Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Temporal Kernel Method to Compute Effective Radiative Forcing in CMIP5 Transient Simulations

AbstractEffective radiative forcing (ERF) is calculated as the flux change at the top of the atmosphere after allowing rapid adjustments resulting from a forcing agent, such as greenhouse gases. Rapid adjustments include changes to atmospheric temperature, water vapor, and clouds. Accurate estimates of ERF are necessary in order to understand the drivers of climate change. This work presents a new method of calculating ERF using a kernel derived from the time series of a model variable (e.g., global mean surface temperature) in a model-step change experiment. The top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiative imbalance has the best noise tolerance for retrieving the ERF of the model variables tested. This temporal kernel method is compared with an energy balance method, which equates ERF to the TOA radiative imbalance plus the scaled surface temperature change. Sensitivities and biases of these methods are quantified using output from phase 5 of the the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). The temporal kerne.
Flexible RAN Slicing in Open RAN With Constrained Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

Network slicing enables the provision of customized services in next-generation mobile networks. Accordingly, the network is divided into logically isolated networks that share underlying resources but are tailored to meet the distinct service requirements of their users. However, allocating the minimum necessary resources to satisfy slices’ requirements is challenging, particularly when the number of slices is variable or too large which is envisioned in Open RAN. State-of-the-art proposals leverage reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms; however, they suffer from over-provisioning and/or frequent violations of service-level agreement (SLA) due to the large and changing state and action spaces. This paper introduces a novel cooperative multi-agent RL algorithm for RAN slicing in Open RAN, designed to adapt to variable slice numbers and effectively scale as they grow. To train this model, we exploit a novel constrained RL algorithm that explicitly considers SLA constraints to maintain a decreasing SLA violation ratio during training. Our approach is compatible with the Open RAN architecture, allowing for feasible deployment in future mobile networks. CMARS surpasses RL methods in SLA satisfaction by 50% in large-scale slicing, using only 9% more resources. It has 8% fewer SLA violations and 19% lower resource consumption for a flexible number of slices.
The association of myasthenia gravis and immune-mediated myopathies

Introduction/Aim: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a chronic autoimmune disease of the neuromuscular junction, characterized by muscle weakness and fatigability. Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are an immune-mediated group of diseases characterized by progressive painful proximal weakness of the extremities. The coexistence of these two diseases is extremely rare and so far, only about fifty cases have been reported worldwide. The aim of this study was to analyze the frequency of coexistence of IIM and patients with de novo MG. Material and Methods: The study is retrospective in nature and was conducted at the "Neurology Clinic", University Clinical Center of Serbia. It included 97 patients diagnosed with myasthenia gravis between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2018. Results: The average age of the MG patients was 54.1±18.9 years. At the time of diagnosis, 19 (19.6%) participants had at least one of the anamnestic data observed as potential indicators for the existence of immune-mediated myopathy. Finally, one patient clinically presented with generalized seropositive (anti-AchR positive) myasthenia gravis associated with the diagnosis of antisynthetase syndrome. In addition, the main characteristics of patients with combined occurrence of de novo MG and antisynthetase syndrome are presented. Conclusion: Although the simultaneous occurrence of MG and IIM is a very rare phenomenon, we need to think about the possibility of combined occurrence of these two autoimmune diseases, with the aim of early recognition and adequate treatment, and thus a better prognosis of both diseases.
The Relationship Between Communicative Actions, Behavioral Intentions, and Corporate Reputation in the Framework of Situational Theory of Problem Solving in a Public Health Crisis

Objectives: This study aims to determine the individuals’ communicative actions based on the basic assumptions of the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS) and the effect of these actions on people’s willingness to follow WHO’s instructions in the event of an epidemic. It also seeks to determine the impact of corporate reputation on people’s communicative actions and intention to follow instructions. Methods: Data were collected digitally from 261 graduate students enrolled at a state university in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. A structural equation model (SEM) was employed for data analysis. Results: Perceptual antecedents affected situational motivation, and situational motivation affected communicative actions. Communicative actions were a determining factor in individuals’ willingness to follow instructions. The perception of corporate reputation influenced both communicative actions and people’s willingness to follow instructions. Conclusion: The study revealed that STOPS can provide an important theoretical framework for more effective risk communication practices in public health crises such as epidemics. It also displayed the relationship between the individuals’ communicative actions and their willingness to follow instructions and the determining effect of corporate reputation on both of these factors.
Psychological effects of recall after mammography: A cohort study based on the HADS questionnaire

