Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatial and Temporal Variability of Rainfall in the Gandaki River Spatial and Temporal Variability of Rainfall in the Gandaki River Basin of Nepal Himalaya Basin of Nepal Himalaya

: Landslides, floods, and droughts are recurring natural disasters in Nepal related to too much or too little water. The summer monsoon contributes more than 80% of annual rainfall, and rainfall spatial and inter-annual variation is very high. The Gandaki River, one of the three major rivers of Nepal and one of the major tributaries of the Ganges River, covers all agro-ecological zones in the central part of Nepal. Time series tests were applied for different agro-ecological zones of the Gandaki River Basin (GRB) for rainfall trends of four seasons (pre-monsoon, monsoon, post-monsoon and winter) from 1981 to 2012.
Neural network compression with heavy-tailed SGD

Neural network compression has been an increasingly important subject, due to its practical implications in terms of reducing the computational requirements and its theoretical implications, as there is an explicit connection between compressibility and the generalization error. Recent studies have shown that the choice of the hyperparameters of stochastic gradient descent (SGD) can have an effect on the compressibility of the learned parameter vector. Even though these results have shed some light on the role of the training dynamics over compressibility, they relied on unverifiable assumptions and the resulting theory does not provide a practical guideline due to its implicitness. In this study, we propose a simple modification for SGD, such that the outputs of the algorithm will be provably compressible without making any nontrivial assumptions. We consider a one-hidden-layer neural network trained with SGD and we inject additive heavy-tailed noise to the iterates at each iteration. We then show that, for any compression rate, there exists a level of overparametrization (i.e., the number of hidden units), such that the output of the algorithm will be compressible with high probability. We illustrate our approach on experiments, where the results suggest that the proposed approach achieves compressibility with a slight compromise from the training and test error.
Progression-Free Survival Efficacy in Refractory/Relapsed Multiple Myeloma among Elderly Patients: A Systematic Review

Background: Over the last decade, many studies have assessed the efficacy of treatments for refractory/relapsed multiple myeloma (R/R MM). While combination therapies show greater efficacy than traditional methods, limited research has targeted elderly patients who might be less resilient to treatments. Our study aimed to evaluate treatment efficacy for these elderly patients. Methods: We carried out a comprehensive review of the literature using a systematic approach. Initially, 4966 citations were retrieved and subsequently narrowed down to 13 eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) through our systematic review process from databases like Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane Library from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2022. Evidence was collated through a frequentist network meta-analysis, using the hazard ratio (HR) for evaluation. Results: Combined therapy of daratumumab, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (DaraLenDex) was the preferred treatment for R/R MM elderly patients. Its strengths included an HR for progression-free survival (0.15; 95% CI: 0.09–0.25) and a 96% P-score. Conclusions: Our analysis suggests that, pending more comprehensive RCTs, DaraLenDex is the treatment with the highest efficacy for R/R MM in elderly patients.
Experimental study on the variation in porosity of marble as a function of temperature

Abstract The current condition of many building claddings and historical monuments clearly reveals that they are not immune to weathering action due to daily or seasonal temperature changes. In this study, porosity changes by variation in temperature have been investigated for two marble types: one calcitic and one pure dolomitic. The samples were exposed to ascending temperatures from 40 to 200°C. The results indicate that intergranular decohesion starts between 40 and 50°C. Some significant differences in temperature response for these two marble types could be distinguished. The temperature range 40–60°C is easily reached on building surfaces in most European countries during the summer months. A better understanding of the effect that temperature has on the porosity of marble could be used to develop a methodology for assessing suitable conditioning of marble before testing as well as to suggest appropriate impregnation and/or surface treatments of buildings and outdoor sculptures.
Images of older workers

