Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of phase change materials on thermal comfort, greenhouse gas emissions, and potential indoor air quality issues across different climatic regions: A critical review

There has been growing interest in applying phase change materials (PCMs) in buildings owing to their energy conservation/latent heat storage properties and potential to improve thermal comfort. Various reviews have extensively discussed the thermophysical properties of PCMs and their energy‐saving potential in buildings. However, comprehensive reviews on the indoor thermal/personal comfort behavior of PCMs under different climates remain limited. Therefore, this study aims to present a comprehensive state‐of‐the‐art review of the impact of PCMs on indoor thermal comfort levels in buildings located in cities within different subclimate zones and their personal cooling effect when integrated with clothing (vest). In addition, greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation potentials and indoor air pollutant emission properties of PCM‐enhanced buildings were also reviewed. Hundreds of published articles of PCMs in PubMed and Scopus databases, including a manual search approach, were utilized. The results from this state‐of‐the‐art study have shown that incorporating PCMs in buildings satisfactorily reduced the indoor air temperature of most buildings located in hot climate (BSh, BWh) zones, but very limited studies have been performed in the cold (Dfc, BSk) environments. In general, there was an improvement in the thermal comfort levels of the PCM‐enhanced buildings. However, these were mostly assessed using indices such as predicted mean vote, predicted percentage of dissatisfied, comfort index, and total discomfort change, without any comprehensive survey studies (eg, based on sensation votes) using human subjects. The majority of personal cooling studies of PCM‐integrated vests/garments showed good improvement in thermal comfort, especially in terms of skin temperature and thermal sensation. However, very few studies have shown a considerable reduction in the GHG emissions of PCM‐enhanced buildings, and the knowledge of the long‐term carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction capabilities of PCMs is limited. The profiling of PCMs revealed the presence of volatile organic compounds. However, studies on indoor air pollutant emissions and the potential health effects of PCM‐integrated buildings are still lacking. The study is crucial to motivating green building engineers, indoor environmental quality (IEQ) researchers, and epidemiologists to embark on potential future research. Innovative technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, uncertainty analysis, and optimization can be utilized to predict thermal comfort, IEQ, and GHG emissions in PCM‐incorporated buildings.
Harmonizing Surveillance Methodologies for Group A Streptococcal Diseases

Abstract Group A Streptococcus (Strep A) is responsible for a significant global health and economic burden. The recent prioritization of Strep A vaccine development by the World Health Organization has prompted global research activities and collaborations. To progress this prioritization, establishment of robust surveillance for Strep A to generate updated regional disease burden estimates and to establish platforms for future impact evaluation is essential. Through the activities of the Strep A Vaccine Global Consortium (SAVAC), we have refined and harmonized surveillance protocols for 7 Strep A disease endpoints with a view that these will form part of surveillance standards for ongoing research and public health activities.
Development of a Practical Screening Tool to Predict Sarcopenia in Patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis

Background Sarcopenia is a common complication in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) and can increase patient hospitalization and mortality. No simple and reliable tools to identify sarcopenia exist. We aimed to develop a screening tool to predict MHD patients at high risk for sarcopenia. Material/Methods This cross-sectional study included 589 and 216 MHD patients for training and validation sets, respectively. We used diagnostic criteria developed by the Asian Working Group on Sarcopenia to screen for sarcopenia. The risk prediction model was established by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. We used the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC), calibration curve, Hosmer-Lemeshow test, and decision curve analysis (DCA) to evaluate the model’s discrimination ability, calibration ability, and clinical utility. Results The incidence of sarcopenia was 17.1% in the training set and 18.1% in the validation set. We constructed prediction models applying age, body mass index, calf circumference, and serum creatinine and plotted a nomogram. The training set model had an AUROC of 0.922, sensitivity of 85.1%, specificity of 85.9%, and chi-square value (Hosmer-Lemeshow test) of 5.603 (P>0.05); the DCA diagram showed that when the threshold probability was 0 to 0.95, the model predicted a net benefit for sarcopenia in MHD patients. The validation set model had an AUROC of 0.913, sensitivity of 94.3%, specificity of 82.9%, and chi-square value (Hosmer-Lemeshow test) of 9.822 (P>0.05). Conclusions The screening tool has good discrimination ability, calibration ability, and clinical utility. It could help to identify MHD patients at a high risk for sarcopenia.
Remittances, Household Welfare, and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Tajikistan

