Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distributed space scales in a semilinear reaction-diffusion system including a parabolic variational inequality : a well-posedness study

This paper treats the solvability of a semilinear reaction-diffusion system, which incorporates transport (diffusion) and reaction effects emerging from two separated spatial scales: x - macro and y - micro. The system’s origin connects to the modeling of concrete corrosion in sewer concrete pipes. It consists of three partial differential equations which are mass-balances of concentrations, as well as, one ordinary differential equation tracking the damage-by-corrosion. The system is semilinear, partially dissipative, and coupled via the solid-water interface at the microstructure (pore) level. The structure of the model equations is obtained in [7] by upscaling of the physical and chemical processes taking place within the microstructure of the concrete. Herein we ensure the positivity and L8-bounds on concentrations, and then prove the global-in-time existence and uniqueness of a suitable class of positive and bounded solutions that are stable with respect to the two-scale data and model parameters. The main ingredient to prove existence include fixed-point arguments and convergent two-scale Galerkin approximations. Keywords: Reaction and diffusion in heterogeneous media, two-scale Galerkin approximations, parabolic variational inequality, well-posedness
The Application of 3D Landmark-Based Geometric Morphometrics towards Refinement of the Piglet Grimace Scale

Simple Summary Piglet welfare on commercial farms is negatively affected by the routine husbandry procedure of surgical castration. Objective identification of pain is necessary to improve on-farm piglet welfare and for the development of proper pain management. The Piglet Grimace Scale (PGS) is a method of pain assessment using an ordinal scale that quantifies changes in facial expression induced by acute pain. This study evaluated the application of 3D landmark geometric morphometrics in refining existing PGS methods. To determine if these methods could objectively identify alterations in pig facial shape through landmark analysis, piglet images were taken using a multi-camera rig. Images were then used to construct 3D facial models using photogrammetry (structure from motion). Neither established nor refined PGS methods were able to detect pain-induced facial expressions. Further research is warranted to refine the PGS. Abstract Proper methods of assessment to objectively identify pain are essential for welfare improvements of piglets undergoing surgical castration on commercial farms. The Piglet Grimace Scale (PGS) is used to identify changes in facial expressions caused by acute pain in piglets undergoing tail docking and castration. However, subjective scoring methods are a concern for the validation of the PGS. The objectives of this study were to evaluate and refine the PGS through 3D landmark geometric morphometrics. Male piglets (n = 88) were randomly allocated to one of two treatments: castration and sham-castration. Piglet facial images were taken at four time points (before treatment, immediately post-treatment, 1 h post-treatment, and 4 h post-treatment) using a photogrammetry rig. Images were scored by four raters using five facial action units (FAUs): orbital tightening, ear position, temporal tension, lip contraction, and nose bulge/cheek tension. Three-dimensional facial models were generated and landmarked denoting 3 FAUs (orbital tightening, lip contraction, and nose bulge/cheek tension). Results suggest that orbital tightening and ear position may be reliable FAUs for the PGS. However, neither the PGS nor 3D landmark-based geometric morphometrics were able (both p > 0.10) to reliably identify facial indicators of pain in piglets undergoing castration.
Dipolar freezing of glassy K1-xLixTaO3 x = 0.011

Abstract Collective dipolar freezing of K0.989Li0. 011TaO3 is evidenced by dielectric dispersion measurements in the Millihertz regime to occur at Tg ∼ 33 K. The width of the dielectric loss spectrum reveals a sudden spread of the distribution of relaxation times towards τmax = ∞ as T ↪ Tg in accordance with a Vogel-Fulcher type law.
Development and Validation of a Novel Pre-Pregnancy Score Predictive of Preterm Birth in Nulliparous Women Using Data from Italian Healthcare Utilization Databases

Background: Preterm birth is a major worldwide public health concern, being the leading cause of infant mortality. Understanding of risk factors remains limited, and early identification of women at high risk of preterm birth is an open challenge. Objective: The aim of the study was to develop and validate a novel pre-pregnancy score for preterm delivery in nulliparous women using information from Italian healthcare utilization databases. Study Design: Twenty-six variables independently able to predict preterm delivery were selected, using a LASSO logistic regression, from a large number of features collected in the 4 years prior to conception, related to clinical history and socio-demographic characteristics of 126,839 nulliparous women from Lombardy region who gave birth between 2012 and 2017. A weight proportional to the coefficient estimated by the model was assigned to each of the selected variables, which contributed to the Preterm Birth Score. Discrimination and calibration of the Preterm Birth Score were assessed using an internal validation set (i.e., other 54,359 deliveries from Lombardy) and two external validation sets (i.e., 14,703 and 62,131 deliveries from Marche and Sicily, respectively). Results: The occurrence of preterm delivery increased with increasing the Preterm Birth Score value in all regions in the study. Almost ideal calibration plots were obtained for the internal validation set and Marche, while expected and observed probabilities differed slightly in Sicily for high Preterm Birth Score values. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 60%, 61% and 56% for the internal validation set, Marche and Sicily, respectively. Conclusions: Despite the limited discriminatory power, the Preterm Birth Score is able to stratify women according to their risk of preterm birth, allowing the early identification of mothers who are more likely to have a preterm delivery.
Topology Optimization and Multiobjective Optimization for Drive Axle Housing of a Rear Axle Drive Truck