Despite that workforce aging is recognized as a key social and economic concern of developed countries, previous research has largely neglected the role of organizational and news media in the debate about this topic. Relying on a content analysis of five Dutch news-papers and the organizational media of 50 Dutch organizations ( N = 1328), this study traces variation in frames of older workers’ employability. Results reveal that organizations in their organizational media attempt to avoid associations with problems related to older workers and highlight the solutions they offer, while news media are relatively more inclined to problematize the issue and victimize older workers. This study elucidates our understanding of how organizational and news media communicatively deal with older workers’ employability, and how key actors drive frame-formation processes in both domains.
PRODUCTION D'ALEVINS DE TILAPIA (Oreochromis niloticus L., 1758) NOURRIS AVEC DES SOUS-PRODUITS AGRICOLES, SANS ADJONCTION DE FARINE DE POISSON

Deux lots d\'alevins du tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (14 ± 6 mg et 1660 ± 8 mg, respectivement) ont ete nourris avec3 aliments (A1, A2 et A3) formules uniquement a base de sous-produits agricoles et un aliment industriel commercial contenant de la farine de poisson servant de temoin (At). Les alevins de 14 ± 6 mg et 1660 ± 8 mg ont ete mis dans des bassins, a des densites respectives de 1667 et 500 ind/m2. Deux essais experimentaux ont ete realises. Les resultats de l\'elevage post-larvaire (14 ± 6 mg) montrent une variabilite inter-groupes non significative (p > 0,05). En revanche, une difference significative (p Two alevin populations from tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) were fed with 3 diets (A1, A2 and A3), formulated using only agricultural by-products, and a commercial diet containing fish meal as the control diet (At). Two replicates of alevins, with individual mean weight of 14 ± 6 mg and 1660 ± 8 mg, were stocked in water basins at densities of 1667 and 500 ind.m-2, respectively . Results show that post-larvae (14 ± 6 mg) individuals exhibited no significant difference (p > 0.05) in growth between dietary groups. conversely,significant differences (p Keywords : Oreochromis niloticus, sous-produits agricoles, production d\'alevins, Cote d\'Ivoire. Agronomie Africaine Vol. 19 (2) 2007: pp. 211-221
All about nitrite: exploring nitrite sources and sinks in the eastern tropical North Pacific oxygen minimum zone

Abstract. Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), due to their large volumes of perennially deoxygenated waters, are critical regions for understanding how the interplay between anaerobic and aerobic nitrogen (N) cycling microbial pathways affects the marine N budget. Here, we present a suite of measurements of the most significant OMZ N cycling rates, which all involve nitrite (NO2-) as a product, reactant, or intermediate, in the eastern tropical North Pacific (ETNP) OMZ. These measurements and comparisons to data from previously published OMZ cruises present additional evidence that NO3- reduction is the predominant OMZ N flux, followed by NO2- oxidation back to NO3-. The combined rates of both of these N recycling processes were observed to be much greater (up to nearly 200 times) than the combined rates of the N loss processes of anammox and denitrification, especially in waters near the anoxic–oxic interface. We also show that NO2- oxidation can occur when O2 is maintained near 1 nM by a continuous-purge system, NO2- oxidation and O2 measurements that further strengthen the case for truly anaerobic NO2- oxidation. We also evaluate the possibility that NO2- dismutation provides the oxidative power for anaerobic NO2- oxidation. The partitioning of N loss between anammox and denitrification differed widely from stoichiometric predictions of at most 29 % anammox; in fact, N loss rates at many depths were entirely due to anammox. Our new NO3- reduction, NO2- oxidation, dismutation, and N loss data shed light on many open questions in OMZ N cycling research, especially the possibility of truly anaerobic NO2- oxidation.
N A Cross Sectional Study of Assessment of Hearing in Infants of Gestational Diabetes Mothers