Remittance inflows are now the largest source of external financing to developing countries, but little research has yet firmly established the effect of remittances on household welfare. We investigate the case of Tajikistan, one of the most heavily remittance-dependent countries in the world. We use a panel dataset collected nationwide and employ an instrumental variable estimation to confirm a positive relationship between receiving remittances and household welfare after correcting for endogeneity. Moreover, we find that the effect of remittances on household spending is more pronounced in households whose head is male, older, and/or less educated. Then, we combine our estimated coefficients with the projected decline of remittance inflows as a result of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and show the pandemic’s adverse effect on household spending per capita.
The LX-σ Relation for Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies

We demonstrate that individual elliptical galaxies and clusters of galaxies form a continuous X-ray luminosity-velocity dispersion (LX-σ) relation. Our samples of 280 clusters and 57 galaxies have LX ∝ σ4. 4 and LX ∝ σ10, respectively. This unified LX-σ relation spans 8 orders of magnitude in LX and is fully consistent with the observed and theoretical luminosity-temperature scaling laws. Our results support the notion that galaxies and clusters of galaxies are the luminous tracers of similar dark matter halos.
Performance of the ‘Anna’ apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) in Tropical Highlands: A review

The 'Anna' apple is a variety of low requirements of winter chill (250 to 300 chilling hours ≤7.2°C). This apple has essential health benefits and remarkable adaptive potential in tropical and subtropical areas affected by climate change. Thus, this review presents the significance of the 'Anna' apple cultivation, the phenological and eco-physiological modifications, and the current state of agronomic management when continuous crops are managed in tropical highlands. The production of this apple in tropical highlands has outstanding potential to obtain cyclical or continuous harvests (two harvests per year) in certain areas with specific environmental conditions, implementing a particular management system. In plantations, it is crucial to carry out some agronomic practices during the reproductive phenology so that the apple tree does not enter into an endodormancy. These are water stress - defoliation – tie-down branches, and the application of dormancy-breaking agents (flower-inducing compounds). In Colombia, ‘Anna’ variety was introduced in 1985 and is grown in areas with temperatures between 14 and 20°C, altitudes between 1700 and 2800 meters above sea level (m a.s.l.), with bimodal and monomodal rain regimes, and solar brightness between 800 and 2000 hours a year. The harvest is between 100 to 120 days after anthesis, with firmness values of 38.38N, a soluble solids content of 8.58°Brix, and total titratable acidity of 0.7% of the fruit. This documentation indicates a good production with great potential in terms of growth and development, earliness, and quality of the 'Anna' apple tree in Colombian highlands.
ACCELERATION EFFECT ON FLUID FORCES ACTING ON THE HAND IN SWIMMING

This study aimed to quantify and investigate the effect of acceleration on fluid forces acting on a hand model. An accelerating hand in swimming generates large fluid forces in a stroke, although the effect of acceleration on fluid forces on the hand has not been well quantified. An experiment rotating a hand model in a flowing flume was conducted to measure fluid forces on the hand model and pressure on the hand surface. The effect of acceleration on fluid forces acting on the hand was quantified based on a theoretical understanding in fluid mechanics. Accelerated motion induced additional fluid forces on the hand, consistent with the theoretical understanding while decelerated motion induced additional fluid forces, not consistent with the theoretical understanding. Dynamic pressures measured were attributed to the formation of large vortices, inducing the additional fluid forces.
Cardiac Complications Associated with Eating Disorders in Children: A Multicenter Retrospective Study

