Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence and Associated Factors of Psychological Distress Among Secondary School Students in Mekelle City, Tigray Region, Ethiopia: Cross-Sectional Study

Background Psychological distress is defined as a state of emotional suffering characterized by the combination of symptoms of depression and anxiety. It is more prevalent in school adolescents than in the general population. There are no published studies that reflect the current status of psychological distress among Ethiopian school adolescents. So, this study aimed to determine the prevalence and associated factors of psychological distress among secondary students in Mekelle Town, North Ethiopia. Methods A school-based cross-sectional study was done among 782 from May 15 to June 15, 2018. Stratified multistage sampling procedure was used to select study subjects. Data were collected using a pretested and structured self-administered questionnaire. Psychological distress was assessed using Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Binary logistic regression models were fitted to identify associated factors. Adjusted odds ratio with its 95% ﻿confidence interval was used to declare the statistical significance between psychological distress and associated factors. Results A total of 845 students were enrolled in the study, with a response rate of 92.54%. The mean age of the participants was 16.24 years (SD=±1.17). Prevalence of psychological distress among the study participants was 34.9%. Being female [AOR = 2.30; 95% CI: (1.28, 4.12)], current alcohol use [AOR = 3.08; 95% CI: (1.64, 5.77)], physical fight [AOR = 2.99; 95% CI: (1.69–5.28)], contact sexual abuse [AOR=2.37; 95% CI: (1.23, 4.55)], non-contact sexual abuse [AOR = 1.91; 95% CI: (1.04, 3.49)], and being bullied [AOR = 1.81; 95% CI: (1.03, 3.29)] were significantly associated with psychological distress. Conclusion The prevalence of psychological distress in this study was high. Therefore, it is recommended to strengthen the activities that help to reduce or ameliorate the major causes of psychological distress.
The Effect of Polyphenolics in Extracts from Natural Materials on Metabolic Activity of Metastatic Melanoma WM-266-4 Cells

The importance of natural crops in medicine and pharmacy is growing. Beside bioactive compounds used directly as therapeutic agents, there are also raw materials used for drug synthesis or as a basic model for new biologically active compounds. In this paper, the optimum conditions for material extraction of Curcuma longa, Lycium barbarum, Equisetum arvense, Vitis vinifera, and Rosmarinus officinalis were investigated to achieve high antioxidant levels. The main aim of this study was to verify the correlation between the content of antioxidants, proanthocyanidins and total phenolic substances for certain extracts from the raw materials (Curcuma longa, Lycium barbarum, Equisetum arvense, Vitis vinifera and Rosmarinus officinalis) and the reduction of the metabolic activity of skin cancer cells.
Categorisation-based approach for predicting the fault-proneness of object-oriented classes in software post-releases

Subsequent releases of a system have common development environments and characteristics. However, prediction models based on within-project data potentially suffer from being based on fault data reported within relatively short maintenance time intervals, which potentially decreases their prediction abilities. In this study, the authors propose an approach that improves the classification performance of models based on within-project data that are applied to predict the fault-proneness of the classes in a software post-release (PR). The proposed approach involves selecting a set of immediate pre-releases and constructing a prediction model based on each pre-release. The PR classes are categorised based on whether they are newly developed or they are reused, with or without modification, from one or more of the selected pre-releases. The prediction models are applied to the PR classes reused from selected pre-releases, and the results are used to construct a fault-proneness prediction model. After applying this prediction model to all PR classes, the fault-proneness results are adjusted by considering the relationship between the prediction results of the individual pre-release models and the actual fault data. They reported an empirical study that shows that the classification performance of the categorisation-based fault-proneness prediction models is considerably better than those constructed using existing approaches.
Effects of Minimal Flow Sevoflurane or Desflurane Anaesthesia on Hemodynamic Parameters, Body Temperature and Anaesthetic Consumption

Objective We aimed to compare minimal flow sevoflurane and desflurane anaesthesia in terms of hemodynamic parameters, body temperature, anaesthetic gas consumption and cost. Methods 120 patients with ASA I–II (>18yo) who underwent elective surgery for longer than 60 min after general anaesthesia were randomized into two groups. The Dräger Perseus® A500 workstation was used. Pre-oxygenation was performed for 3 min with 6 L min−1 to 100% oxygen. Fractional inspirium oxygen concentration (FiO2) was reduced to 40%, fresh gas flow was 4 L min−1 after intubation. Sevoflurane or desflurane was started at 1.5 minimal alveolar concentration (MAC). When the MAC value reached 0.9, fresh gas flow was reduced to 0.5 L min−1, FiO2 was increased to 68%. At the end of the surgery, the vaporizer was switched off, the fresh gas flow was increased (4 L min−1, FiO2 100%). When the train-of-four (TOF) ratio was 100%, extubation was carried out. Results There were no differences in patient characteristics and initial hemodynamic parameters of the groups. There were statistically significant differences between the times to reach 0.9 MAC, extubation and eye opening; anaesthetic, O2 and air consumption in both groups. Conclusion With minimal flow, the time to reach target MAC, time to extubation and eye opening were significantly faster for desflurane and anaesthetic, oxygen and air consumption in desflurane anaesthesia were less than sevoflurane. Thus, we can say that desflurane has faster anaesthetic induction and recovery time with lower anaesthetic consumption than sevoflurane.
How many days are needed for a reliable assessment by the Sleep Diary?