Introduction: This study assessed anxiety and depression scores based on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaire, inpatients recalled after mammography. Methods: In this cohort study, women referred for mammography completed the HADS questionnaire. In 2019, 84 patients who required recall based on the results of their previous mammogram were selected and then completed the HADS questionnaire for the second stage. The HADS questionnaire was used to examine psychological problems. SPSS was used to analyze the collected data. Results: In this study, 86 women who were screened with mammography were evaluated. The mean age was 47.2±8.3 years. Based on the HADS questionnaire, the mean anxiety score before mammography was 10.2±4.8, and after the recall was 13.2±4.2, which was statistically significant (P<0.001). Also, the depression score in these patients before mammography was 10.7±3.8, and after the recall was 12.6±3.6 (P<0.001). Conclusion: Recalling patients after mammography can increase their anxiety and depression, which can decrease patients’ desire for follow-ups.
Episodic ice velocity fluctuations triggered by a subglacial flood in West Antarctica

Height change anomalies in satellite altimeter data have been interpreted as the surface expressions of basal water moving into and out of subglacial lakes. These signals have been mapped throughout Antarctica on timescales of months to years, but only broad connections have been made between active lakes and ice dynamics. We present the first high‐frequency observations of ice velocity evolution due to a cascading subglacial lake drainage event, collected over 5 years (2010–2015) using Global Positioning System data on Whillans and Mercer ice streams, West Antarctica. We observed three episodic ice velocity changes over 2 years, where flow speed increased by up to 4%, as well as an 11 month disruption of the tidally modulated stick‐slip cycle that dominates regional ice motion. Our observations reveal that basal conditions of an Antarctic ice stream can rapidly evolve and drive a dynamic ice response on subannual timescales, which can bias observations used to infer long‐term ice sheet changes.
Exploring earnings management: Institutional ownership and audit size in Malaysia’s sustainability pathway

This study aims to investigate the relationships between discretionary accrual earnings management (DEM), real earnings management (REM), institutional ownership, and audit quality in Malaysian firms. The study's findings are expected to offer insights into how these factors may influence Malaysia's progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. We examine the relationship between DEM and REM to identify the potential simultaneous use of earnings management strategies. Additionally, we explore the impact of institutional ownership and audit firm size on a company's earnings management practices. Using data from the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) spanning 2016-2018 we conducted statistical analyses, including ANOVA, t-tests, and multiple regression. There were notable correlations between DEM and REM, suggesting that these earnings management techniques are being used concurrently. Notably, institutional ownership and audit firm size played substantial roles in firms' earnings management practices. Companies with higher institutional ownership and larger audit firms tended to exhibit lower levels of DEM and REM. However, these factors did not appear to moderate the DEM-REM relationship. These findings have critical implications for regulators and policymakers in addressing earnings management practices and enhancing corporate governance in Malaysia. Focusing on institutional ownership and audit firm size may help curtail such practices, contributing to Malaysia's progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Future research should explore other potential moderating variables and distinctive corporate governance features that could also impact the DEM-REM relationship.
Six decades of changes in the riparian corridor of a Mediterranean river: a synthetic analysis based on historical data sources

Riparian corridors in semi‐arid Mediterranean environments are ecosystems of high biodiversity and complexity. However, they are threatened because of high levels of human intervention. River damming and related flow manipulation is considered as one of the most prominent human impacts on riparian corridors. This study combines historical time series information on river flows and their human manipulation, historical aerial images depicting changes in riparian land cover and ground observations of the species – age composition and morphology of the riparian corridor of a Mediterranean river (the Mijares River, Eastern Spain) over the last 60 years. In this sense, we explored how to integrate information from a wide variety of data sources, and we extracted a variety of indices and undertook analyses that identified and summarized spatio‐temporal changes in riparian structure and in the driving flow processes. Results revealed an increase in the cover and density of woody vegetation and a decrease in bare sediment areas (essential for recruitment of riparian pioneer species), with a synchronous reduction in the complexity of the riparian corridor of the middle reaches of the Mijares River. These vegetation changes have accompanied a decrease in the magnitude and variability of river flows over the last six decades, with higher severity since dam closure. This study illustrates the effectiveness of combining disparate historical data sources and the effectiveness of processing these sources to extract informative metrics that can improve the understanding and management of riparian systems. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effect of different bags on fruit quality of Xiaguang nectarine

