Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Psychological and Professional Burden Experienced by Nurses Who Worked in COVID-19 Clinics during the Pandemic: A Content Analysis

Introduction: Since the beginning of the pandemic, nurses have played a key role in providing care for COVID-19 patients. Infection risk and fear, use of personal protective equipment, and social isolation were related to high levels of stress and extreme psychological drain among front-line healthcare providers. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore how front-line nurses experienced psychological and professional burdens during the coronavirus outbreak. Material and Methods: The study used a qualitative research design. Semi-structured interviews were applied as the method of data collection. Ten nurses from COVID-19 wards and units of two general public hospitals participated in the study. A content analysis approach was employed to analyze the data. Results: Data analysis revealed two main categories, namely: (A) front-line experience “From fear to empowerment”, and (B) caring and management “From powerlessness to adaptation”. Eight sub-categories were developed and included within the corresponding main categories. The study’s findings demonstrated that the pandemic caused significant psychological and professional strain on front-line nurses, with feelings of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty predominating. Nonetheless, the process of adaptation and adjustment brought about sentiments of self-actualization and empowerment. Conclusions: A thorough understanding of the psychological and professional burden experienced by the front-line nurses is crucial to ensure that nurses receive appropriate support and that quality care is sustained under highly demanding healthcare conditions.
Comparative Evaluation of Existing and Rationally Designed Novel Antimicrobial Peptides for Treatment of Skin and Soft Tissue Infections

Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) and acne are among the most common skin conditions in primary care. SSTIs caused by ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter sp.) can range in severity, and treating them is becoming increasingly challenging due to the growing number of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. There is also a rise in antibiotic-resistant strains of Cutibacterium acne, which plays a role in the development of acne. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are considered to be a promising solution to the challenges posed by antibiotic resistance. In this study, six new AMPs were rationally designed and compared to five existing peptides. The MIC values against E. coli, P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae, E. faecium, S. aureus, and C. acnes were determined, and the peptides were evaluated for cytotoxicity using Balb/c 3T3 cells and dermal fibroblasts, as well as for hemolytic activity. The interaction with bacterial membranes and the effect on TNF-α and IL-10 secretion were also evaluated for selected peptides. Of the tested peptides, RP556 showed high broad-spectrum antibacterial activity without inducing cytotoxicity or hemolysis, and it stimulated the production of IL-10 in LPS-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Four of the novel AMPs showed pronounced specificity against C. acnes, with MIC values (0.3–0.5 μg/mL) below the concentrations that were cytotoxic or hemolytic.
A review of neuroendocrine immune system abnormalities in IBS based on the brain–gut axis and research progress of acupuncture intervention

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common digestive disorder observed in clinics. Current studies suggest that the pathogenesis of the disease is closely related to abnormal brain–gut interactions, hypokinesia, visceral sensory hypersensitivity in the gastrointestinal tract, and alterations in the intestinal microenvironment. However, it is difficult for a single factor to explain the heterogeneity of symptoms. The Rome IV criteria emphasized the holistic biologic-psycho-social model of IBS, suggesting that symptoms of the disease are closely related to neurogastroenterology and various abnormalities in brain–gut interaction. This study comprehensively reviewed the relationship between the brain–gut axis and IBS, the structure of the brain–gut axis, and the relationship between the brain–gut axis and intestinal microenvironment, and discussed the relationship between the abnormal regulation of the nervous system, endocrine system, and immune system and the incidence of IBS on the basis of brain–gut axis. In terms of treatment, acupuncture therapy can regulate the neuroendocrine-immune system of the body and improve the intestinal microenvironment, and it has the advantages of safety, economy, and effectiveness. We study the pathogenesis of IBS from local to global and micro to macro, and review the use of acupuncture to treat the disease as a whole so as to provide new ideas for the treatment of the disease.
Bimatoprost versus Clobetasol Propionate in Scalp Alopecia Areata: A Prospective Non-Randomized Open-Label Clinical Trial