Introduction Population sleep registration is important for the epidemiological investigation of possible disorders and diseases associated with sleep deprivation and restriction. The aim of the current study was to verify how many days and weeks are required for a reliable sleep diary application. Methods 53 subjects of both genders participated in the study (Age: 25±9 years). The volunteers answered the morning-evening questionnaire for later identification of their chronotype (21 mornings; 22 undetermined; 10 evenings). They then received the sleep diary to fill in for a period of 28 consecutive days (or 4 weeks) of their nighttime sleep. The participant was instructed to describe the time at which they started sleeping and woke up within one hour after waking up. Results There was no difference in participants’ sleep time between weeks. The participants had longer sleep times on Sunday and Saturday compared to other days of the week. The sleep diary reliability values increased with the increasing number of nights, reaching adequate reliability (≥ 0.70) with seven consecutive days recorded. Conclusion A sleep diary seems to be a reliable tool for assessing adult sleep time, especially when used for a period of at least seven consecutive days including weekends.
Influence of Measurement Uncertainty on Parameter Estimation and Fault Location for Transmission Lines

Fault location algorithms for transmission lines use the parameters of the transmission line to locate faults after the faults have occurred along the line. Although these parameters can be estimated by the phasor measurement units (PMUs) at the terminal(s) of the transmission line continuously, the uncertainty in the measurements will give rise to stochastic errors in the measured values. Thus, the uncertainty in measurements definitely influences the estimations of the parameters of the transmission line, which, in turn, influences the results of fault location algorithms. Inaccurate results of fault location algorithms may lead to costly maintenance fees and prolonged outage time. Therefore, in this article, we estimate the parameters of the transmission line considering the uncertainty in the measurements so that a more accurate fault location can be derived. The uncertainty in the measurements will be modeled as a stochastic distribution, and the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) method will be adopted to reduce the uncertainty in the measurements. In addition, as an illustration, the telegrapher’s equations will be used to calculate the parameters of the transmission line, and the two-terminal positive sequence network fault location algorithm will be used to locate the fault. In a simulation, a case study of a real-life transmission line the influence of the uncertainty in the measurements on the transmission line parameter estimations and the effectiveness of the MLE method for estimations are simulated and analyzed. The results show that the influence of the uncertainty in the measurements on the positive sequence network fault location algorithm should not be neglected and that the proposed method is very effective in significantly reducing the influence of the uncertainty in the measurements. Note to Practitioners—The objective of this article is to address the significant effects of inaccuracies in the measurements for fault location determination in transmission lines in power systems. These inaccuracies increase the cost and duration of the search process for the actual fault location, and they, thus, also enlarge the outage duration and reduce the power system reliability. This article aims to analyze and reduce the influence of the uncertainties in the measurements in order to obtain a much more accurate fault location estimate when a fault has occurred along the transmission line. One of the key contributions of this article is the development of a model for the uncertainties in the measurements based on a confidence level and deviation bounds; this model can then be used if the information on the distributions of the uncertainties in the measurements is not available. Another key contribution is a maximum likelihood estimation method to estimate line parameters more accurately and consequently to reduce the influence of the uncertainties in the measurements on the fault location estimate.
An epizootic of common loons in coastal waters of North Carolina: Concentrations of elemental contaminants and results of necropsies

A 1993 die‐off of common loons (Gavia immer) in the coastal waters of North Carolina was investigated with emphasis on comparing mercury, selenium, arsenic, and lead between birds from the epizootic and reference specimens. Die‐off specimens were emaciated but contained no ingested foreign bodies and no lesions suggestive of infectious disease. Results of bacteriology, virology, parasitology, and botulism testing were unremarkable. The geometric mean concentrations (wet weight) of liver mercury (10.9 ppm), and arsenic (0.96 ppm) did not differ between specimens from the die‐off and reference loons from the same area that died of other causes. The geometric mean liver selenium concentration of die‐off specimens (10.4 ppm) was significantly higher than that of reference loons. Liver lead concentrations were < 0.20 ppm in all but one sample (5.83 ppm). The geometric mean mercury concentration in the primary remiges of die‐off specimens (5.44 ppm dry weight) was significantly lower than in reference birds. Liver mercury significantly correlated with liver selenium on a molar concentration basis. We interpret the range of liver mercury concentrations in birds from the epizootic, similar liver mercury concentrations in reference loons, and higher mercury concentrations in reference loon feathers as evidence that factors other than mercury were primarily responsible for the emaciation diagnosed as the cause of mortality.
Establishing Causality between Pollution and Effects at Different Levels of Biological Organization: The VALIMAR Project

