Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of the short term outcomes between transobturator tape (TOT) and tension free vaginal tape (TVT) procedures in the treatment of urinary incontinence

DOI: 10.4328/ACAM.20936 Received: 2021-11-03 Accepted: 2021-12-12 Published Online: 2021-12-15 Corresponding Author: Cengiz Andan, Elazig Road, 10. Km, Üçkuyular Locality, 21070, Kayapınar, Diyarbakır, Turkey. E-mail: mdcengizandan@gmail.com P: +90 532 610 08 52 / +90 412 258 00 60 Corresponding Author ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6609-3284 Abstract Aim: In this study we aimed to compare effectiveness transobturator tape (TOT) and tension free vaginal tape (TVT) procedures that we performed in our gynecology clinics in female patients with SUI and MUI. Meterial and Methods: In this study, a total of 194 patients who presented to the gynecology clinic of our hospital with the complaint of urinary leakage, who were diagnosed with SUI/MUI, and operated using TOT and TVT were retrospectively evaluated. Patients’ demographic data, examination findings, urodynamic test, stress test, Q-tip test, pad test, ultrasonography and operational outcomes were compared between the two groups. Results: Of all patients, 128 were in the TOT and 66 in the TVT group. No statistically significant difference was found between both groups in terms of age, BMI, parity and duration of incontinence. The mean operation time was 20.3±5.9 minutes in the TOT group and 30.4±6.7 minutes in the TVT group, and the mean operation time was statistically significantly shorter in the TOT group. Postoperative residue values were significantly higher in the TVT group compared to the TOT group. The most common complication in both groups was pain in the postoperative 1st week, and it was found in 21 (16%) patients in the TOT group and 6 (9%) patients in the TVT group. Discussion: There is no significant difference between the two procedure types in terms of continence and quality of life, although TOT procedure gave better results in terms of operation time, length of stay in the hospital and complication rates.
Study of Flow and Convective Heat Transfer in a Simulated Scaled Up Low Emission Annular Combustor

Modern Dry Low Emissions (DLE) combustors are characterized by highly swirling and expanding flows that makes the convective heat load on the gas side difficult to predict and estimate. A coupled experimental-numerical study of swirling flow inside a DLE annular combustor model is presented. A simulated scaled up annular combustor shell was designed with a generic fuel nozzle model to create the swirl in the flow. The experiment was simulated with a cold flow and heated combustor walls in a low speed wind tunnel. An infrared camera was used to obtain the temperature distribution along the liner wall. The experiment was conducted at various Reynolds numbers to investigate the effect on the convective heat transfer peak locations. A CFD study performed using FLUENT was used to get a better understanding of high swirl flow field and its effect on the heat transfer on liner walls. Results show that the heat transfer distributions in the annulus have slightly different characteristics for the concave and convex walls. Results also show a much slower drop in heat transfer coefficient enhancement with increasing Reynolds number compared to can combustor liner walls.Copyright © 2010 by ASME
EDDL: A Distributed Deep Learning System for Resource-limited Edge Computing Environment

This paper investigates the problem of performing distributed deep learning (DDL) to train machine learning (ML) models at the edge with resource-constrained embedded devices. Existing solutions mostly focus on data center environments, where powerful serverclass machines are interconnected with ultra-high-speed Ethernet, and are not suitable for edge environments where much less powerful computing devices and networks are used. Due to the resource constraint on computing devices and the network connecting them, there are three main challenges for performing edge-based DDL: (1) susceptibility to struggling workers, (2) difficulty of scaling up to a large training cluster, and (3) frequent changes in training device availability and capability. To address these challenges, we design and implement EDDL, an edge-based DDL system, with ARM-based ODROID-XU4 and Raspberry Pi 3 Model B boards. We evaluate the prototype EDDL system by performing edge-based mobile malware detection and classification on a large Android APK dataset. The evaluation results show that EDDL can efficiently train deep learning models with consumer-grade embedded devices and wireless networks while incurring small overhead.
Synergies between supply chain management and quality management: emerging implications