Introduction Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent congenital disorders in infants. Neonatal hearing screening is an important tool for early detection of hearing impairment in newborns. Present study is aimed to assess the impact of hearing among babies born to gestational diabetic mothers. Materials and Methods This study was conducted among 100 pregnant mothers who gave birth in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department in a medical college in Pondicherry from December 2020 to July 2022. 50 pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus(GDM) were assigned to Group 1 and 50 pregnant women who had no GDM were assigned to Group 2. Hearing screening among the infants were done using Otoacoustic emissions and Brainstem evoked response audiometry (OAE and BERA). The results in Group 1 and Group 2 were collected, analysed and compared. Results All patients were between 20 – 45 years of age. The average gestational age was 39.2±5.7 from 36 weeks to 42 weeks. In the present study OAE has shown that 40% babies had bilateral refer and 18% had unilateral refer in GDM mothers which significantly higher than the normal mothers. BERA showed that 14% had hearing loss among those of the GDM mothers which was significantly higher than the normal mothers. Comparison of abnormal hearing screening between the two groups were significant(P < 0.05). Conclusion Gestational diabetes mellitus increases the risk of hearing impairment in newborns. Timely detection and standardised management should be followed and early intervention procedures should be studied and developed.
Pseudo-static lateral earth pressures on broken-back retaining walls

Displacement of retaining walls during earthquakes causes damage to the structures founded on their backfill. The displacement of the wall can be reduced by decreasing the lateral earth pressure applied on its back. This can be achieved in a broken-back wall as the size of the failure wedge formed behind the wall is reduced; therefore, the calcula- tion of lateral earth pressures is essential in assessing the safety of and designing broken-back retaining walls. In this study, a series of reduced-scale shaking table model experiments were performed on broken-back quay walls composed of concrete blocks with two different rear-face shapes. In comparison with a vertical-back wall, earth pressures increased at the upper forward (i.e., seaward) leaning rear-face segments of the wall, whereas they decreased at lower backward (i.e., landward) leaning elevations. Because of the wide application of the pseudo-static method of Mononobe-Okabe in engi- neering practice and design codes, lateral earth pressures have also been estimated using this approach. The comparison between the measured lateral earth pressures and those calculated using the Mononobe-Okabe method shows fairly good agreement in predicting the overall distribution of lateral active earth pressure during and after the shaking. Resume´ : Le deplacement des murs de soutenement durant un seisme cause des dommages aux structures ayant des fonda- tions installees sur le remblai de ces murs de soutenement. Le deplacement du mur peut etre reduit en diminuant la pres- sion laterale des terres appliquees au dos du mur. Cette diminution peut etre accomplie par l'utilisation d'un mur a dos brise ´, puisque la zone de fracture formee derriere le mur est reduite. Ainsi, il devient essentiel de calculer les pressions la- terales des terres pour evaluer la securiteet pour concevoir des murs de soutenement a dos brise ´. Dans cette etude, des es- sais al'echelle reduite a l'aide d'un modele de table asecousses sont effectues sur des murs a dos brisede quais faits de blocs de beton avec deux formes de dos differentes. Comparativement aun mur ados vertical, la pression des terres aug- mente dans les sections de la face arriere du mur orientees vers le devant et le haut (c.-a `-d. vers la mer), tandis que la pression des terres diminue dans les sections orientees vers le derriere et vers le bas (c.-a `-d. vers le sol). Les pressions late ´- rales des terres sont aussi estimees al'aide de l'approche pseudo-statique de Mononobe-Okabe, puisque cette approche est largement utilisee dans l'ingenierie et la conception. La comparaison entre les pressions laterales des terres mesurees et celles calculees a l'aide de la methode Mononobe-Okabe montre la concordance des resultats apredire la distribution glo- bale des pressions laterales actives des terres pendant et apres les secousses. Mots-cles: methode Mononobe-Okabe, mur de soutenement, pression laterale des terres, seisme, essai sur table a secous- ses, mur a dos brise ´. (Traduit par la Redaction)
Modelling point mass balance for the glaciers of the Central European Alps using machine learning techniques

