Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fish Skin Grafts Versus Alternative Wound Dressings in Wound Care: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Wound healing poses a variety of challenges making it a vital subject in medicine. With the advancement of science, we have seen the use of a new xenograft known as acellular fish skin (AFS) grafts that are derived from either Atlantic cod or Nile Tilapia. Fish skin has shown anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties that support and improve wound healing in a variety of wounds including burns and diabetic foot ulcers (DFU). There is ongoing research that evaluates the efficacy of fish skin grafts in comparison to alternative wound healing techniques. A literature search was conducted through the National Library of Medicine with search terms fish skin graft, AFS, xenograft, dehydrated human amnion/chorion, ulcer, burns, and wounds. A total of ten studies that investigate the efficacy of fish skin grafts either in comparison to a different wound healing technique or by simply observing wound healing with fish skin grafts and recording the results were chosen. AFS showed superior healing in comparison to collagen alginate dressings, silver sulfadiazine cream 1%, and allografts. Although there is no one specific gold standard technique for wound healing, fish skin grafts demonstrated overall improved and quicker wound healing, fewer dressing changes, less pain, and lower costs.
A theory of the substorm mechanism

By using the self-consistent stability theory it is shown that during the growth phase of a magnetospheric substorm the stability of the tail configuration decreases. Taking two-dimensionality into account explicitly, we show that the free energy built up during the growth phase can be released when the plasma sheet has become sufficiently thin and/or the normal magnetic field component has been sufficiently reduced. Then the ion-tearing mode will abruptly set in and lead to changes in the magnetic field topology. It is speculated that there is a tendency for a macroscopic neutral line to form fairly close to the earth. Lack of equilibrium will lead to energy dissipation and enhanced precipitation.
Diffractive Alvarez-Lohmann lenses for correcting aberrations of tunable membrane lenses

Abstract. Focus-tunable lenses, e.g., liquid filled membrane lenses (MLs), have found increasingly widespread application in optical systems. If a large refractive power range is to be used, the correction of chromatic aberrations is particularly challenging: a group containing a single ML cannot be corrected over the whole refractive power range. In analogy to hybrid achromats for lenses with constant focal lengths, we present the combination of an ML and a diffractive Alvarez-Lohmann-lens (ALL) for the compensation of axial color over a large refractive power range. In contrast to the combination of multiple MLs, this does not increase the axial length of the system significantly. At the same time, the flexible adaption of the phase function of the diffractive ALL can reduce spherical aberration over the whole focal range. Design examples with ray-tracing and wave-optical simulations demonstrate the performance of the resulting hybrid tunable element. Experimental data from fabricated sample lenses provide a proof of principle.
Trapped modes in acoustic waveguides

We consider the eigenvalue problem for the Laplacian on a cylinder perturbed by a compact obstacle (with Neumann boundary conditions) and look for eigenvalues of such a problem. In the case of a two-dimensional cylinder with symmetric obstacle we give sufficient conditions for both existence and non-existence of an eigenvalue. We also prove that in the case of a thin obstacle, parallel to the axis of the cylinder, there always exists an eigenvalue.
Radio variability and structure of T Tauri stars

Observations of radio variability in V410 Tau and in HP Tau/G2 and /G3, and striking variations in the radio structure of DG Tau, are reported. The position of the radio peak of DG Tau has shown apparent motion between 1982 and 1985 along the flow axis from this star, while its morphology has varied from point-like to bipolar. These changes and the spectral index of 0.6 at high frequencies are interpreted as indicative of a variable, freely expanding radio jet in DG Tau. 19 references.
Theoretical analysis of strain response envelopes using incrementally non-linear constitutive equations

This paper reviews some incrementally non-linear constitutive equations of interpolation type, and proposes a new approach to illustrate the discrepancies between different interpolation models. This approach uses the strain response envelopes, based on experimental data when restricted to triaxial plane, and the Jacobian of the constitutive equations to examine the loss of uniqueness. A new family of interpolation functions is proposed to meet the three requirements: ? 1 -continuity of strain response envelope, correct description of experimental data, and respect of the one-to-one property.
Investor Reactions to Twin Transformers Announcements

