Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Early field growth performance of ten selected bamboo taxa: The case study of Sabal bamboo pilot project in Sarawak, Malaysia

Abstract. Hassan NHM, Abdullah N, Kelana DNA, Perumal M. 2022. Early field growth performance of ten selected bamboo taxa: The case study of Sabal bamboo pilot project in Sarawak, Malaysia. Biodiversitas 23: 2882-2892. Information on early growth performance and survival rate of bamboos are pivotal for the development of the Sarawak bamboo industry. Thus, a study on the early growth performance of ten bamboo taxa was conducted at the Sarawak Bamboo Pilot Project site in Sabal, Simunjan, Sarawak, Malaysia. Six taxa were originated from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and the other four bamboo taxa were originated locally from Sarawak. Study sites were established at bamboo plantation areas at different age stands. Two replications of data for each taxon involving 50 readings (25 readings for one replication) were measured and quantified for growth parameters of the number of culms per clump, number of new shoots, culm diameter, and culm height. The findings indicated that Gigantochloa hasskarliana (Busi bamboo) had the highest number of culms per clump (43) while Guadua angustifolia (Duri bamboo) had the highest number of new bamboo shoots (2.93). Nonetheless, Dendrocalamus asper (Green) had the highest culm diameter (3.61 cm) while Bambusa balcooa (Bema bamboo) had the highest culm height (8.36 m). The results showed that different bamboo species have different early growth performances, thus further detailed investigation and long-term monitoring period are required to achieve the commercial plantation scale, especially in Sarawak.
Alectinib after failure to crizotinib in patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer: results from the Spanish early access program

This retrospective observational study analyzed the clinical characteristics, treatment patterns and outcomes of 120 patients with advanced ALK-positive non-small-cell lung cancer (ALK+ NSCLC) according to data collected between November 2019 and October 2020 in 38 Spanish hospitals. Patients had progressed after 1–5 prior treatment lines (which included crizotinib in any prior line) and received subsequent therapy with alectinib in a local expanded access program. Median age was 58.7 years, 50% of patients were female, 64.1% had ECOG PS of 0–1, 85% presented stage IV, 95% had adenocarcinoma histology and 20.8% had brain metastases. After a median 9.6 months of alectinib treatment, objective response rate (ORR) was 54.5%, disease control rate (DCR) was 80%, median progression-free survival (PFS) was 9.4 months and median overall survival (OS) was 24.1 months. Patients with brain metastases achieved an intracranial DCR of 71.4%. Adverse events (AEs) were reported in 35.8% of patients (14.2% of AEs were grade ≥3). Over 40% of patients received some treatment after alectinib, most frequently lorlatinib (65.2%) and brigatinib (32.6%). This study provides information on real-world treatment patterns and confirms the tolerability and prolonged PFS and OS observed with alectinib in clinical trials, in unselected pretreated patients with advanced ALK+ NSCLC.
PMED: Optimal Bayesian Platform Trial Design with Multiple Endpoints

ABSTRACT In oncology drug development, indication selection and optimal dose identification are the primary objectives for the early phase of clinical trials and could significantly impact the probability of success. Master protocols, e.g., basket trial, umbrella trial, and platform trial, have become popular in practice considering the connection of trial designs with multiple indications and treatment candidates. They also enable the optimization of operational resources and maximize the capability of data-driven decision-making. However, most of the available designs are developed with the efficacy endpoint only for treatment effect estimation and testing, without consideration of the safety end point. Thus, it often lacks a comprehensive quantitative framework to allow optimal treatment selection, which could put future development at risk. We propose an optimal Bayesian platform trial design with multiple end points (PMED) to characterize the overall benefit-risk profile. The design is further extended to allow treatment and indication selection within and across arms, with continuous monitoring on multiple interim analyses for futility. In addition, we propose dynamic borrowing across arms to increase the efficiency and accuracy of estimation given the level of similarity across arms. A hierarchical hypothesis structure is utilized to achieve optimal indication and treatment combination selection by controlling family-wise error. Through simulation studies, we show that PMED is a robust design under the studied scenarios with superb power and controlled family-wise error rate.
Social Media Impact of Myopia Research

Background: Myopia has become a public health issue worldwide. The fast increase in myopia prevalence in the last years has been accompanied by an increase in information through social and conventional media. This has led to the fight not only against a pandemic but also against the infodemic. The excess of information has made it increasingly difficult for health professionals to identify high-quality articles. Alternative Metrics are useful tools to identify publications that provoke attention to society. This research aims to study the impact that research on myopia has had on social media. Methods: Almetric Explorer was used to make a search using “myopia” as a keyword. The 100 outputs with the highest attention were analyzed and correlated with the number of cites on Web of Science using Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Results: The top 100 Altmetric Attention Score were published in 47 journals and had a mean value of Altmetric Attention Score of 437.61 ± 718.33. The outputs were mostly discussed on Twitter, with a mean of 296.36 ± 1585.58 tweets and retweets, and a mean of 185.18 ± 211.57 readers in Mendeley. There was a low correlation between Altmetric Attention Score and Web of Science Cites for the top-100 outputs. Conclusions: although myopia is a research topic with a high interest in society, most cited articles are not those with the most impact on social media. Myopia researchers should make more effort in promoting their goals, and social media is a useful tool to share them.
Cardiopatias congênitas e cromossomopatias detectadas por meio do cariótipo

