Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Understanding Ku-Band Ocean Radar Backscatter at Low Incidence Angles under Weak to Severe Wind Conditions by Comparison of Measurements and Models

The rain-free normalized radar cross-section (NRCS) measurements from the Ku-band precipitation radars (PRs) aboard the tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM) and the global precipitation measurement (GPM) mission, along with simultaneous sea surface wind truth from buoy observations, stepped-frequency microwave radiometer (SFMR) measurements, and H*Wind analyses, are used to investigate the abilities of the quasi-specular scattering models, i.e., the physical optics model (PO) and the classical and improved geometrical optics models (GO and GO4), to reproduce the Ku-band NRCS at low incidence angles of 0–18° over the wind speed range of 0–45 m/s. On this basis, the limitations of the quasi-specular scattering theory and the effects of wave breaking are discussed. The results show that the return caused by quasi-specular reflection is affected significantly by the presence of background swell waves at low winds. At moderate wind speeds of 5–15 m/s, the NRCS is still dominated by the quasi-specular reflection, and the wave breaking starts to work but its contribution is very small, thus, the models are found in excellent agreement with the measurements. With wind speed increasing, the impact of wave breaking increases, whereas the role of standard quasi-specular reflection decreases. The wave breaking impact on NRCS is first visible at incidence angles near 18° as wind speed exceeds about 20 m/s, then it becomes dominant when wind speed exceeds about 37 m/s where the NRCS is insensitive to wind speed and depends linearly on incidence angle, which cannot be explained by the standard quasi-specular scattering theory.
Effect of COVID-19 in geriatric individuals and role of a prosthodontist in clinical setup in Indian populations: a literature review

Medical professionals including dentists are one of those high-risk professionals who can easily get affected by COVID-19 due to its highly contagious nature. Evaluating the molecular pathogenesis and the role of immune system in modulating symptoms it can be assumed that susceptibility of COVID-19 to older adults is more. This review aimed to summarize all the information available on electronic databases PubMed, PubMed central, Cochrane database related to the effect of COVID-19 ingeriatric individuals and guidelines for a prosthodontist during treatment of geriatric individuals in Indian population during this pandemic period. This review will focus on the characteristic symptoms and signs of COVID-19 ingeriatric individuals and how the prosthodontists during treatment of geriatric individuals in Indian populations can better equip themselves to prevent the spread of COVID-19 ina clinical setup.
Phytoremediation of Eel (Anguilla bicolor bicolor) rearing wastewater using amazon sword (Echinodorus amazonicus ) and water jasmine (Echinodorus palaefolius)

Management of aquaculture wastewater is still the major problems in fisheries, especially in intensive systems. Intensively aquaculture activities often increase organic matter and nutrients (N and P) in the water. The study was conducted to evaluate the phytoremediator performance of Echinodorus amazonicus and Echinodorus palaefolius in removing inorganic nitrogen and orthophosphate from aquaculture wastewater with the recircula­tion system. This study used a completely randomized design with three treatments and 3 replications. The treatments of this study were P1: E. amazonicus, P2: E. palaefolius and P3: control (without aquatic plants). The tested fish were elvers which average weight 6.98 ± 0.19 g, and fish density was 4 gL-1. Elvers reared in an aquarium that containing 48 L in a recirculation system. The paste feed which protein level of 45.25% was given at satiation 3 times/day. Elvers reared for 60 days. The results showed that E. palaefolius significantly reduced concentrations of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), nitrite (NO2), nitrate (NO3) and orthophosphate (PO4) with an efficiency of 27.10 ± 2.42%; 45.03 ± 9.77%; 20.94 ± 1.29% and 14.19 ± 3.05%, respectively higher than E. amazonicus and control. The best result of elver’s performance (SGR and FCR) was in treatment P2 (E. palaefolius), i.e. 1.19 ± 0.18% and 1.57 ± 0.30. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the use of E. palaefolius as phytoremediator in eel culture with recirculation system can removed inorganic nitrogen and orthophosphate more optimal compared to other treatment.
Comparison of the Level of Adherence to Laboratory Quality Management System between Public and Private Secondary Health Facilities in Southern Nigeria