The study summarizes the objectives of the VALIMAR project and gives selected examples of biomarker responses that allow causal relationships to be established between exposure and biological effects at different levels of biological organization. In this project, active and passive biomonitoring experiments with brown trout (Salmo trutta f. fario) and stone loach (Barbatula barbatula) were performed in two small streams in southern Germany between 1995 and 1999 in parallel with investigations on contaminant mixtures in the laboratory in order to evaluate the suitability of biomarkers representing different levels of biological organization for the assessment of pollution in small streams. In addition to biomarker studies, the morphology of the test streams was characterized and limnological and chemical parameters were monitored. Early life stage tests and ecological studies of brown trout and stone loach population demography, of the fish assemblages, and the macro- and meiozoobenthos communities in the two test streams were included in the project. Several causality criteria were addressed by means of combined (1) laboratory and field studies, (2) chemical, biological, and statistical investigations, and (3) in vivo and in vitro studies that allowed establishment of cause-effect relationships at different biological levels. The comparison of results obtained at these levels allowed identification of mechanisms responsible for the respective effects (coherence of association, biological plausibility). Finally, individual responses (biomarkers, bioindicators) could be extrapolated to higher biological levels (population, community) thus addressing the criteria of ‘time order’ and ‘coherence of association’.
Behavioural and morphological dimorphism of the sexes: an account of two primitively eusocial wasps

In social Hymenoptera, foraging, nest building, brood care and all other colony maintenance functions are carried out by the females while males function solely as reproductives. This asymmetry in social roles of the two sexes has led social insect researchers to focus almost exclusively on the females whereas males have remained relatively neglected. We studied two sympatric, primitively eusocial wasps, Ropalidia marginata and Ropalidia cyathiformis, and compared the morphological and behavioural profiles of males and females. Males of both species are smaller in size and weigh less compared to females. Males of the two species live in the nest for different durations. Borrowing from the ecological literature we use novel methods to compute and compare behavioural diversity and behavioural richness and show that females of both species are behaviourally richer and more diverse than the males.
Double-Sub-Stream M-ary Differential Chaos Shift Keying Wireless Communication System Using Chaotic Shape-Forming Filter

An M-ary Differential Chaos Shift Keying modulation using Chaotic Shape-forming Filter (CSF-M-DCSK) is proposed here to transmit two sub-streams with different system performances. The chaotic shape-forming filter is used to generate the chaotic carrier which is modulated according to the DCSK concept. The modulated chaotic signal is demodulated by a coherent matched filter receiver and the maximum likelihood decision rule is used to get the best noise performance. Compared to DCSK and its enhanced versions, the new modulation scheme offers not only better noise and multipath performances but also a higher data rate. The hardware implementation of the proposed method is as simple as that of a conventional communication system. Analytical expressions have been derived for the CSF-M-DCSK Bit Error Rate (BER) and its performance has been evaluated in AWGN and multipath channels by simulations. The new CSF-M-DCSK system has been implemented and successfully tested on a Wireless open-Access Research Platform (WARP). Results of simulations and measurements performed in real application scenarios have proven the feasibility and superiority of CSF-M-DCSK over its competitors.
Preparation of Specifically Deuterated RNA for NMR Studies Using a Combination of Chemical and Enzymatic Synthesis

The syntheses of ATP, GTP, UTP, and CTP with deuterium labels on the 3‘, 4‘, and 5‘ carbons (2−5) is described. A combination of chemical and enzymatic synthesis is used where d,l-ribose-3,4,5,5‘-d4 (±1) is first produced from glycerol-d8 by chemical methods, and then the four 3‘,4‘,5‘,5‘-labeled NTPs (2−5) are prepared from (−1) using enzymes from the purine salvage and pyrimidine biosynthetic metabolic pathways. New procedures were developed for the large scale preparation of GTP and CTP, and existing procedures were modified for the preparation of ATP and UTP. A 30-nucleotide RNA derived from the HIV-2 TAR RNA was prepared with unlabeled NTPs and deuterated NTPs (2−5) to illustrate the dramatic effects of deuteration on the NMR spectra of RNA. The NOESY spectra of the deuterated RNA exhibits greatly reduced spectral crowding compared to that of the unlabeled RNA, and assignment of NOEs to the H2‘ protons is simplified due to the specific deuteration pattern. Also, the nonselective T1 and T2 relaxation .
Social Media Use and Job Performance in the Workplace: The Effects of Facebook and KakaoTalk Use on Job Performance in South Korea