Background: Alopecia areata (AA) is one of the most common forms of alopecia presenting to the dermatology out patient department (OPD) worldwide as well as in Nepal. It is mostly diagnosed clinically. Treatment depends on the extent, location, and severity of the condition. Various treatment options available are topical, intralesional, and oral medications. Bimatoprost is a relatively newer treatment modality in AA. Aim and Objective: To compare the efficacy and safety of topical bimatoprost 0.01% solution versus clobetasol propionate 0.05% cream in scalp AA. Materials and Methods: A total of 50 patients attending the dermatology OPD of a tertiary hospital between March 2018 and February 2019 were included in this prospective non-randomized open-label clinical trial. Patients were divided into two groups i.e., Group A- topical bimatoprost solution 0.01% and Group B- topical clobetasol propionate cream 0.05%, and followed up at weeks 4, 8, and 12. The improvement was analyzed subjectively by hair regrowth and objectively by Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score. Side effects, nature of terminal hair and onset of initial response were also recorded. Results: Out of 50 patients, 27 were males and 23 were females with a mean age of 28.5 ± 9.34 years and mean duration of disease of 18.67 ± 46.1 weeks. Hair regrowth rate and reduction in SALT score from baseline were seen more in clobetasol group compared to bimatoprost (p = 0.282 and P = 0.246, respectively). Side effects were seen more in the clobetasol group compared to bimatoprost group (p = 0.002). Onset of cosmetically acceptable hair regrowth was seen earlier in the bimatoprost group (p = 0.017) and also the nature of regrown hairs was more pigmented in bimatoprost group (p = 0.024). Conclusions: There is no significant difference in hair regrowth between clobetasol and bimatoprost in the treatment of AA on scalp at the end of 12 weeks, although bimatoprost has an advantage of lesser side effects, more rapid response and growth of more pigmented hairs.
Tests of Independence on Two-Way Tables under Cluster Sampling: An Evaluation

On decrit dans cet article une etude de Monte Carlo de procedures concurrentes pour tester l'independance des lignes et des colonnes dans un tableau a double entree dans le cas de l'echantillonnage par grappes. Cette etude est destinee a explorer les effets sur les resultats du test d'un certain nombre de parametres, dont i) des effets du plan differents pour les lignes et les colonnes, ii) une etendue de valeurs des effets du plan generalises du test d'independance, iii) des degres de variation differents parmi les effets du plan generalises. On a construit un modele d'echantillonnage par grappes qui permet un certain degre de controle de ces parametres d'etude. Un objectif de l'etude etait de voir dans quelle mesure les conclusions de Thomas & Rao (1987) pour les tests de precision de l'ajustement simple se generalisaient au test d'independance. Un deuxieme objectif de l'etude etait d'examiner un certain nombre de types de tests que Thomas-Rao (1987) n'avaient pas consideres. Une conclusion fondamentale de l'article est que les praticiens ont a leur disposition un vaste eventail de procedures valables, suivant la nature de l'echantillon qu'ils etudient. Quelques-uns des problemes auxquels doivent faire face les praticiens lors du choix de la bonne statistique des tests sont examines dans l'article.
Comparison and visualisation of high‐resolution transport modelling with aircraft measurements

This article presents a case study of a comparison of an Eulerian chemical transport model (CTM) and Lagrangian chemical model with measurements taken by aircraft. High‐resolution Eulerian integrations produce improved point‐by‐point comparisons between model results and measurements compared to low resolution. The Lagrangian model requires mixing to be introduced in order to model the measurements. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society
The colour of thermal noise in classical Brownian motion: a feasibility study of direct experimental observation

One hundred years after Einstein modelled Brownian motion, a central aspect of this motion in incompressible fluids has not been verified experimentally: the thermal noise that drives the Brownian particle, is not white, as in Einstein's simple theory. It is slightly coloured, due to hydrodynamics and the fluctuation–dissipation theorem. This theoretical result from the 1970s was prompted by computer simulation results in apparent violation of Einstein's theory. We discuss how a direct experimental observation of this colour might be carried out by using optical tweezers to separate the thermal noise from the particle's dynamic response to it. Since the thermal noise is almost white, very good statistics is necessary to resolve its colour. That requires stable equipment and long recording times, possibly making this experiment one for the future only. We give results for experimental requirements and for stochastic errors as functions of experimental window and measurement time, and discuss some potential sources of systematic errors.
Deep-Learning-Based Resource Allocation for Transmit Power Minimization in Uplink NOMA IoT Cellular Networks