BACKGROUND: To achieve improved health outcomes of HIV positive patients receiving ART services, quality laboratory services must form an essential part of the services provided. The aim of this study was to compare service quality by assessing the level of adherence to quality system essentials (QSEs) in laboratory services delivered by public and private health institutions in Southern Nigeria. METHODS: This was an analytical cross-sectional study conducted among 50 health facilities’ laboratories in 5 Southern States (Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Cross River, Edo and Rivers) of Nigeria. Randomly selected sample of secondary health facilities’ laboratories (ten per state, and a total of 25 public and 25 private health facilities) receiving equal level of support from the same USAID/PEPFAR implementing partner and had been providing ART services to clients for a minimum of one year, were included in the study. Quarterly Internal quality audit was conducted in the ART Laboratory section of the selected health facilities spanning July 2015 to September 2016. 200 audit reports were checked, cleaned, and analyzed using SPSS version 23. We analyzed changes in mean performance scores over time across 6 quality management essentials using Repeated Measures ANOVA. Results were considered significant at P<0.05. RESULTS: The result of the study showed that the private health facilities laboratory achieved a significantly higher improvement in Facility and Safety score over time (p=0.019) compared to public health facilities. Overall, temporal improvements were recorded in all facilities in three out of the six QSEs (document and record, p=0.045; organization and personnel, p=0.020; equipment, p<0.001) and total laboratory quality score (p=0.004). But there was no significant quarterly difference in performances on QSEs between public and private health facilities laboratories. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that despite receiving the same level of external support, private hospital laboratories adhere better to the quality standards on Facility and safety than public hospital laboratories in Southern Nigeria.
Registered nurses’ knowledge, attitude and practice regarding their scope of practice in Botswana

Background The articulation of the scope of practice in nursing is important to provide boundaries for registered nurses in which to practice. Registered nurses in Botswana have frequently experienced challenges and raised concerns with their scope of practice. Research related to registered nurses’ knowledge, attitudes and practice regarding their scope of practice appears to be limited in the African context, particularly in Botswana. Aim The aim of this study was to develop guidelines for professional nurses to explore and describe registered nurses’ knowledge, attitude and practice regarding their scope of practice in Botswana. Methods A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was employed using a three-tier sampling approach to ensure a representative sample of various settings, health facilities and nurses. For the purpose of this article, the data from the qualitative component are reported. Thirty registered nurses, working in the public health sector in Botswana, participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis. Findings Data analysis revealed that registered nurses’ scope of their knowledge was lacking. Registered nurses’ attitudes were reflected in the adaptation process to expanded practice, as demonstrated through emotive aspects, adjustments to practice beyond scope and the learning of new skills considered beyond scope. Participants reported implementing many skills deemed beyond their scope, whilst their motive to do so included their experience of a lack of control over practice, lack of resources or they were doing so out of consideration for the patient. Guidance in terms of their scope was found to be inadequate. Conclusion As in other resource-limited countries in Africa, registered nurses in Botswana experience challenges with their scope of practice. Inadequate boundaries may result in compromised nursing care and may have detrimental consequences for both the patient and the nurse.
Mammary development in the embryo and adult: new insights into the journey of morphogenesis and commitment

ABSTRACT The mammary gland is a unique tissue and the defining feature of the class Mammalia. It is a late-evolving epidermal appendage that has the primary function of providing nutrition for the young, although recent studies have highlighted additional benefits of milk including the provision of passive immunity and a microbiome and, in humans, the psychosocial benefits of breastfeeding. In this Review, we outline the various stages of mammary gland development in the mouse, with a particular focus on lineage specification and the new insights that have been gained by the application of recent technological advances in imaging in both real-time and three-dimensions, and in single cell RNA sequencing. These studies have revealed the complexity of subpopulations of cells that contribute to the mammary stem and progenitor cell hierarchy and we suggest a new terminology to distinguish these cells. Summary: In this Review, we outline the various stages of mammary gland development in the mouse, with a particular focus on lineage specification.
Air bone closure and graft uptake, vis a vis tympanic reconstitution