Objective: To review the relationship between congenital heart defects and chromosomal abnormalities detected by the karyotype. Data sources: Scientific articles were searched in MEDLINE database, using the descriptors “karyotype” OR “chromosomal” OR “chromosome” AND “heart defects, congenital”. The research was limited to articles published in English from 1980 on. Data synthesis: Congenital heart disease is characterized by an etiologically heterogeneous and not well understood group of lesions. Several researchers have evaluated the presence of chromosomal abnormalities detected by the karyotype in patients with congenital heart disease. However, most of the articles were retrospective studies developed in Europe and only some of the studied patients had a karyotype exam. In this review, only one study was conducted
Rooster sperm pellet cryopreservation protocols: effect of step variations on the qualitative parameters of post-thawed sperm

Abstract The cryopreservation of sperm into pellets is not the preferred way to package avian semen but is quick and easy to do and does not require sophisticated technology. The aim of this study was to evaluate rooster sperm viability and mobility and the incidence of normal cells and sperm injuries in post-thawed pelleted sperm. The outcomes of different pelleting protocols were evaluated, which varied according to the parameter combinations used in each of the critical steps of the freezing process and in the thawing conditions which differed in methodology and temperature. The protocols employing 6% DMA showed the highest values of thawed sperm mobility. The most favourable thawing method in terms of sperm mobility was using the hot-plate at 60 °C, followed by the water-bath at 50 °C. The protocols resulting in the best sperm quality parameters employed a 1:2 dilution rate, a 30-min equilibration time at 4 °C, 6% DMA, and thawed 80 µL pellets using the water-bath at 50 °C or the hot-plate at 60 °C. According to the parameters evaluated, rooster sperm was highly susceptible to damage caused by the freezing-thawing methodology, although the survival rate of normal sperm cells still reached 39%, with 32% recovered mobility with respect to fresh sperm samples. HIGHLIGHTS A feasible method for the ex-situ management of genetic resources in birds involves the use of cryopreserved sperm. The cryopreservation of domestic fowl semen into pellets constitutes a reasonably simple, quick and affordable technology. This technology may be extremely valid and practical for use on small farms.
Interconnectedness of trust-commitment-export performance dimensions: A model of the contingent effect of calculative commitment

Abstract This research on relationship marketing aims to revisit and reposition different foci of trust, commitment, and performance perception in the export/import relationships and explore the interconnectedness effects. We have collected self-reported survey questionnaire responses from 142 non-oil exporters in Ecuador. The data were analyzed with SmartlPls 3.0 software. We found that calculative commitment negatively moderates inter-organizational trust and affective commitment relationships. The other significant findings include the indirect relationship (mediating effect) of affective commitment to financial export performance through relationship export performance. With these novel contributions, we also identify some expected relationships- as both interpersonal and inter-organizational trust positively affects affective commitment, and relationship export performance significantly predicts financial export performance. Cross-sectional data collection and responses from one side of the export-import dyad are one of this research’s limitations. However, they are not uncommon in export marketing literature. Giving a justified position of different dimensions of trust and commitment in the export-import equation is the novelty of this scholarship. Clarifying the affective commitment and export performance relationship is another contribution of this research. Nevertheless, the dimensional views of trust and commitment re-established some known assumptions in a less researched country setting should also be considered a contribution.
The Clinical Relevance of Hypothyroidism in Patients with Solid Non-Thyroid Cancer: A Tantalizing Conundrum

Hypothyroidism in patients with solid non-thyroid cancer is a tantalizing entity, integrating an intriguing thyroid hormones (THs)–cancer association with the complexity of hypothyroidism itself. The present narrative review provides a comprehensive overview of the clinical relevance of hypothyroidism in solid non-thyroid cancer. Hypothyroidism in patients with solid non-thyroid cancer is reminiscent of hypothyroidism in the general population, yet also poses distinct challenges due to the dual role of THs in cancer: promoting versus inhibitory. Close collaboration between oncologists and endocrinologists will enable the prompt and personalized diagnosis and treatment of hypothyroidism in patients with solid non-thyroid cancer. Clinical data indicate that hypothyroidism is a predictor of a decreased or increased risk of solid non-thyroid cancer and is a prognostic factor of favorable or unfavorable prognosis in solid non-thyroid cancer. However, the impact of hypothyroidism with respect to the risk and/or prognosis of solid non-thyroid cancer is not a consistent finding. To harness hypothyroidism, or THs replacement, as a personalized anticancer strategy for solid non-thyroid cancer, four prerequisites need to be fulfilled, namely: (i) deciphering the dual THs actions in cancer; (ii) identifying interventions in THs status and developing agents that block tumor-promoting THs actions and/or mimic anticancer THs actions; (iii) appropriate patient selection; and (iv) counteracting current methodological limitations.
VAM: An End-to-End Simulator for Time Series Regression and Temporal Link Prediction in Social Media Networks

