Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sparse Semi-Oblivious Routing: Few Random Paths Suffice

The packet routing problem asks to select routing paths that minimize the maximum edge congestion for a set of packets specified by source-destination vertex pairs. We revisit a semi-oblivious approach to this problem: each source-destination pair is assigned a small set of well-chosen predefined paths before the demand is revealed, while the sending rates along the paths can be optimally adapted to the demand. This approach has been considered in practice in network traffic engineering due to its superior robustness and performance as compared to both oblivious routing and traditional traffic engineering approaches. We show the existence of sparse semi-oblivious routings: only O(log n) paths are selected between each pair of vertices. The routing is (poly log n)-competitive for all demands against the offline-optimal congestion objective, even on worst-case graphs. Even for the well-studied case of hypercubes, no such result was known: our deterministic and oblivious selection of O(log n) paths is the first simple construction of a deterministic oblivious structure that nearoptimally assigns source-destination pairs to few routes. Prior work shows that a deterministic selection of a single path in a hypercube yields unacceptable performance; our results contrast the current solely-negative landscape of results for semi-oblivious routing. We give the sparsity-competitiveness trade-off for lower sparsities and nearly match it with a lower bound. Our construction is extremely simple: Sample the few paths from any competitive oblivious routing. Indeed, this natural construction was used in traffic engineering as an unproven heuristic. We give a satisfactory theoretical justification for their empirical effectiveness: the competitiveness of the construction improves exponentially with the number of paths. In other words, semi-oblivious routing benefits from the power of random choices. Finally, when combined with the recent hop-constrained oblivious routing, we also obtain sparse and competitive structures for the completion-time objective.
Towards bacterial valorization of low molecular weight lignin

Lignin is one of the major constituents in lignocellulosic biomass and is the mostabundant source of renewable aromatics on terrestrial ecosystems. The workcarried out in this thesis concerns bacterial conversion of low molecular weightlignin. This thesis is divided into three major sections, with an initial emphasison screening and characterization of selected bacterial species on lignin modelcompounds, followed by testing their performance on treated lignin substrates,and finally progressing towards strain improvement via metabolic engineering. During screening for bacteria using samples from natural and man-madeenvironments, Pseudomonas species were found dominant. Some of theseisolates, and the well-known aromatic degrader – Pseudomonas putida KT2440– were cultivated on lignin model compounds. P. putida and Pseudomonas sp.isolate 9.1 attained specific growth rates of about 0.21-0.27 h-1 and 0.12-0.30 h-1 respectively, on several compounds from the coniferyl, p-coumaryl and benzoyl branches of the funnelling pathways. Meanwhile, a contaminant was found growing on syringate plates, and was later identified to be a bacterium belonging to the Microbacterium genus. This Gram-positive bacterium, named RG1, was able to consume syringate and syringaldehyde besides other aromatic compounds from the coniferyl and p-coumaryl branches. Due to its interesting abilities to assimilate syringyl compounds, the genome of this strain was sequenced to identify genes involved in a putative syringyl pathway.To assess the performance of selected bacteria on lignin substrates, cultivationswere performed using alkaline- and oxidatively-treated Kraft lignin. P. putida and P. fluorescens consumed 4-HBA, vanillin, and vanillate in the complex ligninmixture that likely contained various toxic products. In addition, Rhodococcusopacus and Sphingobium sp. SYK-6 assimilated guaiacol and acetovanillonerespectively, from the lignin mixture. Interestingly, P. fluorescens was able tobreak down the higher molecular weight lignin and produce several smallermolecules.P. putida was selected as a host organism for genetic engineering aimed atexpanding the range of substrates utilized. Heterologous expression of thecytochrome P450 and oxidoreductase genes from R. rhodochrous enabled P.putida to assimilate guaiacol – one of the major depolymerization products fromsoftwood lignin – as the sole carbon source. Furthermore, the identification anddeletion of an aldehyde reductase in a P. putida strain that converts ferulate tovanillin, increased the yield of vanillin by eliminating the formation of vanillylalcohol as by-product. (Less)
More evidence on the latent benefits of work: bolstered by volunteering while threatened by job insecurity

