Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatiotemporal Variations in Rainfall and Temperature in Ghana Over the Twentieth Century, 1900–2014

Climate‐dependent subsistence agriculture remains the main livelihood for most populations in Ghana. The spatiotemporal variations in rainfall and temperature have influence particularly in poorly‐developed agrarian regions with limited or no irrigation infrastructure. Therefore, a systematic understanding of climate patterns across space and time is important for mitigating against food insecurity and household poverty. Using over a century of high‐spatial resolution data, this study examines the spatiotemporal variations in rainfall and temperature across Ghana to identify climate‐stressed locations with potential effect on the production of major staple crops. The data for the analysis were drawn from the University of Delaware's Gridded Precipitation and Temperature Monthly Climatology version 4.01. The analysis was restricted to the main crop‐growing periods (March to December). The Mann‐Kendall nonparametric regression test was used to examine significant changes in rainfall variability and temperature at the district level. The results show that Ghana's climate has become progressively drier over the last century and prone to drought conditions. The most climate‐stressed districts are clustered within the three northern regions (Upper West, Upper East, and Northern) and the Western region. The most recent census in Ghana shows that the three northern regions also have the highest prevalence of subsistence agriculture. The findings from this study have implications for targeted interventions such as the Ghanaian government's recent policy initiative aimed at alleviating rural poverty by encouraging youth participation in agriculture along with efforts to intensifying crop production using modern farming techniques.
The Impact of Department Diversity on Student Persistence and Success in Engineering

Engineering education continues to see lower representation and graduation rates from traditionally minoritized student populations. Research on minoritized student success emphasizes the importance of developing a sense of belonging; however, this can be difficult for underrepresented and minoritized students who do not see many others like them in their classes. Under these circumstances, students from underrepresented populations can feel like they do not belong in engineering, particularly at U.S. institutions with predominantly White male engineering programs. Because engineering students spend a large portion of their academic time with other students in their department, the demographic diversity of the department is an important environmental factor to consider when studying student success. This study uses multilevel logistic modeling to account for individual student factors and department-level diversity measures to predict the ecosystem metric of student stickiness, applied in this case as the likelihood of students persisting in their engineering department from second to third year. The sample includes 9,349 second-year engineering students enrolled from 2009-2018 at a large research-intensive university in the Midwest across 12 engineering departments. The results indicate that second-year GPA and minoritized student status significantly predict persistence within a department, and there are differences in the importance of second-year GPA across departments. However, department-level diversity measures of female and minoritized student representation are not significant in predicting department-level persistence. Future research will expand the ecosystem variables used to predict student stickiness with a particular focus on variables that relate to diversity and inclusion in engineering education.
A Comprehensive Retrospective Study on the Mechanisms of Cyclic Mechanical Stretch-Induced Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Death Underlying Aortic Dissection and Potential Therapeutics for Preventing Acute Aortic Aneurysm and Associated Ruptures

Acute aortic dissection (AAD) and associated ruptures are the leading causes of death in cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Hypertension is a prime risk factor for AAD. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying AAD remain poorly understood. We previously reported that cyclic mechanical stretch (CMS) leads to the death of rat aortic smooth muscle cells (RASMCs). This review focuses on the mechanisms of CMS-induced vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) death. Moreover, we have also discussed the potential therapeutics for preventing AAD and aneurysm ruptures.
Application of Weighted Empirical Orthogonal Function Analysis to ship's datasets

Marine ship observations over the vast oceanic regions are crucial to studies of climate variability on timescales from the seasonal to multidecadal. However, any climatic analysis of this historical record is hampered by two difficult problems, namely: - The systematic instrumental errors which contaminate the ship observations. For example, it is well-known that most of the ship-reports before 1940 contain a large majority of uninsulated bucket Sea Surface Temperature (SST) measurements which are biased low, while the data after the 1940s are mostly injection or insulated bucket SST measurements which are biased high (Bottomley et al., 1990). - The irregular space-time sampling of the ship-reports. For example, Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (COADS) summaries provide meteorological variables in the form of monthly means for 2° ´ 2° latitude-by-longitude cells (Woodruff et al., 1987). In such datasets, the number of observations used to compute a particular monthly mean reflects the number of ships that cross the box that month. Thus, for a particular month, one cell’s mean may be computed from hundreds of observations, while others may be based on only a few, and there may be many cells with missing means due to the poor spatial and temporal coverage outside the main shipping lanes. The latter problem attends almost all climate studies from seasonal to multidecadal timescales, but is particularly relevant to the interannual to multidecadal. The classical solution to cope with this problem is to use some kind of objective analysis. This technique spatially smoothes the oceanic fields by filling the data-void areas with reasonable values which are a linear combination of climatology and anomalies observed in the neighborhood of each grid’s cell. The drawbacks of this solution are: First, the need for a very good climatology which has to be constructed before the analysis. Second, the oceanic fields derived from objective analysis are generally over-smoothed with the undesirable consequence of a degradation in the spatial resolution of the data. The main objective of this paper is to present a new multivariate statistical method to deal with this last problem. The method may be termed weighted Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis or weighted Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) analysis and is a generalization of the traditional EOF analysis, or more precisely, of truncated SVD analysis.
Effect Of Loan-To-Asset Ratio On Non-Performing Loans In Deposit Money Banks In Nigeria.