This paper examines the potential that quality management offers for improving supply chain management performance. Based on the theoretical and descriptive literature, four themes related to this topic are extracted. These are related to the pursuit of supply chain and quality goals simultaneously, leading to the development of cumulative capabilities, the relationship between quality management practices and supply chain performance measures and the relationship between a specific set of quality management practices known as co-makership and supply chain performance measures. Hypotheses were developed and tested using an existing database of information from 164 plants in the machinery, electronics and transportation components industries in the USA, Germany, Italy, Japan and England. There was strong support for all four hypotheses, indicating that there is a relationship between quality management and supply chain management. Practical implications and guidelines for managers focus upon leveraging this relationship as a competitive weapon in the increasingly complex global environment.
Towards a Simple and Efficient Object-based Superpixel Delineation Framework

Superpixel segmentation methods are widely used in computer vision applications due to their properties in border delineation. These methods do not usually take into account any prior object information. Although there are a few exceptions, such methods significantly rely on the quality of the object information provided and present high computational cost in most practical cases. Inspired by such approaches, we propose Object-based Dynamic and Iterative Spanning Forest (ODISF), a novel object-based superpixel segmentation framework to effectively exploit prior object information while being robust to the quality of that information. ODISF consists of three independent steps: (i) seed oversampling; (ii) dynamic path-based superpixel generation; and (iii) object-based seed removal. After (i), steps (ii) and (iii) are repeated until the desired number of superpixels is finally reached. Experimental results show that ODISF can surpass state-of-the-art methods according to several metrics, while being significantly faster than its object-based counterparts.
Dependence of cross-phase modulation on channel number in fiber WDM systems

The phase term appearing in the expression for cross-phase modulation due to the optical Kerr effect depends on the sum of the powers carried by each wavelength channel. For this reason, one might expect that the amount of cross-phase modulation would increase with increasing channel number, causing increased interference among channels and hence limiting the total number of channels that a WDM system can support. However, computer simulations of multichannel systems have shown no change in signal distortion as the number of wavelength channels is increased from four to eight. In a simulated three-channel system, the signal distortion of the central channel approaches that of a single-channel system as the wavelength separation is increased to approximately 2 nm. Thus, even a moderate amount of dispersion tends to cancel out the influence of cross-phase modulation, so that beyond a certain wavelength spacing, additional channels do not interfere with the channel under consideration. From these observations, we conclude that cross-phase modulation does not limit the number of wavelength channels that a single optical fiber can support. However, self- and cross-phase modulation are not the only nonlinear effects influencing fiber lightwave systems. Stimulated Raman scattering tends to transfer optical power from short-wavelength channels to channels operating at longer wavelength, degrading their signal-to-noise ratio. The efficiency of this process increases with increasing wavelength spacing. Clearly, a compromise needs to be reached between the conflicting requirements imposed by the optical Kerr effect and by stimulated Raman scattering. >
Hydrogen peroxide reduces sensitivity to aluminum in canola?

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of aluminum and the mitigating potential of H2O2 on the stress and antioxidant responses in canola (Brassica napus var. oleifera (Moench) Delile) affecting the emergence and initial growth of plants. Canola seeds, cultivar Hyola 61, were treated with different concentrations of H2O2 solution (0.0, 0.075, and 0.15 M), and later sown under different concentrations of aluminum (0.0, 10, 20, and 30 mmolc dm-3). After 20 days of plant emergence, survival and growth characteristics were evaluated. 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 days after emergence, height, chlorophyll index, chlorophyll a fluorescence, and the activity of superoxide dismutase in the roots were determined. The canola is sensitive to aluminum, and the treatment of seeds with H2O2 0.15 M mitigated the stress caused by the highest dose of aluminum. H2O2 treatment enabled high emergence but did not favor seedling survival or growth. The H2O2 did not increase SOD activity. The chlorophyll a fluorescence characteristics proved the sensitivity of canola to aluminum, but the presence of H2O2 maintained the stability and functionality of photosystem II.
Which Variant of Anxiety Is Associated with Smartphone Expertise in Community Dwelling Older Adults?