ABSTRACT This research examined whether volunteering would grant an alternative route to meaning at work (in the form of the latent benefits of work), even when people are deprived of meaning in times of job insecurity. Two longitudinal studies conducted in Germany (2 waves; n = 110) and the United Kingdom (3 waves; n = 377) showed that volunteering was related to more latent benefits in general, although the specific relationships differed between the countries: In the German sample, volunteering led to more collective purpose and social contacts over time, in the UK sample, it increased time structure and activity. Cross-lagged path analyses further showed that the relationship between volunteering and the latent benefits was reciprocal in both countries: volunteering increased the latent benefits and vice versa. There was limited evidence for the depriving effect of job insecurity, which was found only cross-sectionally. In sum, the results confirm that volunteering can enhance the benefits of work in times of job insecurity and that the effect is reciprocal.
Supplier integration, operational capability and firm performance: an investigation in an emerging economy environment

Abstract The literature on supplier integration’s (SI) impact on firm performance is intertwined with mixed findings in terms of definitional differences, study context, specific integration components, and the types of relationships examined. This study contributes to the supplier integration and firm performance (SI-FP) literature by investigating how and when supplier integration influences firm performance. Drawing on the relational view, the resource-based view, and the Dynamics Capability theories, we suggest that improvements in firm performance from the supplier integration perspective are dependent on gains in operational capabilities. We test this dependency with survey data from firms in Ghana, a developing economy. The results show positive significant relationships between supplier integration and competitive operational capabilities and between supplier integration and firm performance. Our results highlight the importance for managers in developing economies and elsewhere to improve their firms’ operational capabilities and competitiveness by investing in supplier integration. We also discuss implications of these findings for research.
Assessing Peak-To-Mean Ratios of Odour Intensity in the Atmosphere near Swine Operations

Odour in the atmosphere is usually characterized by an intermittent time series of high peaks and periods of low (or zero) concentrations. The peak-to-mean ratio (PMR) is commonly used to estimate short-term peaks from long-term averages to assess the odour impact. The objective of this study was to quantify the peak-to-mean ratio of odour intensity (PMR_OI) in the atmosphere near swine operations. Fifteen human assessors (sniffers) were trained to use an 8 point odour intensity scale to measure odour intensity in the ambient air near two swine operations. In each measurement session, the sniffers were placed 0° (in the direction of wind), 30°, and 45° from the wind directions at 100, 500, and 1000 m from the swine operations to sniff odour in the air every 10 s for 30 min. The results showed that odour in the atmosphere was intermittent. The intermittency (% of time when odour was detected) increased with the averaging time and decreased with the distance from the odour source and the direction from the wind. The measured intermittency ranged from 13% to 85%. The PMR_OI increased with the averaging time, the distance from the source, and the direction from the wind. In the wind direction, the largest difference in PMR_OI between 1 and 30 min averaging times was 68% (2.5 vs. 4.2), which occurred at 1000 m from the odour source under stability class B. The average PMR_OI increased from 1.5 at 100 m to 3.5 at 1000 m. Atmospheric stability had a noticeable effect on PMR_OI. At 1000 m, the 30 min PMR_OI decreased from 4.2 at stability class B (unstable) to 2.4 at E (slightly stable).
Frequency and pattern of respiratory diseases in children

Respiratory diseases are a common cause of morbidity and mortality in the pediatric age group particularly in children younger than five years. Each year approximately 10.6 million children younger than five years of age die due to acute respiratory infection (ARI). According to World Health Organization (WHO) 19% of the total number of these deaths are due to Pneumonia. A study from Malawi observed that out of a 1000 admission in the pediatric age group, 298 cases were due to respiratory diseases in children.
Rubber band ligation of hemorrhoids: a hospital based study