This study examined the effect of loan-to-asset ratio (LAR) on Non-Performing loans in deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study used an ex post facto research design. The population of the study comprised all the 14 quoted deposit money banks in Nigeria with a sample size of eight (8) deposit money banks licensed with international authorities consisting of Access Bank Plc. , Fidelity Bank Plc. , First City Monument Bank Plc. , First Bank Nigeria Ltd., Guarantee Trust Bank Plc. , Union Bank of Nigeria Plc. , United Bank for Africa Plc and Zenith Bank Plc. Data was generated from the annual financial reports and accounts of the sampled deposit money banks, the Central Bank of Nigeria, and the Nigerian Exchange Gro up respectively. Descriptive statistics, correlation tests and Panel regression were used for analysis. Panel regression was used to analyze the data and the findings showed that loan-toasset ratio has a negative and significant effect on non-performing loans of deposit money banks in Nigeria. Furthermore, bank size has a positive and insignificant effect on non-performing loans of deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study recommends that the CBN should constantly update its supervisory skills and strategies while enforcing its lending policy guidelines to achieve stability in the banking sector. Similarly, management of Deposit Money Banks should avoid charging high-interest rates on loans and advances as well as lending to high-risk borrowers to bring cases of loan defaults to the barest minimum. This measure will no doubt curtail the excessive accumulation of bad loans and financial crises in the banking sector.
Quantum Science and Technologies in K-12: Supporting Teachers to Integrate Quantum in STEM Classrooms

Quantum science and computing represent a vital intersection between science and technology, gaining increasing importance in modern society. There is a pressing need to incorporate these concepts into the K-12 curriculum, equipping new generations with the tools to navigate and thrive in an evolving technological landscape. This study explores the professional learning of K-12 teachers (n = 49) related to quantum concepts and pedagogy. We used open-ended surveys, field notes, workshop artifacts, and interviews to examine teachers’ perceptions of quantum and how they made connections between quantum and their curriculum. Our data reveal that most teachers were excited and interested in teaching quantum but were aware of potential barriers and concerns that might get in the way of teaching quantum. We found that teachers readily identified connections to math and science in their curriculum, but only a few made connections to computing. Enthusiasm for teaching quantum concepts was found in both elementary and secondary educators, suggesting a widespread recognition of its importance in preparing students for a future where quantum technology is a fundamental aspect of their lives and careers.
Advances in the Immunology of the Host–Parasite Interactions in African Trypanosomosis, including Single-Cell Transcriptomics

Trypanosomes are single-celled extracellular parasites that infect mammals, including humans and livestock, causing global public health concerns and economic losses. These parasites cycle between insect vectors, such as tsetse flies and vertebrate hosts, undergoing morphological, cellular, and biochemical changes. They have remarkable immune evasion mechanisms to escape the host’s innate and adaptive immune responses, such as surface coat antigenic variation and the induction of the loss of specificity and memory of antibody responses, enabling the prolongation of infection. Since trypanosomes circulate through the host body in blood and lymph fluid and invade various organs, understanding the interaction between trypanosomes and tissue niches is essential. Here, we present an up-to-date overview of host–parasite interactions and survival strategies for trypanosomes by introducing and discussing the latest studies investigating the transcriptomics of parasites according to life cycle stages, as well as host cells in various tissues and organs, using single-cell and spatial sequencing applications. In recent years, this information has improved our understanding of trypanosomosis by deciphering the diverse populations of parasites in the developmental process, as well as the highly heterogeneous immune and tissue-resident cells involved in anti-trypanosome responses. Ultimately, the goal of these approaches is to gain an in-depth understanding of parasite biology and host immunity, potentially leading to new vaccination and therapeutic strategies against trypanosomosis.
Coupling of the FLake model to the Surfex externalized surface model