Purpose Eating disorders often result in somatic complications, including cardiac abnormalities. Cardiac abnormalities may involve any part of the heart, including the cardiac conduction system, and can lead to sudden cardiac death. The current study aimed to evaluate the incidence of cardiac complications in pediatric patients with eating disorders and their associated factors. Methods We retrospectively analyzed patients aged 10–18 years who were diagnosed with DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder-V) eating disorders and underwent electrocardiography (ECG) and/or echocardiography between January 2015 and May 2020. Results In total, 127 patients were included, of whom 113 (89.0%) were female. The median body mass index (BMI) was 15.05±3.69 kg/m2. Overall, 74 patients (58.3%) had ECG abnormalities, with sinus bradycardia being the most common abnormality (91.9%). Patients with ECG abnormalities had significantly lower BMI (14.35±2.78 kg/m2 vs. 16.06± 4.55 kg/m2, p<0.001) than patients without ECG abnormalities, as well as lower phosphorus and higher cholesterol levels. Among the 46 patients who underwent echocardiographic evaluation, 23 (50.0%) had echocardiographic abnormalities, with pericardial effusion being the most common (60.9%). The median left ventricular mass (LVM) and ejection fraction were 67.97±21.25 g and 66.91±28.76%, respectively. LVM and BMI showed a positive correlation (r=0.604, p<0.001). After weight gain, the amount of pericardial effusion was reduced in 3 patients, and 30 patients presented with normal ECG findings. Conclusion Cardiac abnormalities are relatively frequent in patients with eating disorders. Physicians should focus on this somatic complication and careful monitoring is required.
Dual Institutional Experience with Transcarotid Artery Revascularization

Introduction Transcarotid artery revascularization (TCAR) is a hybrid open and endovascular technique to treat carotid stenosis. The purpose of this study is to present a large cohort of patients who underwent TCAR at 2 high-volume TCAR health systems. Methods This study was a retrospective chart review of all instances of TCAR within the Memorial Hermann Health System and Indiana University Health, from December 2015-January 2022, using the ENROUTE Neuroprotection Device (Silk Road Medical, Sunnyvale, CA). We report patient demographics, intraoperative metrics, 30-day results and long-term results. Results In all, 750 patients underwent TCAR in the designated time period. Average patient age was 73 years, with 68% being male. Overall, 53.9% of patients had coronary artery disease, 45.4% had diabetes, and 36.9% were symptomatic. Technical success was achieved in 98.8% of patients with conversion to open endarterectomy in 1.1%. Average reverse flow time was 9.1 minutes with length of stay greater than 1 day 38%. Ipsilateral stroke rate within 30 days was 2.3% and long-term cumulative stroke rate was 3.0%. Death within 30 days occurred in 1.2% of patients and in 5.9% over long-term follow up. In all, 1% of patients required reintervention. Conclusions TCAR is a safe and effective treatment modality for carotid artery stenotic disease. Its outcomes are similar to historical results associated with carotid endarterectomy, long considered the gold standard.
Patterns of Outpatient Phecodes Predating the Diagnosis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in Taiwanese Women

Shortening the time to diagnosis and initiating early treatment are imperative to improve outcomes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The aim of this case-control study, based on the data from the Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), was to investigate the patterns of diagnoses of disease phenotypes in female patients with SLE up to eight years prior to its definitive diagnosis. The 547 cases were selected from the 2000–2012 NHIRD catastrophic illness datafile and frequency-matched with 2188 controls. The primary diagnosis based on the first ICD-9-CM code for each outpatient visit was converted to Phecodes. Separate regression models, based on least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (lasso) regularization, with seven different lag periods from 1–2 to 7–8 years, were conducted. Results showed that SLE was associated with 46 disease phenotypes in a lag period of 2–3 years, but fewer in other lag periods. A number of SLE-associated disease phenotypes, such as primary thrombocytopenia, thyroid diseases, Raynaud’s syndrome, renal disease, and several infectious diseases, occurred mainly in the first few years prior to SLE diagnosis. In conclusion, SLE should be suspected when the disease phenotypes identified in the present study occurred concomitantly.
FACTORS AFFECTING CAREER CHOICE OF THE FEMALE SECONDARY STUDENTS IN KHULNA DISTRICT OF BANGLADESH