Research Question: This study aims to empirically test the effects of the digital and sustainability announcements of twin transformation companies on their shareholder value creation. Motivation: This paper builds on the vast research regarding the Efficient Market Hypothesis, such as the work of Fama (1970, 1998) which discussed efficiency of the capital markets. Stock markets reflect new information and future prices cannot be predicted based on historical prices. Investors’ reaction, e.g., overreaction or underreaction are well documented. Furthermore, Del Rio Castro et al. (2021) present contemporary research findings related to the emerging issue of reaching Sustainability Development Goals and connects it with digitalization. Ukko et al. (2019) find that a company will reach superior financial performance if managers simultaneously devote their efforts to sustainability and digitalization. This research builds on the previous literature and tries to determine whether stock market recognizes such efforts and whether there is efficiency. Idea: The idea behind this research is to empirically determine whether investors react to twin transformation. Short- and long-term investors’ reaction was tested against sustainability and digitalization announcements of the companies that are recognized by professionals to follow the path of simultaneous transformation. Data: The sample includes companies from the Accenture research of the European twin transformation companies. Data implemented in this study were collected from several sources. Share prices were collected from the Yahoo Finance website, and event announcements from corporate websites. Tools: The methodology employed in this research is the event study methodology. Cumulative abnormal returns are calculated for different event windows and t-statistic is calculated to determine whether there is statistically significant investors’ reaction to sustainability and digitalization events. Findings: Sustainability announcements yield significant market reaction. Depending on the news content they can be both positive and negative. Moreover, dates when the sustainability ranking of some company was released are among the most significant sustainability events. In most instances, investors do not react to the information instantaneously, they need time to absorb it. Investors do not find digitalization events to be significant. Contribution: To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to test investors’ reaction to digitally sustainable announcements of twin transformation companies.
Intrinsic colour indices of Be stars obtained from 2MASS photometry

This paper is based on 2MASS photometry (J H Ks magnitudes) of 1172 Be stars. The observed mean intrinsic colours have been derived with aid of two-colour diagrams for Be stars of luminosity classes Ie-IIe, IIIe and IVe-Ve. The obtained results are the first determinations of their intrinsic colours in the astronomical literature. The smoothed infrared colours are compared with those obtained for “normal” B stars. Several two-colour diagrams and plots of observed and smoothed intrinsic colour versus spectral type of luminosity classes Ie-IIe, IIIe and IVe-Ve are presented. Generally the determined infrared intrinsic colours of Be stars (V – J)0, (V – H)0, and (V – Ks)o differ substantially from those of “normal” B stars. It is found that the intrinsic colours of B stars are generally bluer than Be stars of corresponding spectral type and luminosity class. The mean absolute visual magnitude Mv of 528 Be stars for luminosity classes Iae, Ibe-Iabe, IIe, IIIe and IVe-Ve is derived from HIPPARCOS parallaxes. The Mv calibration is compared with the existing ones. The Be stars are generally brighter than “normal” B stars of corresponding spectral types. (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Investigating Oxidative Stress Levels in Pregnant Patients Infected with Hepatitis C Virus and Bacterial Vaginosis for Better Treatment Option.

Objectives Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and bacterial vaginosis (BV) coinfection generate sustained inflammation with bulk production of reactive oxygen species. They have the potency to cause hepatocellular carcinoma, vaginal apoptosis, disturb pregnancy, and influence drug treatment and follow-up. This case-control study aimed to compare the redox status in HCV and BV coinfection with respect to BV mono-infection among pregnant females (PFs). Methods Blood samples and vaginal secretions were drawn from 75 PFs divided into three groups: coinfection (n = 25), monoinfection (n = 25), and control PFs (n = 25) who are presumed healthy subjects. Blood samples were analyzed for HCV detection based on conserved 5' untranslated region via real-time polymerase chain reaction and hematological parameters. Markers of oxidative stress (malondialdehyde and peroxidase) and antioxidants (catalase and superoxide dismutase) were checked in plasma as well as vaginal secretions of patients among all three groups. Results Hematological analysis reveals that hemoglobin levels, platelets, and lymphocytes decreased significantly (p < 0.050) among the coinfection followed by mono-infection group compared to the control group. Moreover, the higher isolation frequency of pathogenic bacteria (Acinetobacter spp.) and Nugent score trend was observed among the coinfection group. Antioxidant levels were significantly lower (p < 0.050) among the vaginal secretions and blood plasma of patients having coinfection with respect to the mono-infection and control groups. While oxidative stress marker was significantly highest (p < 0.050) among vaginal secretions and blood plasma of coinfection followed by mono-infection and control group. These results validate that overall redox severity was more among the coinfection compared to the mono-infection and control groups. Conclusions Redox indexes should be considered in early diagnosis and treatment of HCV and BV coinfection which may also facilitate the better treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma and vaginal apoptosis.
Perception of the English /s/–/∫/ distinction relies on fricative noises and transitions, not on brief spectral slices