The nectarine variety Xiaguang was used as material to study the effect of different bags(white single layer bag,yellow outside and white inside double-layer bag and yellow outside and black inside double-layer bag) on fruit quality.The results showed that disease and pest rates,fruit rust index and fruit cracking rate of nectarine with three bagging treatments were decreased significantly,while skin brightness,chroma and flesh firmness were increased significantly,compared to control.The disease and pest rates,fruit rust index and fruit cracking rate of nectarine with yellow and white double-layer bag and yellow and black double-layer bag were significantly lower than those of single white layer bag,while single fruit weight were higher.The skin brightness,b value and chroma of nectarine with yellow and white double-layer bag were significantly higher than that of white single layer bag.The a value and the ratio of a value to b value of nectarine with white single layer bag and yellow and white double-layer bag treatments were significantly higher than that of yellow and black double-layer bag treatment.Therefore,yellow and white double-layer bags were suitable for the high quality late-ripening nectarine production in the lower reaches of Changjiang River.
Incidence and Characteristic of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD): Before and During Covid-19 Pandemic

Background: The incident numbers of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in Asia is increasing gradually from year to year. Activity restriction (lockdown) that happened during COVID-19 pandemic affects society’s eating habit and life style which are risk factors of GERD and the incidence of gastroesophageal reflux. This study was conducted to find the incidence and characteristics of GERD during COVID-19 pandemic and compared with the previous situation in patients who met the diagnostic criteria at H. Adam Malik General Hospital. Method: This research is a descriptive research study with a cross sectional design study where data were taken based on data from medical records at H. Adam Malik General Hospital in 2017–2022 with the sampling technique used is total sampling, where the research subjects were all patients diagnosed GERD that met the inclusion criteria.Results: The incidence of GERD before (2017–2019) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022) were 21 and 37 patients respectively (there was a 76% escalation in the incidence of GERD during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic). The similar characteristics of GERD patients before and during the COVID-19 pandemic are age 40 years, work as an employee, high school graduate, and overweight body mass index (BMI). Conclusion: The incidence of GERD has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the pandemic.
Patterns of ground-dwelling vertebrate biodiversity in the Gnangara Sustainability Strategy study area

Gnangara Sustainability Strategy Taskforce Department of Water 168 St Georges Terrace Perth Western Australia 6000 Telephone +61 8 6364 7600 Facsimile +61 8 6364 7601 www.gnangara. water.wa. gov.au © Government of Western Australia 2009 July 2009 This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 , all other rights are reserved. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Department of Conservation and Environment. This document has been commissioned/produced as part of the Gnangara Sustainability Strategy (GSS). The GSS is a State Government initiative which aims to provide a framework for a whole of government approach to address land use and water planning issues associated with the Gnangara groundwater system. For more information go to www.gnangara. water.wa. gov.au Acknowledgements The Department of Environment and Conservation would like to thank the following for their contribution to this publication: The GSS – DEC biodiversity team and numerous volunteers who assisted with field work, and Dr Ian Abbott and Dr Wes Bancroft for comments on a draft version. Front cover photos (clockwise from top right): Rankinia adelaidensis adelaidensis , Tarsipes rostratus , Neelaps calonotos and Myobatrachus gouldii . Photo credit: L. Valentine.
Resilience in farm technical efficiency and enabling factors: Insights from panel farm enterprise surveys in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

Economic resilience within the agrifood system is becoming increasingly crucial for assuring sustainable development. This is particularly so in regions with volatile and fragile environments, including Central Asia. Evidence remains scarce regarding what factors can enhance the economic resilience of agents within the agrifood system, including the resilience of productivity and technical efficiency. We partly fill this knowledge gap using the unique panel datasets of farm enterprises in Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan, collected in 2019 and 2022, during which these enterprises experienced significant economic shocks in input prices. Using novel methods that combine Inverse Probability Weighting and panel stochastic frontier analyses models, we show that farmers who received more agricultural training and who had been granted greater autonomy in their production decisions in 2018 experienced greater resilience in technical efficiency despite the need to reduce the use of chemical fertilizer and oil/diesel in response to their price surges. Our findings suggest that providing critical public goods like information (related to training) and enabling environment (related to decision-making autonomy) can potentially enhance the resilience in the technical efficiency of farm enterprises. Furthermore, with chemical fertilizer and oil/diesel being potentially environmentally harmful inputs, these farmers also indirectly demonstrated resilience toward environmental sustainability.
Analysis of Phenotypic and Genotypic Susceptibility to Clarithromycin and Amikacin of Mycobacterium abscessus Complex Strains Isolated from Cystic Fibrosis Patients