Abstract. Glacier mass balance is typically estimated using a range of in situ measurements, remote sensing measurements, and physical and temperature index modelling techniques. With improved data collection and access to large datasets, data-driven techniques have recently gained prominence in modelling natural processes. The most common data-driven techniques used today are linear regression models and, to some extent, non-linear machine learning models such as artificial neural networks. However, the entire host of capabilities of machine learning modelling has not been applied to glacier mass balance modelling. This study used monthly meteorological data from ERA5-Land to drive four machine learning models: random forest (ensemble tree type), gradient-boosted regressor (ensemble tree type), support vector machine (kernel type), and artificial neural networks (neural type). We also use ordinary least squares linear regression as a baseline model against which to compare the performance of the machine learning models. Further, we assess the requirement of data for each of the models and the requirement for hyperparameter tuning. Finally, the importance of each meteorological variable in the mass balance estimation for each of the models is estimated using permutation importance. All machine learning models outperform the linear regression model. The neural network model depicted a low bias, suggesting the possibility of enhanced results in the event of biased input data. However, the ensemble tree-based models, random forest and gradient-boosted regressor, outperformed all other models in terms of the evaluation metrics and interpretability of the meteorological variables. The gradient-boosted regression model depicted the best coefficient of determination value of 0.713 and a root mean squared error of 1.071 m w.e. The feature importance values associated with all machine learning models suggested a high importance of meteorological variables associated with ablation. This is in line with predominantly negative mass balance observations. We conclude that machine learning techniques are promising in estimating glacier mass balance and can incorporate information from more significant meteorological variables as opposed to a simplified set of variables used in temperature index models.
Assessing the influence of vegetation cover on soil-moisture signatures in fire-disturbed boreal forests in interior Alaska: Modelled results

A microwave backscattering model for shrub clumps was presented. The modelling approach was to treat the clumps as scatterers and attenuators. Three major model components were defined: surface backscattering, clump volume scattering, and multiple path interactions between clumps and ground. Total backscatter was computed by incoherent summation of the components. We then used the model to study the effects of variations in surface and willow properties (soil moisture content, and surface roughness rms height and correlation length, and willow ground coverage, clump height, and stem density) on backscatter from willows in Alaskan boreal forest region. We examined the sensitivity to variations of the six parameters combined and to variation of each parameter alone from willows of three clump sizes representing different stages of vegetation regrowth after fire. Modelled C-band backscatter was more sensitive to the variations of the surface and willow parameters than L-band backscatter at incidence angles between 20° and 60°. At incidence angles of 20-60°, C-HH and C-VV backscatter was sensitive to the variations of the three surface parameters. L-HV and L-VV backscatter were only sensitive to the moisture variation. Among the three willow parameters, change of willow ground coverage produced more sensitive cases than variations of clump height and stem density combined at C- and L-band.
Dietary ﬂ avonoid intake and the risk of stroke: a dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies

Objective: To clarify and quantify the potential association between intake of flavonoids and risk of stroke. Design: Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Data source: Studies published before January 2016 identified through electronic searches using PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies: Prospective cohort studies with relative risks and 95% CIs for stroke according to intake of flavonoids (assessed as dietary intake). Results: The meta-analysis yielded 11 prospective cohort studies involving 356 627 participants and more than 5154 stroke cases. The pooled estimate of the multivariate relative risk of stroke for the highest compared with the lowest dietary flavonoid intake was 0.89 (95% CI 0.82 to 0.97; p=0.006). Dose-response analysis indicated that the summary relative risk of stroke for an increase of 100 mg flavonoids consumed per day was 0.91 (95% CI 0.77 to 1.08) without heterogeneity among studies (I 2 =0%). Stratifying by follow-up duration, the relative risk of stroke for flavonoid intake was 0.89 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.99) in studies with more than 10 years of follow-up. Conclusions: Results from this meta-analysis suggest that higher dietary flavonoid intake may moderately lower the risk of stroke.
The Buck and Pegli lithium deposits, southeastern Manitoba; the problem of updip fractionation in subhorizontal pegmatite sheets