Background: Tympanoplasty involves reconstitution of the tympano-ossicular system with commonly. fascia of the temporalis muscle, situated in its proximity. The fascia is grafted on the residual tympanic membrane by placing it either over it or below it, after creating a raw surface. The former is the overlay and latter, the underlay technique. In this study on restitution of the ear drum utilizing the overlay and underlay techniques, an exhaustive analysis of the two modalities has been done, taking into consideration various variables individually. The surgical outcome wrt to graft uptake and hearing gain has been compared in "depth" with extensive studies undertaken in India and abroad. The unbiased tabulated comparison of each aspect is unique and would guide future researchers to opt the ideal modality. Methods: Tympanoplasty was undertaken in chronic safe suppurative otitis media with the underlay and overlay techniques in a study group of 40 patients in this prospective study. The patients were randomly divided into equal groups for either procedure. Results: In the cohort of 40 subjects successful graft uptake was observed in 16 (80%) with overlay technique and 17 (85%) with underlay technique. Graft rejection was reported in 4 (20%) and 3 (15%) cases with overlay and underlay techniques respectively. Hearing improvement was 56.25% in 10-20 dB range in Overlay. Whereas, with underlay it was 47.05% in 10-2 dB. Conclusions: Overlay technique is ideal for anterior and central perforations while underlay for subtotal and posterior perforations. In terms of hearing improvement, the fibrosis during graft uptake makes the results of either technique unpredictable.
Transnational Displays of Parenting and Caring For Elderly Parents

This chapter is set up to incorporate Finch’s idea of ‘display’ to examine how migrant parents, adult migrant children, and close significant persons perform a set of actions to convey to each other and the society at large that these are family-doing activities. The authors sought to demonstrate that the concept of ‘display’ could be applied to analyze transnational practices of parenting and caring for elderly parents in a quantitative way. The chapter draws on the data from a quotabased survey (N = 304) of three types of transnational families: mother-away and father-away with under-aged children living in Lithuania and adult child-away with elderly parents needing care living in Lithuania. The study was carried out in August 2018 as part of the research project ‘Global Migration and Lithuanian Family: Family Practices, Circulation of Care, and the Return Strategies’.
Learning Management STEAM Model on Massive Open Online Courses Using Augmented Reality to Enhance Creativity and Innovation

The purposes of this study were: 1) design Learning Management STEAM Model on Massive Open Online Courses Using Augmented Reality to enhance Creativity and Innovation, 2) suitability assessment of a Learning Management STEAM Model on Massive Open Online Courses Using Augmented Reality to enhance Creativity and Innovation. The research methodology was composed of two parts: the first part involved theories and research papers relating to massive open online courses, augmented reality, elements synthesis, and the design of a Learning Management STEAM Model on Massive Open Online Courses Using Augmented Reality to enhance Creativity and Innovation; the second part involved suitability assessment of this approach. Data were analyzed by using the statistic of the mathematic mean (x) and standard deviation (S.D.). The overall result with regard to the suitability of a Learning Management STEAM Model on Massive Open Online Courses Using Augmented Reality to enhance Creativity and Innovation by seven experts was assessed at a very high level, which can be applied to real situations.
Does ESG Affect the Stability of Dividend Policies in Europe?