ABSTRACT Objectives Older adults vary greatly in their mastery of state-of-the-art smartphones. Anxiety may function as a barrier to technological expertise. This study characterizes an older community-dwelling sample (n = 71) in terms of their levels of demonstrated smartphone expertise relative to variants of anxiety (e.g., trait, social, tech-related). Methods A 20-step behavioral smartphone challenge task, the Smartphone Task for Older Adults (STOA), was used to evaluate older adults’ knowledge of a range of smartphone functions. Self-report measures of anxiety symptoms and perceived digital proficiency were also administered. Results STOA scores were relatively low (x = 8.26, s.d. = 5.65) and showed negative relations with tech-anxiety and in-vivo frustration, but not social or trait anxiety. A hierarchical regression model indicated that tech-related anxiety and in-vivo frustration contributed significantly to STOA scores, above and beyond established predictors such as education. Conclusions Tech-anxiety and frustration while learning new smartphone functions may characterize the next cohort of older adults who have not effectively mastered the use of smartphones. Clinical Implications Anxiety management skills derived from cognitive behavior therapy and other self-regulation tools could help those who experience tech-anxiety or frustration during smartphone training, facilitating the development of expertise.
Radiative Transfer Model Simulations for Ground-Based Microwave Radiometers in North China

Ground-based microwave radiometer profilers (MWRPs) are widely used to provide high-temporal resolution atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles. The quality of the observed brightness temperature (TB) from MWRPs is key for retrieving accurate atmospheric profiles. In this study, TB simulations derived from a radiative transfer model (RTM) were used to assess the quality of TB observations. Two types of atmospheric profile data (conventional radiosonde and ERA5 reanalysis) were combined with the RTM to obtain TB simulations, then compared with corresponding observations from three MWRPs located in different places in North China to investigate the influence of input atmospheric profiles on TB simulations and evaluate the quality of TB observations from the three MWRPs. The comparisons of the matching samples under clear-sky conditions showed that TB simulations derived from both radiosonde and ERA5 profiles were very close to the TB observations from most of the MWRP channels; however, the correlation was lower and the bias was obvious at 51.26 GHz and 52.28 GHz, which indicates that the oxygen absorption component in the RTM needs to be improved for lower-frequency temperature channels. The difference in location of the radiosonde and MWRP sites affected the TB simulations for the water vapor channels, but had little impact on temperature channels that are insensitive to humidity. Comparisons of both simulations (ERA5 and Radiosonde) and the corresponding TB observations from the three sites indicated that the water vapor channels observation quality for the MWRP located in southern Beijing needs improvement. For the two types of profile data, ERA5 profiles have a more positive effect on TB simulations in the water vapor channels, such as enhanced consistence, reduced bias and standard deviation between simulations and observations for those MWRPs located away from the radiosonde station. Therefore, hourly ERA5 data are an optimal option in terms of compensating for limited radiosonde measurements and enhancing the monitoring quality of MWRP observations within 24 h.
Measurement of Biodiesel Blend and Conventional Diesel Spray Structure Using X-Ray Radiography