The FLake model parameterizes the local-scale energy exchanges between lake surfaces and the atmosphere. FLake simulates the temperature profile as well as the budgets of heat and turbulent kinetic energy in water. Its implementation into the Surfex system, the externalized surface scheme devoted to research and operational forecasts, is presented here. The paper describes a validation of the coupled system Surfex-FLake based on measurements carried out on the Alqueva reservoir in southern Portugal. This paper shows how the use of FLake in the Surfex system improves surface temperature and turbulent fluxes at the water– atmosphere interface and explains the minor changes made in the computation of the shape function in order to adapt the FLake model to warm lakes, like the one used for this study.
Assessment of Global Ocean Colour Products against In-situ Datasets

Ocean colour from satellite has given over the last two decades another dimension to ecosystem studies and marine biology, providing key information on the timing and spatial distribution of phytoplankton blooms, and the magnitude of primary production. Remote observations of ocean colour from space represent therefore a major tool directly related to the marine biogeochemical distributions and associated processes. One of the goals of the European GMES Integrated Project MERSEA is to provide an accurate and consistent stream of ocean colour data, by exploiting the products made available in a number of individual missions launched by various space agencies. In this context, validation exercises, done via the direct comparison of satellite derived quantities with in situ measurements, represents a critical component in establishing the accuracy of the remotely-sensed data. In this study we present a validation of chlorophyll-a concentration derived from SeaWiFS and MODIS sensors, against in situ measurements retrieved from three different datasets (NODC, SeaBASS, JODC). The results of this comparison are well in line with previous analysis conducted on SeaWiFS, both from the point of view of the global statistics than for most of the regional results, and the uncertainties are lower than the value of 0.35 often considered as the objective for chlorophyll-a distributions. The SeaWiFS global average of RMS difference (for log-transformed values) shows an uncertainty of 0.29, while it is is slightly higher for MODIS (0.31), a difference likely partly due to a smaller statistical basis. The agreement is better for open ocean regions (RMSD reduced to 0.26 and 0.27 for SeaWiFS and MODIS respectively) than for coastal areas. An important objective of this work, that goes beyond the scope of the present report, was to develop the validation procedure and protocols for further analyses regularly reviewing validation results to take into account successive reprocessing and other sensors, as well as including additional in situ data sets. Assessment of Global Ocean Colour Products against In-situ Datasets Chapter
Surrogate Biomarker Prediction from Whole-Slide Images for Evaluating Overall Survival in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Background: Recent advances in computational pathology have shown potential in predicting biomarkers from haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) whole-slide images (WSI). However, predicting the outcome directly from WSIs remains a substantial challenge. In this study, we aimed to investigate how gene expression, predicted from WSIs, could be used to evaluate overall survival (OS) in patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Methods: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)-LUAD cohort. Cox regression analysis was performed on DEGs to identify the gene prognostics of OS. Attention-based multiple instance learning (AMIL) models were trained to predict the expression of identified prognostic genes from WSIs using the TCGA-LUAD dataset. Models were externally validated in the Clinical Proteomic Tumour Analysis Consortium (CPTAC)-LUAD dataset. The prognostic value of predicted gene expression values was then compared to the true gene expression measurements. Results: The expression of 239 prognostic genes could be predicted in TCGA-LUAD with cross-validated Pearson’s R > 0.4. Predicted gene expression demonstrated prognostic performance, attaining a cross-validated concordance index of up to 0.615 in TCGA-LUAD through Cox regression. In total, 36 genes had predicted expression in the external validation cohort that was prognostic of OS. Conclusions: Gene expression predicted from WSIs is an effective method of evaluating OS in patients with LUAD. These results may open up new avenues of cost- and time-efficient prognosis assessment in LUAD treatment.
The Use and Reprocessing of Endodontic Files in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objectives This study aimed to assess the awareness, implementation, and compliance with the infection control policy recommended by the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) for the use and reprocessing of endodontic files and to examine the association between compliance and gender, experience, clinical ranks, and workplace sector. Methods This was a cross-sectional study conducted using a validated self-administered electronic questionnaire created and distributed to dentists who perform endodontic treatment in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected between June and July 2023. Descriptive statistics were reported as counts and percentages. Comparisons among the demographic groups were done using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests. Results A total of 402 dentists completed the survey. The results showed that 76.1% (n=306) of respondents claimed that they were aware of the infection control policy recommended by the Saudi MOH for the use and reprocessing of endodontic files in dental clinics. Only 13.2% (n=53) of dentists used single-use endodontic files, and 36.6% (n=147) did not use an endodontic box in their dental clinics. The most commonly reported method of tracing the number of uses of endodontic files was to write the ID of the patient or the number of uses on the sterilization pouch as reported by 37.6% of participants (n=151). The average compliance score percentage was 63.5 ± 16.7. Most of the respondents showed moderate to high levels of compliance (51.7% (n=208) and 42.0% (n=169) of dentists, respectively). Dentists with less than 5 years of experience showed significantly less compliance than dentists with more than 10 years of experience (p = 0.005). Gender, clinical rank, and workplace sector were not significantly associated with the extent of adhering to the evaluated infection control policy. Conclusions Our findings indicate a relatively high level of compliance with the Saudi MOH policy of using and reprocessing endodontic files. However, critical measures such as the single-use of endodontic files, sterilizing new endodontic files, and using the sterilized endodontic box for each patient need improvement. Hence, this study recommends enhancing awareness through continuous education and training.
Robust pretreatment in combination with ultrasound-assisted surfactant to improve the enzymatic hydrolysis of Eucalyptus pellita