A series of experiments compared two approaches to fricative identification, spectral template matching and articulatory dynamics. Natural‐speech /s/ and /1/ noises from fricative‐vowel or vowel‐fricative syllables were cross spliced so that ‘‘hybrid’’ noises started out as either /s/ or /1/ and ended up with the other fricative noise in varying proportions. With both initial and final fricatives, listener judgments most often agreed with the longer part of the noise even when spectral templates would predict the other category. Also, the vocalic formant transitions contributed to the judgment. In another experiment, open transcriptions by four expert listeners similarly showed that all the cues were used; there were also some instances of nonspeech percepts that would be predicted by gestural models. One further experiment had subjects identify two fricatives from hybrid noises between two vocalic segments. When the order of the noises differed from the order of the transitions, the perceived ordering of the fricatives was often the reverse of the order of the noise segments. Taken together with previous results, these experiments indicate that listeners take the whole fricative noise, as well as the transitions, into account in fricative identification.
The respiratory and hemodynamic effects of alveolar recruitment in cirrhotic patients undergoing liver resection surgery: A randomized controlled trial

Background and Aims: Extensive surgical retraction combined with general anesthesia increase alveolar collapse. The primary aim of our study was to investigate the effect of alveolar recruitment maneuver (ARM) on arterial oxygenation tension (PaO2). The secondary aim was to observe its effect on hemodynamics parameters in hepatic patients during liver resection, to investigate its impact on blood loss, postoperative pulmonary complications (PPC), remnant liver function tests, and on the outcome. Material and Methods: Adult patients scheduled for liver resection were randomized into two groups: ARM (n = 21) and control (C) (n = 21). Stepwise ARM was initiated after intubation and was repeated post-retraction. Pressure-control ventilation mode was adjusted to deliver a tidal volume (Vt) of 6 mL/kg and an inspiratory-to-expiratory time (I:E) ratio of 1:2 with an optimal positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) for the ARM group. In the C group, a fixed PEEP (5 cmH2O) was applied. Invasive intra-arterial blood pressure (IBP), central venous pressure (CVP), electrical cardiometry (EC), alanine transaminase (ALT, U/L), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST, U/L) blood levels were monitored. Results: ARM increased PEEP, dynamic compliances, and arterial oxygenation, but reduced ventilator driving pressure compared to group C (P < 0.01). IBP, cardiac output (CO), and stroke volume variation were not affected by the higher PEEP in the ARM group (P > 0.05) but the CVP increased significantly (P = 0.001). Blood loss was not different between the ARM and C groups (1700 (1150–2000) mL vs 1110 (900–2400) mL, respectively and P = 0.57). ARM reduced postoperative oxygen desaturation; however, it did not affect the increase in remnant liver enzymes and was comparable to group C (ALT, P = 0.54, AST, P = 0.41). Conclusions: ARM improved intraoperative lung mechanics and reduced oxygen desaturation episodes in recovery, but not PPC or ICU stay. ARM was tolerated with minimal cardiac and systemic hemodynamic effects.
Lyapunov coupled equations for infinite jump linear systems

Deals with Lyapunov equations for continuous-time Markov jump linear systems (MJLS). We focus on the case in which the Markov chain has a countably infinite state space. It is shown that the infinite MJLS is stochastically stabilizable (SS) if and only if the associated countably infinite coupled Lyapunov equations have a unique norm bounded strictly positive solution. This result does not hold for mean square stabilizability (MSS), since SS and MSS are no longer equivalent in our set up. To some extent, tools from operator theory in Banach space and, in particular, from semigroup theory are the technical underpinning of the paper.
Role of teachers in teaching Arabic letters to young children of UAE: Exploring criteria of Arabic letters teaching

Abstract An insufficient number of studies investigated the criteria for Arabic letter teaching in schools. Teachers play an integral role in understanding Arabic letters among young children, as it is essential for acquiring reading in the Arabic language early in life. The criteria for teaching letters in a current study include ease of pronunciation, long vowels, short vowels, ease of pronunciation, sound, shape, and letter names. It is important to consider letter teaching as it helps in the early recognition and identification of the language and in performing better academically. The focus of the current study is to explore the orthographic attributes of Arabic letters, how teachers teach these letters, the order and criteria they follow, and the relative difficulty of letter knowledge items within the Arabic alphabet framework. Arabic letter teaching criteria tests were conducted among 80 teachers from Arabic-speaking countries in UAE. These teachers taught Kindergarten, grade 1, and special needs children. The current study’s findings revealed that Arabic letter teaching efforts are dynamic as chi-square results are non-significant, reflecting that teachers’ criteria and order adopted do not depend on teachers’ level of education or their specific area of expertise. Findings show that most teachers who adopt ease of pronunciation of letters in teaching students start with long vowels. Furthermore, results indicated that most teachers introduce Arabic letters, sounds, and shapes when teaching young learners.
Incidence of radiographic pulmonary abnormalities after posterior spinal fusion surgery for pediatric scoliosis