As one of the important load-bearing components of a truck, the drive axle housing must meet the requirements of stiffness and strength. The traditional design method uses redundancy design to meet the performance requirements. The joint design between the three-dimensional mathematical model and finite element model is adopted, and the optimal design of the drive axle housing is realized based on topology optimization and multiobjective optimization. Firstly, the static analysis of the drive axle housing of a rear axle drive truck was carried out with four typical working conditions. It was concluded that the four working conditions all operate under the yield limit of the material, and it was found that the maximum equivalent stress of the four working conditions occurs at the step of the half-shaft casing. Among the four working conditions, the most critical one is the maximum vertical force working condition. Then, based on the maximum vertical force working condition, the fatigue life analysis is conducted, and the minimum fatigue life appears at the transition position of the half-shaft sleeve and the arc transition position of the main reducer chamber. The remaining parts can meet the design requirements. The overall safety factor of the drive axle housing is mainly between 1 and 5 when operating under this working condition. Then, through modal analysis, the first to sixth natural frequency and vibration modes of the drive axle housing are extracted. Based on the modal analysis, the dynamic characteristics of the drive axle housing are further studied by harmonic response analysis and random vibration analysis. Finally, two kinds of lightweight optimization schemes for the drive axle housing are given. Topology optimization reduces the mass of the drive axle housing by 17.4%, but the overall performance slightly decreases. Then, the five dimensional parameters of the drive axle housing are selected as design variables. The mass, maximum deformation, equivalent stress, service life, and the first-, second- and third-order natural frequencies are defined as objective functions. Through the optimal space-filling design method, the experimental designs are performed and the sample points are obtained. Based on the results of experiment design, the multiobjective genetic algorithm and response surface method are combined to optimize the objective functions. The analysis results show that the mass is reduced by 4.35%, the equivalent stress is reduced by 21.05%, the minimum life is increased by 72.28%, and the first-, second-, and third-order natural frequency are also increased to varying degrees. Two different optimization strategies are provided for the design of the drive axle housing.
Impact of Craftsmen’s Mode of Employment on Performance in Selected Construction Firms in Lagos State, Nigeria

The quest to improve productivity of workers and overall performance of construction projects has necessitated the need to examine various categories of workforce and their overall effect on project success. The study investigated construction employment with a view to evaluating their impact on the performance of craftsmen in selected construction firms. The categories of employed craftsmen considered were the permanent, casual, hiring and firing, short-term and part-time. Performance parameters considered were technical experience; workmanship quality; time; and accidents recorded on sites. The craftsmen were drawn from three main trades: bricklayers (blocklaying/bricklaying, concreting, plastering, flooring); carpentry (roofing, timber formworking and scaffolding) and iron fixing (steel work and iron bending). A pilot survey was conducted to determine performance variables through questionnaire administered on thirty (30) experts drawn from selected firms. The experts were: human resources managers; construction managers; site engineers; supervisors and foremen who are directly involved with the employment and work activities of the craftsmen. The study revealed an employment composition of 48% permanent craftsmen, 35% casual while 17% were other staff of the companies studied. The results of employment practices indicated that 55% of the companies used primary six with trade test and 21% used senior secondary school as qualifications for the employment of craftsmen while the remaining companies used other qualifications. With p values of . 001 and . 047 respectively, the crosstab analysis of the impact of employment categories on craftsmen’s performance revealed that there were substantial correlations between casual employment and the frequency of accident and technical performance.
Development and Validation of a New Measure of Work Annoyance Using a Psychometric Network Approach

Existing measures of the impact of job characteristics on workers’ well-being do not directly assess the extent to which such characteristics (e.g., opportunity to learn new skills) are perceived as positive or negative. We developed a measure, the Work Annoyance Scale (WAS), of the level of annoyance that workers feel about certain aspects of the job and evaluated its psychometric properties. Using archival data from two cohorts (n = 2226 and 655) of workers that had undergone an annual medical examination for occupational hazard, we show the usefulness of the network psychometric approach to scale validation and its similarities and differences from a traditional factor analytic approach. The results revealed a two-dimensional structure (working conditions and cognitive demands) that was replicable across cohorts and bootstrapped samples. The two dimensions had adequate structural consistency and discriminant validity with respect to other questionnaires commonly used in organizational assessment, and showed a consistent pattern of association with relevant background variables. Despite the need for more extensive tests of its content and construct validity in light of the organizational changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic and of an evaluation of the generalizability of the results to cultural contexts different from the Italian one, the WAS appears as a psychometrically sound tool for assessment and research in organizational contexts.
On the volume growth of K\"ahler manifolds with nonnegative bisectional curvature