Career choice is a growing issue all over the world as secondary students usually face with a dilemma in making an appropriate career choice decision in their lives. For this reason, the study aimed to explore the factors that influence the career choices among female secondary students in Bangladesh. Following survey research design a semi-structured questionnaire was administered to collect data from 181 randomly selected female students of class six to ten from two secondary schools of Chalna Pourashava under Dacope Upazila in Khulna District of Bangladesh. Findings reveal that majority of the students aspire to be doctor which is influenced by parents’ expectation and self-efficacy or the belief in their ability to succeed. In addition, socio-demographic status of students, such as, age, year of schooling and academic achievement influences their career choices. Moreover, living status, occupation and monthly income of father are contributing factors of students’ career choices but fathers’ level of education has no impact on it. Furthermore, living status, education and occupation of mother are associated with students’ career choices but monthly income of the mother has no impact on it. The study recommends that parents should motivate their daughters regarding career choices which might help them to expose their potentialities in right track.
Evidentiality and epistemic modality in Spanish (semi-)auxiliaries : a cognitive-functional approach

This book is the first in-depth study of the conceptual and formal differences between evidential and epistemic auxiliaries in Spanish. The proposed account explores the parallelism between form and meaning and is based on frequency tests in spoken, written, synchronic and diachronic corpora. By doing so, the book not only constitutes a considerable innovation with respect to the previous Spanish accounts in terms of (subject) raising, but also adds a new dimension to Cognitive Grammar notions such as transparency, focal prominence, profile, dynamic reference point and subjectification.
Simple proof of Calabi-Bernstein’s Theorem on maximal surfaces

In the references cited above, this result appears as either a particular case of some much more general theorems or stated in terms of local complex representation of the surface. However, a direct simple proof would be desirable to be easily understood for beginning researchers. The proof we present here uses only Liouville’s Theorem on harmonic functions on R. Thus, it is simple and complex function theory is not needed. This proof is inspired by [Ch]. Roughly, the key steps of our proof are: (1) On any maximal surface there exists a positive harmonic function, which is constant if and only if the surface is totally geodesic. (2) The metric of any spacelike graph is globally conformally related to a metric g∗, which is complete when the graph is entire. (3) On any maximal graph the metric g∗ is flat.
Too Much, Too Soon? The Changes in Greece’s Land Administration Organizations during the Economic Crisis Period 2009 to 2018

Land administration is the managing of spatial and legal data pertaining to land. Land administration organizations provide services for land ownership and are essential to a well-functioning land administration system to secure land and property rights for all and support real estate markets. This article reviews the case of the Hellenic Land Administration Reform and the associated changes in the land administration organizations during the economic crisis period (2009–2018). We qualitatively analyze these changes and their actual effects through a set of legislative initiatives according to the orders of change of the enactive theory of reforms and the concept of isomorphism. The study is informed by interviews with key informants involved in the land administration policy domain, and by secondary data, such as legislative documents and reports. Findings show that the legislative initiatives aimed to bring efficiency, transparency, and rationalization to the land administration policy domain by centralizing the collection of land transaction fees and nationalizing the land administration organizations. , The enacted legislative initiatives encompassed organizational (second-order) changes within a short period, instead of incremental technical or managerial measures (first-order) to improve ineffective practices and services for citizens. They ended with a drastic organizational transformation, resulting in “premature load bearing” in the involved organizations, which complexified the implementation of an ambitious land administration reform and impacted the smooth operation of the real estate market. The article increases the current insight on the merger of land administration organizations and its implications. It contributes to the land administration scholarly literature on the establishment of new organizations to create a modern cadastral system from a public policy perspective through the orders of change of the enactive theory of reforms.
Prevalence of Asymptomatic Uterine Leiomyoma in Western Turkey and Factors Affecting Myoma Presence