We present a machine-learning-driven end-to-end simulator, called the Volume-Audience-Match (VAM) simulator. VAM’s purpose is to simulate future phenomena related to various topics of discussion in social media networks. We focus our attention on the social media platform, Twitter, due to its abundant use in today’s world. VAM was applied to do time series forecasting to predict the future: 1) number of total activities; 2) number of active old users; and 3) number of newly active users over the span of 24 hours from the start time of prediction. VAM then used these macroscopic volume predictions (VPs) to perform user link predictions. A user–user edge was assigned to each of the activities in the 24 future time steps. We report that VAM outperformed multiple baseline models in the time series task, which were the auto-regressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), auto regressive moving average (ARMA), auto regressive (AR), moving average (MA), Persistence Baseline, and state-of-the-art tNodeEmbed models. Furthermore, we show that VAM outperformed the Persistence Baseline and tNodeEmbed models used for the user-assignment tasks. Finally, it is also shown that using Reddit activity data improves prediction accuracy.
Engineered Equestrian Riding Surfaces

Engineered equestrian surfaces are complex systems subject to unique loading. Interest in engineered surfaces has been growing since a properly designed surface boasts better performance, increased safety, and reduced maintenance as compared to other more traditional sand or turf riding surfaces. The goals of engineered riding surfaces are to improve the riding characteristics and horse performance and to reduce maintenance requirements. Research was undertaken to investigate how changes in surface material composition affect geotechnical properties of riding surfaces, and how changes in geotechnical properties affect the riding characteristics. Direct shear testing, Light Weight Deflectometer, and a new custom built Lab Drop Apparatus were used to characterize riding surface materials. Methods for quantitatively evaluating riding surface performance based on these tests are proposed. Two case studies were conducted to compare quantitative analysis methods to qualitative feedback from riders.
Antibacterial Efficacy of Different Intracanal Irrigants on Root Canal Treatment: An In-Vitro Study

Aims: Out of many properties that an endodontic disinfecting agent should possess, the most important is that of having a wide range of antibacterial efficacy. This study has been performed to see the effect of different agents on the bacterial microflora and to see how efficient they are against them. Our study has used 3 different agents (Chlorohexidine, Sodium Hypochlorite, and Neem extract) and compared their efficacy against bacterial microflora. Study Design: Experimental study design Place and Duration: The study was conducted in the Department of Endodontics at Fatima Jinnah Dental College and Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan from February 2020 to March 2020. Methodology: Infected samples from individuals were collected through paper points and then allowed to be cultured and incubated on blood agar plates at 37 degrees in an incubator for 24 hours. The colonies were then identified through the gram staining procedure and grown on MHA agar to conduct the disk diffusion test for sensitivity. Individual zones of inhibition for irrigants were measured and compared against each other. Results: A total of 36 infected samples were included in the study out of which 12 samples were irrigated with chlorohexidine, 12 with sodium hypochlorite, and 12 with neem extract. there was a statistically significant difference in mean diameters of the inhibition zone observed between the three groups for the mean inhibition zone (F=12.28, P=0.001). Conclusion: Chlorohexidine showed greater efficacy against bacterial microflora, compared to both sodium hypochlorite and neem extract.
Class-home Connection Using Communication Technology and its Impact on Anxiety Reduction and Academic Performance

This study tries to shed light on the importance of using communication technology in class-home connection, where the two-way communication that requires electronic interactive dialogue between teachers and parents are used, and how this communication may enhance students’ English language academic performance and help in reducing their classroom anxiety. The sample of the study consists of thirty EFL secondary school students with their parents. Two instruments were used to collect data; structured interview with parents, observation checklists to measure students’ anxiety, in addition to use students’ academic performance to determine their level of achievement in English. The results show that parents have positive attitudes towards using communication technology in class-home connection. It further demonstrates that students’ level of anxiety was reduced notably after applying the experiment, when the parents connect with the teacher daily, in addition to palpable improvement in students’ academic performance in English language.
Exposure Detection Applications Acceptance: The Case of COVID-19