Let $M$ be a complete Kahler manifold with nonnegative bisectional curvature. Suppose the universal cover does not split and $M$ admits a nonconstant holomorphic function with polynomial growth, we prove $M$ must be of maximal volume growth. This confirms a conjecture of Ni. There are two essential ingredients in the proof: The Cheeger-Colding theory on Gromov-Hausdorff convergence of manifolds; the three circle theorem for holomorphic functions.
Antibiotics and Carbohydrate-Containing Drugs Targeting Bacterial Cell Envelopes: An Overview

Certain bacteria constitute a threat to humans due to their ability to escape host defenses as they easily develop drug resistance. Bacteria are classified into gram-positive and gram-negative according to the composition of the cell membrane structure. Gram-negative bacteria have an additional outer membrane (OM) that is not present in their gram-positive counterpart; the latter instead hold a thicker peptidoglycan (PG) layer. This review covers the main structural and functional properties of cell wall polysaccharides (CWPs) and PG. Drugs targeting CWPs are discussed, both noncarbohydrate-related (β-lactams, fosfomycin, and lipopeptides) and carbohydrate-related (glycopeptides and lipoglycopeptides). Bacterial resistance to these drugs continues to evolve, which calls for novel antibacterial approaches to be developed. The use of carbohydrate-based vaccines as a valid strategy to prevent bacterial infections is also addressed.
Genomic and Functional Characterization of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci-Specific Bacteriophages in the Galleria mellonella Wax Moth Larvae Model

Phages are naturally occurring viruses that selectively kill bacterial species without disturbing the individual’s normal flora, averting the collateral damage of antimicrobial usage. The safety and the effectiveness of phages have been mainly confirmed in the food industry as well as in animal models. In this study, we report on the successful isolation of phages specific to Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci, including Enterococcus faecium (VREfm) and Enterococcus faecalis from sewage samples, and demonstrate their efficacy and safety for VREfm infection in the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella model. No virulence-associated genes, antibiotic resistance genes or integrases were detected in the phages’ genomes, rendering them safe to be used in an in vivo model. Phages may be considered as potential agents for therapy for bacterial infections secondary to multidrug-resistant organisms such as VREfm.
CO2 Elevation and Nitrogen Supply Alter the Growth and Physiological Responses of Tomato and Barley Plants to Drought Stress

Global climate change will modify plants in terms of growth and physiology. To better understand the consequences of this effect, the responses of the leaf water relations and nitrogen (N) use efficiency of barley and tomato plants to elevated CO2 (e[CO2], 800 ppm) combined with progressive drought stress at two levels of N supply (N1, 0.5 g N pot−1 and N2, 1.0 g N pot−1) were studied. The plants were grown in two separate phytotrons at ambient CO2 (a[CO2], 400 ppm) and e[CO2], respectively. The leaf physiological parameters as well as carbon (C) and N concentrations were determined; plant growth, water and N use efficiencies were evaluated. The results showed that e[CO2] increased photosynthesis and water use efficiency (WUE) while decreased specific leaf area (SLA) in both species, whereas N supply level differentially influenced WUE in barley and tomato plants. The abscisic acid (ABA)-induced stomatal closure during progressive soil drying varied between the two species where the stomatal conductance (gs) of barley plants was more sensitive to leaf ABA than tomato plants, though CO2 environment did not affect the response in both species. Compared to a[CO2], e[CO2] reduced plant transpiration rate (Tplant) in barley but not in tomato. e[CO2] increased the leaf C:N ratio ([C:N]leaf) in plants by enhancing leaf C concentration ([C]leaf) in barley and by dilution of leaf N concentration ([N]leaf) in tomato, respectively, but N2 substantially decreased [C:N]leaf, and thus, N treatment was the dominant factor controlling [C:N]leaf. Collectively, appropriate N supply may modulate the acclimation of plants to e[CO2] and soil water deficits. This study provides some novel insights into N management of different plant species for adapting to future drier and CO2-enriched environment.
Analysis of Speech Act “Greeting” in Film Love Actually