The near-nozzle structure of several nonevaporating biodiesel-blend sprays has been studied using X-ray radiography. Radiography allows quantitative measurements of the fuel distribution in sprays to be made with high temporal and spatial resolution. Measurements have been made at different values of injection pressure, ambient density, and with two different nozzle geometries to understand the influences of these parameters on the spray structure of the biodiesel blend. These measurements have been compared with corresponding measurements of Viscor, a diesel calibration fluid, to demonstrate the fuel effects on the spray structure. Generally, the biodiesel-blend spray has a similar structure to the spray of Viscor. For the nonhydroground nozzle used in this study, the biodiesel-blend spray has a slightly slower penetration into the ambient gas than the Viscor spray. The cone angle of the biodiesel-blend spray is generally smaller than that of the Viscor spray, indicating that the biodiesel-blend spray is denser than the Viscor spray. For the hydroground nozzle, both fuels produce sprays with initially wide cone angles that transition to narrow sprays during the steady-state portion of the injection event. These variations in cone angle with time occur later for the biodiesel-blend spray than for the Viscor spray, indicating that themore » dynamics of the injector needle as it opens are somewhat different for the two fuels. « less
DNA Methylation of PI3K/AKT Pathway-Related Genes Predicts Outcome in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer: A Comprehensive Bioinformatics-Based Study

Simple Summary Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal malignancy. Dysregulation of epigenetic mechanisms leads to abnormal patterns of gene expression contributing to the development and progression of cancer. We explored the ability of DNA methylation of PI3K-related genes to differentiate between malignant and healthy pancreatic tissue using distinct pancreatic cancer cohorts, and found that the methylation levels of the ITGA4, SFN, ITGA2, and PIK3R1 genes are altered in tumour samples since the early stages of malignant transformation and could serve as new diagnostic tools. We also demonstrate that these alterations correlate with overall survival and recurrence-free survival of the patients suggesting that its assessment can serve as independent prognostic indicators of patients’ survival with higher sensitivity and specificity than the currently implemented biomarkers. Therefore, the methylation profile of genes involved in this pathway may be an alternative method for predicting cell malignancy and help doctors’ decisions on patient care. Abstract Pancreatic cancer (PCA) is one of the most lethal malignancies worldwide with a 5-year survival rate of 9%. Despite the advances in the field, the need for an earlier detection and effective therapies is paramount. PCA high heterogeneity suggests that epigenetic alterations play a key role in tumour development. However, only few epigenetic biomarkers or therapeutic targets have been identified so far. Here we explored the potential of distinct DNA methylation signatures as biomarkers for early detection and prognosis of PCA. PI3K/AKT-related genes differentially expressed in PCA were identified using the Pancreatic Expression Database (n = 153). Methylation data from PCA patients was obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (n = 183), crossed with clinical data to evaluate the biomarker potential of the epigenetic signatures identified and validated in independent cohorts. The majority of selected genes presented higher expression and hypomethylation in tumour tissue. The methylation signatures of specific genes in the PI3K/AKT pathway could distinguish normal from malignant tissue at initial disease stages with AUC > 0.8, revealing their potential as PCA diagnostic tools. ITGA4, SFN, ITGA2, and PIK3R1 methylation levels could be independent prognostic indicators of patients’ survival. Methylation status of SFN and PIK3R1 were also associated with disease recurrence. Our study reveals that the methylation levels of PIK3/AKT genes involved in PCA could be used to diagnose and predict patients’ clinical outcome with high sensitivity and specificity. These results provide new evidence of the potential of epigenetic alterations as biomarkers for disease screening and management and highlight possible therapeutic targets.
Analisis Keterampilan Berpikir Kritis Siswa pada Pembelajaran IPA Materi Bioteknologi