The use of social media, such as social networking sites and instant messaging, in everyday life continues to spread, along with social media use in the workplace. This study examined how using social media like Facebook (social networking sites) and KakaoTalk (instant messaging) at work affects individual job performance. It also analyzed whether social media use has different effects on individual job performance depending on the characteristics of the given task. The results demonstrated that both Facebook and KakaoTalk had linearly positive effects on individual job performance. Moreover, task equivocality had a positive moderating effect on the relationship between KakaoTalk use and job performance. The results may have significant implications for firms reviewing their policies on employees’ social media use. Since using social media such as Facebook and KakaoTalk in the workplace improves job performance, firms may consider encouraging employees toward this practice. In particular, they may consider supporting those employees who perform tasks with high task equivocality in making use of instant messaging platforms.
Growth Responses of Two Dominant C4 Grass Species to Altered Water Availability

Identifying key ecophysiological traits that differ among dominant plant species and can be linked to species‐specific responses to drought would improve our ability to forecast community and ecosystem responses to global climate change. The mesic grasslands of the central plains of North America are dominated by two C4 grass species, Andropogon gerardii and Sorghastrum nutans, which purportedly differ in their tolerance of water stress. Individuals of these two species were grown in the field under rain‐out shelters and subjected to wet (watered every 2–3 d) or dry (repeatedly subjected to wilting before watering) soil moisture regimes. A range of ecophysiological traits potentially important for tolerating water stress were concurrently measured. Although few traits differed between the species in the wet treatment, several traits were identified in the dry treatment that may enable A. gerardii to better tolerate drought. These were greater allocation to roots, reduced allocation to flowering, more rapid leaf turnover, and more rapid recovery of photosynthesis after wilting. The latter two traits may be particularly important for coping with increased variability in rainfall regimes in the future and are consistent with recently documented responses of A. gerardii to experimental increases in soil moisture variability.
Biochemical changes associated to soybean seeds osmoconditioning during storage

A work was carried out with the purpose of verifying the biochemical changes associated to soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) seeds osmoconditioning. Seeds of the UFV 10, IAC 8 and Doko RC cultivars harvested at R8 development stage and submitted to different treatments were used. The biochemical evaluations were performed during seed storage, after the hydration-dehydration process. Initially, seeds were osmoconditioned in a polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000) solution, with the osmotic potential of -0.8 MPa and 20oC, for a period of four days. After that, seeds were dried back until the initial moisture content (10-11%) and stored in natural conditions for three and six months. Two controls were used: untreated seeds (dry seeds) and water soaked seeds. Seed changes in protein and lipid, hexanal accumulation and fatty acids contents were evaluated. The results showed that seed storage under laboratory natural conditions caused reduction in protein, lipid and polyunsaturated fatty acids content and promoted hexanal production. Storage periods reduced protein levels for all treatments, however the PEG 6000 treatment showed lower protein reduction. The soybean seed storage increased hexanal production, but hexanal levels were smaller with osmoconditioning comparing to the other imbibition treatments.
Effectiveness of insect growth regulators for management of legume pod borer, Maruca vitrata F. in yard long bean

The legume pod borer, Maruca vitrata (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) is considered the most serious pest of yard long bean. An experiment was conducted in the field laboratory of the Department of Entomology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during kharif season 2016 to evaluate the effectiveness of two commonly used insect growth regulators (IGR), burofezin and lufenuron with different doses and a widely used chemical insecticide nitro 505 EC as recommended dose for the management of legume pod borer. The treatments were arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design along with an untreated control with three replications of each treatment. The efficacy of the treatments was evaluated based on the percentage flower and pod infestation, percentage larval survivability and marketable pod yield. It was found that all the treatments were significantly effective against pod borer than the untreated control. The highest efficacy was found from the buprofezin among the treatments. Buprofezin @ 0.75 mL L−1 exhibited the best performance resulting 64.16 and 70.60% reduction of flower and pod infestation, respectively consequently providing 43.95% surviving larvae and 40.35% increase of pod yield with the benefit cost ratio1.47. This result was followed by buprofezin @ 0.5 mL L−1 and provided the results as 61.96%, 67.46%, 44.06%, 40.11%, and 1.48 flower infestation, pod infestation, surviving larvae, yield increase and benefit cost ration, respectively. Therefore, buprofezin @ 0.5mL L−1 might be recommended for the effective and economic management of legume pod borer in the yard long bean field.