Alkaline pretreatment stands out as a valuable strategy in biomass conversion to overcome the recalcitrance of biomass by removing lignin and a part of hemicellulose. This enhances enzyme accessibility and promotes saccharification. However, increasing the alkaline concentration to enhance the delignification and improve glucose yield together presents inherent limitations. In this experiment the amount of delignification and glucose yield resulting from surfactant associated with sonication during mild alkaline pretreatment of Eucalyptus pellita was investigated. Also, the effect of various factors (sonication temperature and surfactant immersion time) on delignification and glucose yield were examined. The results demonstrated that surfactant associated with sonication pretreatment could overcome the limitation of alkaline pretreatment and could increase the amount of delignification alongside enzymatic hydrolysis glucose yield of Eucalyptus pellita wood by around 90%. The findings indicated that surfactant-assisted with sonication during mild alkaline pretreatment of Eucalyptus pellita (i.e., hardwood) could be recommended as a supporting pretreatment method for the production of monomeric sugars.
Using the Socioeconomic Indicator Analysis to assess the Urban Vulnerability for Building Urban Resilience: A Case Study in Siem Reap City, Siem Reap Province

Urban climate resilience relies on several factors, but urban socioeconomics are considered as a core bloodstream for urban development and building adaptive capability to overcome urban vulnerability and climate change impacts. The socioeconomic indicators are important parameters in assessing urban resilience level on climaterelated natural and man-made disasters. This study aims to explore and address the levels of urban vulnerability and resilience in Siem Reap City, Cambodia by using variables of socioeconomic indicators. The research design of this study was made by adopting the HIGS framework (Hazard-Infrastructure-Governance-Socio-economics) on urban vulnerability assessment. Of these four key components of indicators, this study focuses only on twelve socioeconomic indicators by dividing them into three main components (demographic profile, development, and education-poverty-occupation) for assessing vulnerability and exploring how to build urban climate resilience. Data collection and research conducted using commune database data, key informant interviews and focused group discussion with Sangkats (communes) and relevant government agencies in Siem Reap City. The Siem Reap City is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts and has fair resilience toward urban climate change. Siem Reap City remains high ID Poor people. It has a relatively high number of population (especially children and 60 years old) vulnerable to climate change. In addition, the main occupation in this city retains a high attribution of agricultural production, and it has been impacted by climate change. The balanced development should also be made for the communes (Sangkats) that are vulnerable to climate change impacts, especially the green infrastructure, social services, and job creation and livelihood diversification for vulnerable groups, which help reduce the vulnerability of urban areas to climate threats and also key factors for the enhancing response capacity and adaptation of the city, or scalling up small, more local and city-based climate actions.
Association between Sleep Problems and Psychopathologies among Preschoolers: A Brazilian Cross-Sectional Study

Objective To evaluate the relationship between sleep problems and psychopathologies in Brazilian preschool children. Materials and Methods The present is a cross-sectional study with162 children: 81 with sleep problems referred for treatment (mean age: 3.67 years), matched by gender/age with 81 participants without sleep problems. Sleep problems were identified through a clinical interview with a specialist. Psychopathologies were evaluated using the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 1.5-5 (CBCL/1.5-5). Results Having sleep problems was a predictor of all forms of psychopathologies on the CBCL scales, except for the withdrawn scale. Aggressive behavior, depression/anxiety, affective problems, and oppositional defiant disorder were associated with presence of sleep problems. Conclusion Given the probable bidirectionality of the association between sleep problems and psychopathologies in children, it is suggested that regular assessments of both phenomena should be performed in children referred for treatment of sleep problems and mental health problems in general.