Objective: To reveal the prevalence of asymptomatic uterine leiomyomas among gynecologic patients and to evaluate risk factors associated with the presence of leiomyomas. Study Design:Two thousand five hundred eighty-three patients aged between 18 and 66 years who presented to the gynecology outpatient clinic of our hospital in January and February 2021 who had an intact uterus and underwent transvaginal ultrasound were included in the study. Patients withsymptoms due to fibroids were defined as symptomatic, and those without symptomswere defined as asymptomatic; then two groups were compared in terms of certain variables.The independent risk factors associated with the presence of fibroids were determined using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: Leiomyomas were detected in a total of 437 patients with an overall prevalence of 17.2%. Leiomyomas were detected in 12.2% of asymptomatic patients and 27.8% of symptomatic patients (p<0.001). The prevalence of fibroids tended to increase with advancing age and decreased after age 50 years. It was observed that myoma diameter was significantly large (29.5 (6-123) mm and 18 (7-74) mm; p<0.001) and the frequency of multiple myomas was significantly high in symptomatic patients (46.5% vs. 33.6%; p<0.001). In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, high body mass index, younger age at menarche, and not using oral contraceptives were associated with the presence of fibroids. Conclusion: Approximately half of all leiomyomas, one of the important gynecological health problems of women, are asymptomatic.
Plantations monospécifiques d'espèces exotiques, déserts biologiques ou îlots de diversité floristique ? Exemple de situations biotiques et abiotiques contrastées au Nord-Kivu en République démocratique du Congo

Si les plantations forestières font l’objet d’un intérêt croissant en Afrique centrale, leur sous-bois reste encore peu étudié. Afin d’évaluer le potentiel des plantations d’espèces exotiques à participer à la restauration du couvert végétal sur les terres anthropisées du Kivu (République démocratique du Congo), la diversité floristique du sous-bois a été caractérisée et comparée dans une sélection de plantations monospécifiques d’Eucalyptus saligna et de Grevillea robusta sur deux sites (Sake et Kirumba) aux conditions altitudinales et pédoclimatiques différentes. La variation de la composition floristique des relevés a ensuite été analysée suivant certains paramètres écologiques. Enfin, les espèces indicatrices des conditions altitudinales et pédoclimatiques de chaque site ont été identifiées. Les données récoltées en 2018 et en 2020 dans 12 plantations par la méthode de l’aire minimale ont révélé une forte hétérogénéité dans la composition floristique des sous-bois. Bien que dominés par des herbacés, ces sous-bois hébergeaient aussi certaines espèces ligneuses et lianescentes. La richesse spécifique ne différait pas significativement entre les sites ni entre les espèces d’arbres plantées. Cette richesse variait d’un relevé à l’autre suivant la latitude, le pH du sol et les concentrations en aluminium et magnésium biodisponibles. Treize espèces indicatrices des conditions altitudinales et pédoclimatiques des sites ont été repérées dont neuf pour Sake et quatre pour Kirumba. La répétition des inventaires avait accru l’effort d’échantillonnage même si l’aire minimale n’avait pas significativement changé sur deux ans. Cette étude a mis en relief la contribution des plantations d’espèces exotiques à la reconstitution du couvert végétal sur les sites potentiellement dégradés du Kivu et suggère des mesures de gestion adaptées aux propriétés physico-chimiques des sols. L’utilisation des espèces indicatrices des conditions pédoclimatiques des sites comme prédicteurs de productivité mérite d’être testée dans les plantations étudiées afin de vérifier si leur présence pourrait servir d’outil de sélection des stations à reboiser.