Background: Hemorrhoids are symptomatic anal cushions containing arteriovenous anastomosis. Patient with haemorrhoids can present as bleeding per rectum, something (mass) coming out per rectum, perianal itching, Anaemia due to occult blood loss. Various modalities of treatment have been developed to treat symptomatic haemorrhoids. This study was undertaken to determine the efficacy of rubber band ligation in the management of haemorrhoids.Methods: This study was a prospective study conducted in the Department of Surgery, Government Medical College, Srinagar from June 2015 to June 2018. Patients at any age with first, second- or third-degree internal haemorrhoids were included in the study. Patients with fourth degree, complicated haemorrhoids, previous anorectal surgery or anorectal pathology, and chronic liver disease were excluded. A total of 212 patients were included in the study. Rubber band ligation was done as an OPD procedure. The patients were followed at 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 3-month, 6 month and 1 year after the procedure.Results: In this study, out of 212 patients, 154(72.6%) were males and 58(27.4%) females. The mean age of this study was 38.7 yr. (Range 17-73 yr.). Patients presented with the complaints of bleeding (184, 86.8%), prolapse (114, 53.7%), constipation (116, 54.7%), priuritis ani (36, 17.0%), pain (12, 5.6%). Band ligation was successful in 188(88.8%) patients, 169(79.7%) patients were cured and in 19(8.9%) improvement was obtained. Various complications occurred after band ligation including vasovagal syncope (2, 0.9%), bleeding per anum (6, 2.8%), pain (12, 5.6%), fissure in ano (1, 0.5%). Recurrence after one year was seen in 9(4.2%) patients.Conclusions: Author concluded in this study that RBL is an effective outpatient treatment for grade II and III internal haemorrhoids without much complications.
PEMBELAJARAN MATEMATIKA MENYENANGKAN DENGAN APLIKASI KUIS ONLINE QUIZIZZ

Kemajuan teknologi telah mengubah wajah dunia. Khusus di sektor pendidikan, perubahan yang terlihat adalah pada pemanfaatan teknologi informasi dan komputer dalam kegiatan belajar mengajar. Salah satu fase penting dalam perkembangan teknologi adalah munculnya revolusi industri gelombang ke-4, atau yang lebih dikenal dengan sebutan Industrial Revolution4.0 . Hal ini yang menjadikan pendidikan dan pembelajaran di dalam kelas tidak hanya bergantung pada ruang kelas, dimanapun, kapanpun, bagaimanapun dan sedang apa saja, proses pembelajaran dalam dilakukan. Salah satu dari proses pembelajaran adalah evaluasi. Berbagai apliasi kuis on-line dapat diakses oleh guru dan peserta didik, salah satu yang digunakan adalah aplikasi Quizizz. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk memberikan alternatif pembelajaran di era revolusi pembelajaran 4.0, sehingga proses belajar dan mengajar dapat dilakukan dimanapun, kapanpun, tanpa terbentur dinding kelas.
Massa Óssea Cortical do Fémur numa Coleção Esquelética de Referência Portuguesa

This study aims to investigate femoral cortical bone fragility and its associations with age (at death), sex, bone mineral density and osteoporotic fractures. Radiogrammetric parameters of the femur and bone mineral density at the proximal femur were assessed in an adult sample (N=98) from the Coimbra Identified Skeletal Collection (Portugal). Diaphysis total width (DTW), femoral cortical index (FEMCI) and bone mineral density (BMD) are significantly higher in males, while medullary width (MW) is not statistically different between sexes. Cortical bone parameters of the femoral diaphysis are associated with age only in women, whereas BMD decreases with age in both sexes. The evaluation of femoral cortical bone reveals sex-specific trajectories of endosteal bone loss and periosteal apposition, stemming from sexual differences in the rate and pattern of bone loss, and in bone size. In females, endocortical bone loss rises with age, particularly in peri- and postmenopausal years, decelerating later in life. Concomitantly, accretion of bone in the subperiosteal surface persists throughout adulthood – partially offsetting bone fragility in women. Strength in the femoral mid-diaphysis appears to be preserved throughout most of the life course in both sexes.
Thai wives in Europe and European husbands in Thailand: how social locations shape their migration experiences and engagement with host societies

