface. After selecting the best surface pretreatment, various deposition times of cerium baths were investigated. The best deposition time was achieved at 10 min, and after this critical time, a cracked film formed on the surface that could not be protective. The corrosion resistance of cerium-based conversion coatings obtained by electrochemical tests were used for training three computational techniques (artificial neural network (ANN), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), and support vector machine regression (SVMR)) based on Pretreatment-1 (acidic or alkaline cleaning: pH (1)), Pretreatment-2 (acidic or alkaline cleaning: pH (2)), and deposition time in the cerium bath as an input. Various statistical criteria showed that the ANFIS model (R2 = 0.99, MSE = 48.83, and MAE = 3.49) could forecast the corrosion behavior of a cerium-based conversion coating more accurately than other models. Finally, due to the robust performance of ANFIS in modeling, the effect of each parameter was studied.
A new area of the fiber-optic Sagnac interferometer application

In the paper a new areas of the fiber-optic Sagnac interferometer applications are discussed. The presented devices basing on well-known optical gyroscope configuration are optimized for detection of other special physical quantities. Generally it is a rotational seismometer designed for calibration of the other electromechanical types of such devices, as well as a new sensor for detection of rotational seismic events. The detection of absolute rotation by the system is advantageous in comparison to the other rotational seismometers, which calculate rotational events in indirect ways. The paper describes comparison of the data obtained from the fiber-optic rotational seismometer and the electromechanical one. Additionally, the application of the fiber-optic loop interferometer busing on Sagnac configuration for investigation of stability of polarization parameters of light used in the fiber-optic rotational seismometer is also discussed.
Prognostic Value of Interim 18F-DOPA and 18F-FDG PET/CT Findings in Stage 3–4 Pediatric Neuroblastoma

Purpose This retrospective study aimed to determine the prognostic value of imaging parameters derived from midtherapy 18F-fluorodihydroxyphenylalanine (18F-DOPA) and 18F-FDG PET in pediatric patients with stage 3–4 neuroblastoma. Methods We enrolled 32 stage 3–4 pediatric neuroblastoma patients who underwent 18F-DOPA and 18F-FDG PET/CT scans before and after 3 chemotherapy cycles. We measured metabolic and volumetric parameters and applied a metabolic burden scoring system to evaluate the primary tumor extent and soft tissue metastases and that of bone/bone marrow involvement. The associations between these parameters and clinical outcomes were investigated. Results Over a median follow-up period of 47 months (range, 3–137 months), 16 patients experienced disease progression, and 13 died. After adjustment for clinical factors, multivariate Cox proportional hazard models showed that interim tumor FDG/FDOPA SUVmax (hazard ratio [HR], 5.94; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10–34.98) and interim FDOPA whole-body metabolic burden scores (WBMB) (HR, 7.30; 95% CI, 1.50–35.50) were significant prognostic factors for overall survival (OS). Only interim FDOPA WBMB scores (HR, 7.05; 95% CI, 1.02–48.7) were predictive of progression-free survival. Based on median cutoff values, prognosis (OS and progression-free survival) was significantly associated with an interim FDOPA WBMB score ≥21.92 (all P < 0.05) and interim tumor FDG/FDOPA (SUVmax) score ≥0.57 with poor OS (P < 0.05). Conclusions Our results indicate that midtreatment FDG and FDOPA PET/CT could serve as prognostic markers in stage 3–4 neuroblastoma patients.