Background and Aims: Pulmonary complications are the most common non-neurologic complications following surgical correction of scoliosis. These can affect postoperative recovery by increasing the length of stay and/or the need for ventilatory support. The aim of this retrospective study is to determine the incidence of radiographic abnormalities reported in chest radiography after posterior spinal fusion surgery for the treatment of scoliosis in children. Material and Methods: A retrospective chart review of all patients who underwent posterior spinal fusion surgery in our center between January 2016 and December 2019 was attempted. Radiographic data including chest and spine radiographs were reviewed on the national integrated medical imaging system using medical record numbers for all patients in the 7 postoperative days. Results: Seventy-six (45.5%) of the 167 patients developed radiographic abnormalities in the postoperative period. There was evidence of atelectasis in 50 (29.9%) patients, pleural effusion in 50 (29.9%) patients, pulmonary consolidation in 8 (4.8%) patients, pneumothorax in 6 (3.6%) patients, subcutaneous emphysema in 5 (3%) patients, and rib fracture in 1 (0.6%) patient. Four (2.4%) patients were noted to have an intercostal tube inserted postoperatively, three for treating pneumothorax, and one for pleural effusion. Conclusion: A large number of radiographic pulmonary abnormalities were encountered in children following surgical treatment of pediatric scoliosis. Although not all radiographic findings may be clinically significant, early recognition may guide clinical management. The incidence of air leak (pneumothorax, subcutaneous emphysema) was significant and could influence local protocol formulation with regards to obtaining immediate postoperative chest radiograph and intervention if clinically necessary.
THREE SPECTACULAR H ii-BURIED ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS GALAXIES FROM THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY

We present our analysis of the three H ii-buried active galactic nucleus: SDSS J091053+333008, SDSS J121837+091324, and SDSS J153002-020415, by studying their optical spectra extracted from Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The location in the BPT diagnostic diagrams of the three galaxies indicates that the narrow emission lines are mainly exited from H ii regions. However, after the removal of the host galaxy's stellar emission, the emission lines display the typical feature of Narrow-Line Seyfert 1-like. All the three objects have large Eddington ratio, small black hole mass, and low star formation rate. We propose that the three galaxies are at the transit stage from the starburst-dominated phase to AGN-dominated phase.
Performance comparison of intraframe and interframe LSF quantization in packet networks

Line spectrum frequencies (LSF) have been the prevailing parameter set to represent LPC coefficients in speech coding. Extensive research has been performed to exploit their interframe and intraframe correlations and quantize them more efficiently. Interframe coding of the LSF can cause error propagation when frame erasures occur. Since most LSF quantizers were designed with the primary concerns of bit-rate and complexity, less attention was paid to error propagation. We investigate the erasure performance of interframe LSF coding and compare it with an intraframe coding method. Our results show that with only 5% extra bit-rate, intraframe coding is much more robust to frame erasures and a typical improvement of 0.5 dB on spectral distortion can be obtained with 20% packet loss. Subjective listening tests indicate significant improvement as well.
Corporate governance characteristics and impression management in financial statements. A further analysis. Malaysian evidence

Abstract According to research, accounting narratives are frequently utilized and valued in the investing choices of both individual and institutional investors. Nevertheless, slight study has examined on the association between internal corporate governance mechanisms and impression management (IM). Rely on theories like agency and signaling, this research investigates the impact of board chairman qualities, characteristics of board of director, ownership structure and characteristics of audit committee on IM. The research population consists of non-financial Malaysian companies listed on Bursa Malaysia’s Main Market. The study uses ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to test the direct relationships directors’ chairman characteristics and impression management. Moreover, robustness and sensitivity test were used to examine the effectiveness of chairman characteristics with IM. This study finds that board of directors’ characteristics has significant association with IM. Moreover, characteristics of board chairman, audit committee and ownership structure has impact significant on IM. In addition, this study demonstrates that the effectiveness of the chairman and board of directors has a considerable impact on IM. Giving the right parties—policymakers, standard-setters, and regulatory bodies—a reference point to use as they work to enhance the caliber of financial reporting quality (FRQ) and corporate governance practices in light of the study’s findings aids in raising awareness of IM practices and internal corporate governance mechanisms among Malaysian listed companies.