Sustainability has become a significant issue for firms and investors throughout the world, although it cannot be attained if policies impact the stability of firms’ dividend policies. In this paper, we use data from the Stoxx Euro 600 firms from 2000 to 2019 and the ESG (environmental, social and governance) scores from Thomson Reuters to assess the relationship between ESG responsibility performances and the firm’s dividend policy. The results indicate that more sustainable firms exhibit a more stable dividend payout. This result is also valid when the ESG pillars are analysed, specifically, the environmental and governance pillars. The findings further suggest that higher ESG scores reveal better long-term alignment with shareholders and other stakeholders due to more proportionally stable profit sharing.
Diversity and Phytophagous - Predatory Relationship of Mites Associated With Papaya Plant (Carica papaya L. 1753)

In the present study, the common species of mites, representing the phytophagous and predatory categories inhabiting the leaves of 12 Nos.of papaya plants (Carica papaya L.1753)grown in adjacent localities of the Calicut University Campus, Kerala were considered for studying their nature of interaction. Random samples of leaves (5 Nos.) were collected from each plant, and individually examined. The abundance of each mite species, either pest/ predatory category was recorded separately. A total of 892 mite specimens representing 12 species under 10 genera and 6 families were counted, of which 231 represented the phytophagous group while 661 represented the predators. Predatory mites constituted the largest proportion (74%) of acarine fauna than phytophagous group (26%). ShannonWiener index (H) of the predatory mite species was found higher (1.93) than that of the phytophagous species (0.52), results of correlation studies established a significant positive relationship (R=0.7614) between the phytophagous and predatory mite populations.
A Flexible Model of Working Memory

Working memory is fundamental to cognition, allowing one to hold information ‘in mind’ and use it to guide behavior. A defining characteristic of working memory is its flexibility: we can hold anything in mind. However, typical models of working memory rely on finely tuned, content-specific, attractors to persistently maintain neural activity and therefore do not allow for the flexibility observed in behavior. Here we present a flexible model of working memory that maintains representations through random recurrent connections between two layers of neurons: a structured ‘sensory’ layer and a randomly connected, unstructured, layer. As the interactions are untuned with respect to the content being stored, the network is able to maintain any arbitrary input. However, this flexibility comes at a cost: the random connections overlap, leading to interference between representations and limiting the memory capacity of the network. Additionally, our model captures several other key behavioral and neurophysiological characteristics of working memory.
Investigating university students’ attitude and intention to use a learning management system from a self-determination perspective

ABSTRACT The goal of this study was to investigate the determinants affecting university students’ attitude and intention towards using a learning management system from the perspective of self-determination theory, and to examine the moderating effect of gender and usage experience and the relationships between these determinants. Two hundred forty-one Chinese university students’ responses addressing their perceptions of using Blackboard for autonomous learning were gathered through a convenient sampling technique and were analysed by PLS-SEM. We found that autonomy, relatedness, competence, and satisfaction had a positive and significant impact on students’ intention towards using Blackboard; furthermore, the construct of autonomy was the strongest determinant for the use of Blackboard. However, students who used Blackboard were not found to be moderated by gender and usage experience. This study provides important implications for educators and institutions and contributes to our understanding of university students’ adoption of learning management systems.
David Hume’s Balancing Act: The Political Discourses and the Sinews of War

Both champions and critics of “neorealism” in contemporary international relations misinterpret David Hume as an early spokesman for a universal and scientific balance-of-power theory. This article instead treats Hume’s “Of the Balance of Power,” alongside the other essays in his Political Discourses (1752), as conceptual resources for a historically inflected analysis of state balancing. Hume’s defense of the balance of power cannot be divorced from his critique of commercial warfare in “Of the Balance of Trade” and “Of the Jealousy of Trade. ” To better appreciate Hume’s historical and economic approach to foreign policy, this article places Hume in conversation with Machiavelli, Guicciardini, Andrew Fletcher, and Montesquieu. International relations scholars suspicious of static paradigms should reconsider Hume’s genealogy of the balance of power, which differs from the standard liberal and neorealist accounts. Well before International Political Economy developed as a formal subdiscipline, Hume was conceptually treating economics and power politics in tandem.
RENAL FUNCTION IN MARINE TELEOSTS I. URINE FLOW AND URINARY CHLORIDE