The pandemic’s context is rife with numerous dangerous threats and high fear levels, influencing human decision-making. Such characteristics are identified by investigating the acceptance of exposure detection apps from the technology acceptance model (TAM) perspective. This study purposed a model to investigate protection technology acceptance, specifically exposure detection apps in the context of COVID-19. Quantitative study approach and a cross-section design targeted 586 participants from Saudi Arabia. As the study model is complex, the study hypotheses were analysed using the structural equation modelling–partial least squares (SEM-PLS3) approach. The findings support the entire model hypothesis except the link between social media awareness and exposure detection apps’ intention. Mediation of COVID-19 anxiety and influence was confirmed as well. The current paper contributes to the technologies acceptance domain by developing a context-driven model comprising the major pandemic characteristics that lead to various patterns of technology acceptance. This study also fills the literature gap regarding mediating effects of social influence and COVID-19 anxiety in the relationship between trust in government and exposure detection apps implementation, and between COVID-19 anxiety and exposure detection apps implementation, respectively. The results may assist government agencies, health policymakers, and health organisations in the wide world and specifically Saudi Arabia, in their attempts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic spread.
Factors Affecting Innovation Resistance of Smartphone AI Voice Assistants

Abstract This study examined the determinants of innovation resistance to smartphone AI voice assistants. The study also applied structural equation modeling to verify the influences of determinants on innovation resistance by comparing proposed and rival models. Our results show that functional risk and satisfaction with existing technology positively influence innovation resistance while pre-similar technology attitudes and social norms have a negative influence. Furthermore, we confirmed the hierarchical relationship between variables that existing technical satisfaction positively impacts performance risk, and pre-similar technology attitude positively impacts social norms. The theoretical significance of the study’s results reveals that researchers should consider social influence in innovation resistance studies in the new media. Our findings also have implications for the propriety public use of smartphone AI voice assistants as determinants of innovation resistance.
Acceleration Amplitude of the Vertical Component of Colombian Earthquakes

Past studies have demonstrated that the vertical earthquake component can substantially affect the seismic performance of bridges and buildings. This component is typically ignored or, when included in the design, is estimated as two-thirds of the horizontal seismic design earthquake. This paper presents the characterization of the acceleration amplitude of the vertical component of moderate and strong earthquakes in Colombia (Moment magnitude Mw > 4) that occurred between June 1993 and April 2020. A total of 42 seismic records registered at less than 50 km from the rupture plane and with horizontal acceleration peaks greater than 0.05g were selected. The peak ground acceleration (PGA) of the three components and the ratio between those PGAs were calculated. Additionally, the relationship among those parameters and the magnitude and epicentral and hypocentral distances were determined. The results showed that the V/H ratio equal to 2/3 is not always valid to represent the effects of the vertical component in structures subjected to the moderate and strong ground motions in Colombia.
Cross-Cultural Investigation of the Effects of Explanations on Drivers’ Trust, Preference, and Anxiety in Highly Automated Vehicles

This study explored, in consideration of cultural differences, how explanation timing and permission of the automated vehicle’s (AV’s) actions affected drivers’ trust in, preference for, and anxiety about the AV. We conducted a video-based online survey study with 118 participants in different cultural contexts. Each participant experienced four conditions in highly automated driving: (1) no explanations, (2) explanations given before, or (3) after the AV acted, and (4) the option for drivers to approve or disapprove the AV’s action after explanations. We found that context cultures influenced drivers’ trust in and preference for the AV only when explanations were provided. Participants with higher-context cultures had higher trust in and preference for the AV. Such influence was augmented especially when the AV asked for permission after explanations. Our results have important implications for the design of in-vehicle interfaces. We suggest that AV manufacturers should incorporate cultural differences into AV explanation interface design for global use.
Perceptions on the prevalence and impact of predatory academic journals and conferences: A global survey of researchers

A global survey of researchers was conducted to gather perceptions on the prevalence and impact of predatory academic journals and conferences. The survey was open and inclusive in nature, with 1872 researchers, from a wide array of geographic regions, disciplines and academic career stages, voluntarily participating. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analysed. The survey revealed that over 80% (1537 of 1859) of respondents perceive predatory practices are already a serious problem or on the rise in their country of work, and risk infiltrating and undermining the research enterprise if left unchallenged. At least 24% (445 of 1872) of respondents admitted they had already published in a predatory journal, participated in a predatory conference, or did not know if they had. Over 87% of respondents who had published (174 of 199) or participated (60 of 64) indicated that a lack of awareness of predatory practices was the main reason. Those in lower‐middle and upper‐middle‐income countries were more likely to indicate they had engaged in these activities than those in high‐income ones, with some disciplines appearing to engage more than others. Individual impact was mixed: some indicated no impact while others noted a range of negative and detrimental feelings.