ABSTRACT This study examines the migration experiences of women and men in Thai-European transnational couples, focusing on how their respective identities and social locations affect their engagement with the host society. It is based on in-depth interviews with 13 European husbands in Thailand and 13 Thai wives who have recently returned from Europe. We find that European husbands in Thailand experience elevated status as they are perceived by Thai locals to be transnationally privileged with wealth and power; while Thai wives in Europe experience cultural and social downward mobility, often facing prejudice and discrimination. The elevated status that European husbands experience in Thailand leads many to adopt a ‘Eurocentric’ approach, leading to a lack of engagement with Thai society. However, both groups of migrants are relatively vulnerable: the perceived elevated status of European husbands tends to decline over time; while Thai wives in Europe lack substantive social and emotional safety nets.
Hyperspectral Image Spectral–Spatial-Range Gabor Filtering

Spectral–spatial Gabor filtering, which is based on 3-D local harmonic analysis, has been a powerful spectral–spatial feature extraction tool for hyperspectral image (HSI) classification. However, existing spectral–spatial Gabor approaches are prone to oversmoothing, neglecting the existences of edges and negatively affecting the classification. In this article, we propose a new HSI Gabor filtering concept, called spectral–spatial-range Gabor filtering, which intends to restrain edge interference from disturbing local spectral–spatial harmonic components. Contributions and novelties of our work can be identified as follows: 1) an HSI filtering framework is created, which can accommodate various Gabor filtering procedures and hence offer the potential to guide the design of new Gabor filters; 2) following such a unified filtering framework and taking into consideration both local spectral–spatial harmonic characteristics and range domain variations, we develop a new concept of spectral–spatial-range Gabor filtering; and 3) utilizing this proposed Gabor prototype and elaborating mathematical derivations, we achieve a novel discriminative spectral–spatial-range Gabor filtering method, which can deal with discriminative local harmonics and edge interference simultaneously along the spectral–spatial-range domain, obtaining highly discriminative Gabor features while yielding linear computational complexity. Our novel method is evaluated on four real HSI data sets and achieves excellent performances.
Assessment of Hand-Cut Injuries among Pathologists and the Efficacy of Cut-Resistant Gloves in Preventing Them

Objectives: Cutting injuries and needle-stick injuries constitute a potentially fatal danger to pathologists. We evaluated such injuries in four french university anatomic pathology laboratories and analyzed the effect of the using of cut-resistant gloves to prevent these injuries. Methods: For this study, we designed a 12-item online survey to assess the location of the laboratory, the number of years of practice, detailed questions about the use of cut-resistant glove including: Weather the pathologist started using them before or after his residency, frequency of wearing it, on which hand he or she wear it, History of hand-cut injuries with detailed information about the affected hand and the moment of the accident, Declaration of the accident and weather blood tests for infectious diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) were done. Results: 17 of the 42 pathologists who participated in our study were sustained a hand injury. Most injuries were located at the non-dominant hand. Only 3 of 17 pathologists were wearing a cut-resistant glove when the injury happened, and those injuries turned to be a needle-stick injury caused by the tip of the blade or by a pin. Conclusion: Cut-resistant protective gloves are an effective and cost-effective completion of personal occupational safety measures in surgical pathology. We strongly recommend the use of such gloves, especially when handling a fresh surgical specimen.
Long-term imaging, automated high-content phenotyping and sorting of C. elegans larvae and embryos using microfluidic platforms