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis keterampilan berpikir kritis siswa dalam pembelajaran IPA khususnya materi bioteknologi di kelas IX SMP Maarif 1 Ponorogo. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah Chroscheck sectional Survey. Sampel penelitian ini ditentukan dengan menggunakan Claster Random Sampling, dimana peneliti melakukan acak sembarang dan diperoleh Kelas IX A yang terdiri dari 25 siswa di SMP Maarif 1 Ponorogo. Teknik pengumpulan data adalah tes, observasi, dan wawancara. Tes diberikan kepada siswa kelas IX A, observasi dilakukan selama proses pembelajaran berlangsung, serta wawancara dilakukan terhadap guru IPA. Adapun wawancara yang digunakan bersifat terbuka. Instrumen tes pada penelitian ini adalah berupa soal essay untuk mengukur kemampuan berpikir kritis siswa. Pada setiap item soal memuat 4 aspek, yaitu: (1) interpretasi, (2) analisis, (3) evaluasi, (4) inferensi. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian didapatkan bahwa kemampuan berpikir kritis siswa kelas IX A SMP Maarif 1 Ponorogo pada materi bioteknologi masih kurang dengan nilai rata-rata 40,62. Keterampilan berpikir kritis siswa paling banyak muncul pada indikator interpretasi. Keterampilan berpikir kritis peserta didik dipengaruhi oleh berbagai faktor, diantaranya pola pikir dalam memecahkan masalah dan pemahaman dari setiap materi yang telah disampaikan. Oleh sebab itu guru sangat berperan penting dalam pengembangan keterampilan berpikir kritis dari siswa
Willingness to pay for the preservation of urban green space in Indonesia

Abstract Padang has just begun to build an urban green space to increase the quality of the urban environment and provide recreational opportunities to residents. In such cases, a well-informed professional management plan needs to be formulated to preserve a better environment. Therefore, this study seeks to determine the visitors’ willingness to pay for the preservation of urban green space. This study was carried out at the Urban green space of Imam Bonjol Park Padang using a survey approach, and the respondents were chosen using the purposive technique. The logistic regression shows that the willingness to pay for the urban green space is affected by the visitors’ perception of Imam Bonjol Park, the knowledge of functions, and marital status. The empirical results show that income, family dependents, and park-related factors are insignificant in influencing willingness to pay for the urban green space. Using the Contingency Valuation Method, this study discovered that most visitors are willing to pay some amount for environmental preservation, and the estimated amount is IDR. 4,877. The empirical results have a few practical implications. As a result, this study suggests launching awareness-raising programs.
EXCAVATION FORCES IN REDUCED GRAVITY ENVIRONMENT

When we return to the moon we will likely do so on limited budgets that will necessitate small, low-cost missions. Since the cost of transportation to the moon consumes upwards of 50% of the cost of an entire mission, one way to reduce mission cost is to use lunar resources to the greatest extent practical. This will reduce the amount of material transported to the moon, translating directly and linearly into cost savings. The most obvious lunar resource is the lunar regolith. With the lunar regolith we can build blast barriers; provide radiation and micrometeorite protection for habitats; and provide feed stock for oxygen production processes. Excavation technology for the lunar environment is an important element that will enable these uses of lunar regolith and one that requires further investigation. The objective of this paper is to present the results of experiments that provide bounds to the problem. These bounds may be used for the design and construction of a realistic prototype for further testing and development.
Dissimilar tungsten inert gas welding between Inconel 718 and commercially pure titanium using a vanadium interlayer

A weight reduction of aero engines, in order to enhance their efficiency would be possible if the commercially pure titanium in the low-temperature region of the compressor could be welded with Inconel in the high-temperature portion. This joining of titanium/Inconel is challenging owing to the formation of hard TixNiy intermetallic compounds, the suppression of which is not possible using the conventional weld process optimization approach. In recent years, a number of approaches have been developed to reduce or eliminate these intermetallic compounds during welding and one approach is the use of an interlayer during the welding operation. The insertion of a V interlayer at the root side remarkably suppressed Ti and Ni diffusion across the interlayer. NiV3 and (Ti, V) solid solutions were present in the interfacial microstructure of V/Inconel 718 and V/commercially pure titanium, respectively, as characterized by scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction. The tensile strength of the weldment was 190 MPa (approx. 59% of the commercially pure titanium base metal) with an elastic modulus comparable with that of the base alloys. The joint exhibited brittle fracture at the Inconel 718 side near the V/Inconel 718 interface due to intermetallic compounds.