Two sheets of complex rare element pegmatites of the petalite subtype crop out in the eastern part of the Bernic Lake pegmatite group, Cat Lake-Winnipeg River field (Bird River subprovince, western Superior province of southeastern Manitoba. They dip west at 7 degrees to 12 degrees ; drilling reveals a downdip extent of 2,400 to 3,000 m, a north-south width of more than 250 m, and thickness varying from 2 to 16 m. Zoning, largely symmetrical, grades from primitive border-wall-core units updip into a complex border-wall-intermediate core-margin core sequence. Mineral assemblages diversify in this direction from K feldspar + albite + quartz + muscovite (+ or - Bi) to suites carrying beryl, petalite, spodumene, triphylite, cassiterite, columbite-tantalite, pollucite, traces of sulfosalts, and multigenerational sequences of amblygonite-montebrasite, tourmaline, Al to Li,Al micas and apatite. Besides extensive enrichment in Li, Be, Sn, Nb < Ta and Cs evident from the mineral assemblages of both pegmatites, strong updip gradients also are shown by fractionation of K feldspar and micas (K/Rb = 32.8-7.2, 27.3-3.6; Rb/Cs = 48.5-13.8, 31.2-7.3, respectively), beryl (Na/Li = 7.5-2.5, Cs = 0.18-1.2 wt %), and columbite-tantalite (Mn/(Mn + Fe) at. = 0.4-0.99, Ta/(Ta + Nb) at. = 0.22-0.60). In contrast, compositional gradients across the more or less concentric zoning of the pegmatite sheets are largely moderate, and relatively best expressed in the topmost parts. The strong compositional gradient along the extensive subhorizontal dip of the thin pegmatite sheets could not originate by thermogravitational convection, gravity-driven transport through the melt, or metasomatism in the solidified pegmatite. The geometry, attitude, and rapid consolidation of the pegmatite sheets provide strong arguments against internal diversification of a homogeneous melt alone. A trainlike intrusion from a layered magma chamber, or a flow differentiation during the intrusion of heterogeneous melt induced by internal differences in fluidity and density, or a combination of both seem to be a required component of the overall fractionation process.
Deep-learning-based image segmentation for uncommon ischemic stroke

Background and objectives: Transfer learning is a valuable approach to perform medical image segmentation in settings with limited cases available for training convolutional neural networks (CNN). Both the source task and the source domain inﬂuence transfer learning performance on a given target medical image segmentation task. This study aims to assess transfer learning-based medical segmentation task performance for various source task and domain combinations. Methods: CNNs were pre-trained on classiﬁcation, segmentation, and self-supervised tasks on two domains: natural images and T1 brain MRI. Next, these CNNs were ﬁne-tuned on three target T1 brain MRI segmentation tasks: stroke lesion, MS lesions, and brain anatomy segmentation. In all experiments, the CNN architecture and transfer learning strategy were the same. The segmentation accuracy on all target tasks was evaluated using the mIOU or Dice coe ﬃ cients. The detection accuracy was evaluated for the stroke and MS lesion target tasks only. Results: CNNs pre-trained on a segmentation task on the same domain as the target tasks resulted in higher or similar segmentation accuracy compared to other source task and domain combinations. Pre-training a CNN on ImageNet resulted in a comparable, but not consistently higher lesion detection rate, despite the amount of training data used being 10 times larger. Conclusions: This study suggests that optimal transfer learning for medical segmentation is achieved with a similar task and domain for pre-training. As a result, CNNs can be e ﬀ ectively pre-trained on smaller datasets by selecting a source domain and task similar to the target domain and task.
CRIME AND TOURISM IN SOUTH AFRICA: INTERNATIONAL TOURISTS PERCEPTION AND RISK

ABSTRACT Tourism can be a key factor in overcoming the many socio-economic challenges facing South Africa if the reality and perception of tourist safety is addressed urgently and adequately. The research for this paper focuses on tourism in South Africa and analyses the poor perception of personal safety of international tourists (1997–1998), the important role that tourism play in the economy and development, the influence of crime on the tourist destination image and the tourist flows as well as the general crime pattern for 1997 as perceived risk indicator for tourists visiting South Africa.