Mycobacterium abscessus complex infections are ever on the rise. To curb their increasing evolution, we performed an in-depth study of 43 clinical isolates of cystic fibrosis patients obtained from 2009 to 2020. We identified their subspecies, uncovered their genotypic resistance profiles, characterised their antibiotic-resistant genes, and assessed their phenotypic antibiotic susceptibilities. The phenotypic and genotypic methods showed total agreement in terms of resistance to clarithromycin and amikacin. Of the 43 clinical strains, 28 belonged to M. abscessus subsp. abscessus (65.1%), 13 to M. abscessus subsp. massiliense (30.2%), and 2 to M. abscessus subsp. bolletii (4.6%). The resistant rates for clarithromycin and amikacin, the two main drugs against M. abscessus complex pulmonary infections, were 64.2% and 14.2%, respectively. We found three strains of M. abscessus subsp. abscessus that showed heteroresistance in the rrl and rrs genes, and these strains also presented double-resistance since they were macrolide- and aminoglycoside-resistant. M. abscessus subsp. abscessus showed a high minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and a resistant percentage larger than or equal to 88% to cefoxitin, ciprofloxacin, moxifloxacin, doxycycline, imipenem, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. These results show a panorama of the high resistance of Mycobacterium abscessus complex to current drugs for cystic fibrosis patients. Thus, other treatment methods are urgently needed.
Physical Reservoir Based on a Leaky-FeFET Using the Temporal Memory Effect

In this work, a leaky-Ferroelectric Field Effect Transistor (FeFET) neuron is introduced as a physical reservoir in a reservoir computing scheme. Compared to a conventional FeFET reservoir control sample, which did not show leaky behavior, the proposed leaky-FeFET neuron-based physical reservoir exhibited 78.6% and 62.9% improvements in memory capacity for Short Term Memory (STM) and Parity Check (PC) tasks, respectively. The improvements are attributed to the temporal memory effect induced by the leaky-integrating neuronal behavior, which originates from the retention degradation of the FeFET.
Indices of trends of climatic changes for the states of the Bahia and Sergipe by means of daily precipitacion indices and its relation with SST'S of the Pacific and Atlantic

The objective of this study was to investigate statistically the precipitation variability in annual scale from the states of the Bahia and Sergipe using daily precipitation data. From that, indexes of detection of climate changes were calculated to evaluate the relationship of the most significant indexes with the sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The daily precipitation data used were for a period of 45 years of 75 meteorological stations supplied by the old net of the SUDENE available in the DSA and data of the of the SST anomalies obtained from NOAA. Influence of SST of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans on the precipitation of the studied area is evidenced. A decrease of CWD was verified; increase was observed in the number days with rain; therefore, the amount of annual total precipitation increased. Several stations presented positive or negative tendencies in all examined indexes, consequently, they are also related to regional aspects. Therefore, it is not possible to affirm that the climate alterations noted in the study area are due to the global climate changes.
Geochemical and physical characteristics of contaminated sediment in a harbour area

Heavy metals adsorbed by sediments are of particular concern due to their mobility and toxicity in the aquatic ecosystem. Harbour areas, particularly on the banks of large rivers, have been facing deposition of polluted sediment. Considering a technique for remediation of contaminated sediment needs a comprehensive understanding of the geochemical and physical characteristics of sediment. In this study, a set of surface sediment samples was taken from a harbour on the bank of the St. Lawrence River, Quebec, Canada. The harbour area was polluted by heavy metals and there was an urgent need to dredge the sediments. However, prior to managing the sediments, the toxicity and availability of metals in sediment should be evaluated. Determination of the particle size distribution was performed in addition to pH, loss on ignition (LOI) and oxidation-reduction potential (ORP). To examine the mobility and dynamics of heavy metals in sediments, a sequential extraction technique was used. Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Pb were the elements investigated in this study. Results showed that the sediment samples were highly organic and the textures were pretty fine. The results also indicated that the copper, zinc and chromium were the main elements that exceeded the occasional effect level based on the Environment Canada sediment quality guidelines. However, the risk of mobility due to the availability of cadmium and lead was significantly more than the other elements. For example, the concentration of cadmium in a location was around 60% in exchangeable and carbonate fractions of the total. The most contaminated location was near the dock area, where it usually receives the runoffs from the boat maintenance area. To conclude, the concentration and potential mobility of heavy metals in sediments near the dock area must be considered when determining the most appropriate management strategy.