Studies on renal function in the fishes have brought out some exceedingly interesting facts which have been of considerable value in the general problem of kidney function (for review of the literature see Marshall, 1934) and justify a more extended study along these lines. As a necessary basis for further physiological work, it was essential to obtain information concerning the normal rate of urine flow in the marine teleosts. The reports available in the literature were highly variable (Burian, 1909; Edwards and Condorelli, 1928; Marshall, 1930; Smith, 1930); and the theoretical considerations of Smith (1930) demanded a very low urine flow in marine teleosts as compared to fresh-water species. In a previous investigation (Grafflin, 1931) we were led to the conclusion that the normal urine flow of the glomerular sculpin (Myoxocephalus octodecimspinosus) is probably below 4.0 cc. , and of the aglomerular toadfish (Opsanus tau) is probably below 2.5 cc. per kilogram per 24 hours. It was further concluded that the normal urine of both species is almost invariably free of chloride and relatively high in total nitrogen. When these animals were followed under the usual experimental conditions, they were found to develop a marked diuresis, with the appearance of large quantities of chloride in the urine, a rapid diminution in the urinary total nitrogen, and an elevation of the plasma chloride. With the use of extreme precautions to avoid skin injury, it was possible to obtain low urine flows and zero (or trace) urinary chlorides in the majority of animals. Some animals with low flows, however, showed a rather high concentration of urinary chloride; while a number of animals showed a relatively high rate of flow, which was sometimes associated with a fairly high urinary chloride, but at other times with a low, or even zero, chloride.
Study of adverse effects of drought stress on two different hybrids of maize (Zea mays L.)

Plants are exposed to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Some of the abiotic stresses are drought, salinity, extreme temperatures and pollutants. These stresses negatively affect plant growth and development. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of drought stress on biomass production and chlorophyll, proteins and proline contents of two different hybrids of maize plants (Zea mays L.). The experiment was conducted in randomized block design with four replicates in pots. Three weeks old plants were challenged with drought stress by skipping irrigation. After drought stress of two weeks the plants were harvested and were subjected to various morphometric, physiological and biochemical assays. Both hybrids exhibited significant reduction in biomass production under drought stress. However, this loss was relatively lower in hybrid M-32. Drought stress caused reduction in root and shoot length, chlorophyll contents and photosynthesis activity. The chlorophyll a/b ratio increased in hybrid M-435 under water deficit conditions. Contrastingly it was decreased in M-32 due to drought stress. The total soluble proteins (TSPs) and Proline concentration were greater in M-435 under drought conditions as compared to control. While M-32 exhibited relatively lower quantity of TSPs and Proline when grown under drought stress. The Proline concentration, TSPs and Chlorophyll a/b ratio was relatively higher in M-435 grown under drought stress that indicated its potential for drought tolerance. The current study revealed that maize plants may exhibit drought tolerance by adapting variations in their morphology, anatomical structures and metabolic and physiological profile.
Survival after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for lung metastasectomy

Thoracic Surgery Unit, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Naples, Italy Contributions: (I) Conception and design: A Fiorelli, M Santini; (II) Administrative support: G Opromolla, M Martone; (III) Provision of study materials or patients: G Natale, M Bove; (IV) Collection and assembly of data: A Carlucci, C Freda, A Noro, V Ferrara, G Messina, A Izzo; (V) Data analysis and interpretation: A Fiorelli, G Vicidomini, M Santini; (VI) Manuscript writing: All authors; (VII) Final approval of manuscript: All authors. Correspondence to: Alfonso Fiorelli, MD, PhD. Thoracic Surgery Unit, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, PVia Sergio Pansini I-80131 Naples, Italy. Email: alfonso.fiorelli@unicampania.it.