Pragmatics studies the use of language in human communication in different social backgrounds and contexts (Mey, 2001). In the field of pragmatics, the analysis of speech act constitutes one of the majority of the related research (Austin, 1962). Speech act is significant to research the linguistic phenomena that occur in spoken language, particularly in movies. For this study, it choose the movie Love Actually as the data to investigate one of the speech acts, greeting. Love Actually is British famous romantic comedy, displaying love stories of various characters such as Prime Minister, singer, and writer. Focusing on greeting, the essay will discuss its classification based on Ebsworth et al. (2009), and combine with Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness strategies to bring more implications to language education.
Investigating travel motivations for visiting urban destinations in the Republic of Serbia

The aim of this article is to examine travel motivations for visiting urban destinations in the Republic of Serbia. Differences among the travel motives according to tourists’ demographic characteristics were also analyzed. The research was conducted from June 2018 to July 2019 on tourists who visited urban destinations in Serbia (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš and Kragujevac). The analysis included 390 valid answers from respondents. The research results, which are presented in the article, have shown that tourists visit urban destinations in Serbia for business, education, family and sightseeing. The contribution of this study is reflected in the identification of key travel motives for visiting urban destinations in Serbia and this can help those preparing a tourist offer to adjust their services to the needs and requirements of such tourists.
Musculoskeletal disorders associated with depression and psychosocial risk factors among female teachers in riyadh region, Saudi Arabia

Background: Teachers have the highest musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) rates worldwide because of stressful working conditions. MSD is likely to be linked to psychosocial elements such as need for social help, loss of job control, performance concerns, repetitive work, and feeling burdened and stressed. Objectives: To determine the prevalence and anatomical distribution of MSDs and the associated psychosocial risk factors, primarily depression, among female teachers in the Riyadh region of Saudi Arabia. Settings and Design: An observational, quantitative, cross-sectional study was done. Material and Methods: Data was collected from female teachers in Riyadh region, Saudi Arabia, via a questionnaire. All the participants completed the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ). The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software. Results: Of the 372 questionnaire responses obtained from the teachers, the prevalence of depression was 65.6% and of MSD was 86%. The main site of pain was the neck (62.9%), followed by the lower back (53.8%). There was a significant relationship between the prevalence of MSD and the prevalence of depression. MSD occurred in 64.1% of participants without depression, in 95.9% of those with mild depression, and in 100% of those with more severe depression (P ≤ 0.001). Conclusions: A high prevalence of MSD pain was found among the female teachers, especially among older women, those teaching at elementary schools, and those with a higher number of pregnancies. The coexistence of MSD and depression affects the work ability of the teachers and reduces their efficiency.
Non-strabismic Binocular Vision Dysfunction among the Medical Students of a Teaching Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

ABSTRACT Introduction: Non-strabismic binocular vision dysfunctions are visual disorders that affect the person's binocular vision and visual outcome while performing near tasks and are very common among medical students. This study aimed to find out the prevalence of non-strabismic binocular vision dysfunction among the medical students of a teaching hospital. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students of a teaching hospital from 25 April 2022 to 25 May 2022. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Committee of the same institute (Reference number: 139/17). A detailed ocular evaluation including history, visual acuity, refraction, and detailed orthoptic evaluation was done. Convenience sampling was done. Point estimate and 95% Confidence Interval were calculated. Results: Out of 284 students, 79 (27.81%) (22.60-33.02, 95% Confidence Interval) had non-strabismic binocular vision dysfunctions. Convergence insufficiency was the commonest one seen in 38 (48.10%), followed by divergence excess seen in 8 (10.12%) and convergence excess seen in 8 (10.12%) students. Conclusions: The prevalence of non-strabismic binocular vision dysfunction among medical students was lower than in other studies conducted in similar settings.
Global well-posedness for periodic generalized KdV equation

In this paper, we show the global well-posedness for periodic gKdV equations in the space $H^s(\mathbb{T})$, $s\ge \frac12$ for quartic case, and $s> \frac59$ for quintic case. These improve the previous results of I-team in 2004. In particular, the result is sharp for quintic case. The main approaches are the I-method combining with the resonance decomposition developed by Miao et al in 2010, and a bilinear Strichartz estimate in periodic setting.
English Digital Literacy Practices Inside and Outside Class to Develop Students’ Speaking Skills

The development of technology has initiated new teaching systems. In teaching speaking, there are issues about whether the students should learn in the class or outside of the class using technology. This article describes the practice of students' digital English literacy practice at SMAN Kapuas to study this digital practice's pedagogical potential when students interact directly or through social networks such as live streaming on YouTube or Instagram, video calls, or chatting with friends. A mixed-method study using questionnaires and interviews analyzed deeper and richer data. The results show that many sentences were still wrong when spoken in class. However, they can understand speaking lessons based on digital literacy, which they play or watch outside of the class. This implied that students should be instructed in alternative speaking methods. They may enhance their speaking abilities more purposefully, carefully, and often by using suitable language acquisition tools outside of the class.