The model organism C. elegans is frequently studied to address fundamental biological questions motivated by its short life cycle, small size, hermaphrodite behavior and well-annotated genome. In this work, we present novel microfluidic platforms that support long-term culture, automated high-content phenotyping, high-resolution imaging and multiplexing, as well as a hand-held device for sorting of larvae and embryos of C. elegans. In the microfluidics-enabled studies of C. elegans, in vivo nematode culturing platforms that allow high-content phenotyping during worms’ life cycle in an automated fashion have been rare so far. In our first study, we present a multiplexed polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based microfluidic platform for the rapid high-content phenotyping of populations of C. elegans down to single animal resolution. We reversibly and frequently (every 35 minutes) confined nematodes during their life cycle inside tapered channels for stable fluorescence imaging and extraction of growth parameters, in combination with a determination of motility phenotypes obtained from video-recording (every 7 hours) of freely moving nematodes. We extracted 19 phenotypic parameters and proved that dietary restriction (DR) plays a crucial role in the disease regression of a worm model of Huntington’s disease. In a second work, we demonstrate a multiplexed, high-throughput and automated embryo phenotyping microfluidic platform to analyze embryogenesis of C. elegans under application of different chemical compounds. We performed up to 800-embryo experiments within a preparation time of only 35 minutes and executed 12 hours of imaging (with 5 and 10 minute intervals), which was followed by an automated phenotyping using machine learning and image processing approaches. Our validation study of osmosensation on the embryos indicated a developmental lag and an induction of mitochondrial stress in embryos exposed to high doses (200 mM) of glucose and NaCl, while small doses of sucrose and glucose accelerated development. We also realized that microfluidic technologies could further be exploited for nematode studies at single organism resolution, providing more of a ‘personalized’ phenotyping while also collecting population-averaged information like in conventional bio-assays. In particular, we have realized a multiplexed, potentially high-throughput and high-resolution microfluidic platform to culture C. elegans from embryo to the adult stage at single-animal resolution. We first placed single embryos in growth chambers, observing the main embryonic stages (image-captured every 5 minutes) and continued with C. elegans larvae developmental studies (video-recorded every 4 hours). As a proof-of-concept, we exposed the nematodes to 8 different concentrations, from 1 nM to 1 mM, to the anthelmintic drug tetramisole diluted in
Gender Inequality and Resource Sharing: Evidence from Rural Nicaragua

Gender inequality in access to resources remains persistent in rural areas in developing countries. To better understand the mechanisms responsible for gender inequality, we start from the observation that access to resources in rural villages is largely determined by within-village resource sharing, which is embedded in social networks. It is therefore important to study the influence of gender on resource sharing while taking account of the social networks of men and women. To do so, we combine data from a distribution experiment and a network survey in rural Nicaragua. We find that sharing is higher among friends and that women have fewer friends than men. Men share more than women and do not discriminate against women, while women share less with men. These results are robust to controls for friendship ties and gender differences in the reporting of these ties. We attribute these results to the gendered division of labour.
Modified hematological sepsis score: an easy and cost effective measure to combat neonatal septicemia

Background: Early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis continues to be a problem because of subtle and non-specific clinical features. Blood culture is the gold standard, but it takes several days and is expensive. The hematological scoring system (HSS) consisting of different blood parameters could be an effective and simple method to help diagnose and treat neonatal sepsis. Aim of the present study was undertaken to highlight the importance of HSS in the early diagnosis and evaluation of neonatal septicaemia. Methods: This was a prospective study done in a peripheral hospital in Kerala. The inclusion criteria involved all inborn babies above 34weeks gestation. Exclusion criteria involved babies with congenital anomalies, congenital heart diseases, pathological jaundice, birth weight less than 2kg and babies requiring NICU admission, 550 babies were included in the study. Cord CRP and 48 hours CRP was taken. At 48 hours, blood samples were also taken for Total count (TC), Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC), Platelet count, and peripheral smear. Blood culture was taken for babies suspected to have sepsis and started on antibiotics. The screening parameters were assessed for individual performance and in combination. Results: Individually, though parameters like TC, ANC, 48 hrs CRP and platelet count had excellent sensitivity (100%) and NPV (100%), their specificity was low 65%-82%. Degenerative changes showed sensitivity 94.1%, specificity 91% and NPV 99.8%. HSS score >5 and >6 had better specificity and NPV. Conclusions: HSS scoring can be used to safely exclude neonatal sepsis, thus avoiding unnecessary antibiotic exposure in newborns and undue worry for parents.