For Internet of Things (IoT) networks, it is important to develop energy-efficient communication schemes to extend the operating life of battery-powered IoT devices. Additionally, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) can utilize frequency resources more efficiently than orthogonal multiple access, making it more suitable to support massive connectivity of IoT users. Motivated by these facts, we consider uplink NOMA IoT cellular networks and develop two novel algorithms that jointly optimize sub-band allocation and transmit power control to minimize the total transmit power of all users and the maximum transmit power among all users’ transmit power, respectively, while meeting the minimum required data rate for all users. Specifically, we propose a novel two-step approach that sequentially performs sub-band assignment and transmit power control for each IoT user, in which a genetic algorithm-based method is applied for sub-band assignment whereas unsupervised learning (USL) implemented as deep neural network (DNN) models is utilized for transmit power control. Moreover, we propose loss functions that can achieve an appropriate balance between power minimization and rate constraint satisfaction in the process of training. Extensive simulations are performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm in various aspects, and we show that our proposed two-step algorithm can approach the optimal performance achievable through an exhaustive search with much lower computational complexity.
Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulation of Blood Flow in Two Coronary Stents

The aim of the present study is to perform computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of blood flow in two coronary stents in a realistic three-dimensional geometry under physiological conditions. The two stents, similar to real coronary ones, are both made of 12 rings but are different as far as the positions of the struts are concerned. One type of stent has parallel-connectors and the other transverse-ones. Time variation of the parameters correlated to neo-intimal hyperplasia, such as wall shear stress, magnitude of wall shear stress gradient, and oscillatory shear index are investigated with the conclusion that the stent with parallel-connectors has a better fluid dynamic behavior.
Share and Multiply: Modeling Communication and Generated Traffic in Private WhatsApp Groups

Group-based communication is a highly popular communication paradigm, which is especially prominent in mobile instant messaging (MIM) applications, such as WhatsApp. Chat groups in MIM applications facilitate the sharing of various types of messages (e.g., text, voice, image, video) among a large number of participants. As each message has to be transmitted to every other member of the group, which multiplies the traffic, this has a massive impact on the underlying communication networks. However, most chat groups are private and network operators cannot obtain deep insights into MIM communication via network measurements due to end-to-end encryption. Thus, the generation of traffic is not well understood, given that it depends on sizes of communication groups, speed of communication, and exchanged message types. In this work, we provide a huge data set of 5,956 private WhatsApp chat histories, which contains over 76 million messages from more than 117,000 users. We describe and model the properties of chat groups and users, and the communication within these chat groups, which gives unprecedented insights into private MIM communication. In addition, we conduct exemplary measurements for the most popular message types, which empower the provided models to estimate the traffic over time in a chat group.
Limit-Cycle Oscillation of High-Aspect-Ratio Wings

In this paper structural equations of motion based on nonlinear beam theory and the unsteady aerodynamic forces are gained to study the effects of geometric nonlinearity on the aerodynamic response of high-aspect-ratio wings. Then the Galerkin’s method is used to discretize the equations of motion. The results of HALE wing show good agreement with references. And other results investigate the effects of geometric structural nonlinearity on the response of a wing. Also the complex changes of the limit-cycle oscillation with speed increasing is carefully studied.
Early Biliary Decompression Reduces Morbidity but Not Mortality in Acute Ascending Cholangitis

Background Acute ascending cholangitis is a life-threatening infection due to biliary obstruction. Decompression via endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) or interventional radiologic (IR) drainage controls the source of the sepsis. Numerous studies have been published with conflicting data on whether earlier drainage affects morbidity and mortality. We sought to publish our experience at two Las Vegas community hospitals. Methods After IRB approval, over 4000 inpatient non-elective ERCs were analyzed between 2010 and 2019. Six-hundred and twenty-five patients met the 2018 Tokyo criteria for a “definitive diagnosis” of acute ascending cholangitis. A univariate and multivariate analysis was conducted to identify factors significantly associated with length of stay and mortality. Results On univariate analysis, patients who had drainage conducted within 24 hours had significantly shorter lengths of stay (p = 0.0012 95% CI [-88.1 to -21.8 hrs]), higher mean diastolic blood pressure (p=0.0029 95% CI [1.03 to 5.01 mm Hg]), and lower mean maximum temperature (p=0.0001 95% CI [-0.842 to -0.382 oC]) when compared to patients who underwent decompression more than 24 hours after admission. There were no statistically significant differences in mortality between patients who underwent decompression within 24 hours of admission versus patients who underwent decompression beyond 24 hours of admission. On multivariate analysis, earlier decompression reduced the length of stay for patients with mild (p<0.0001), moderate (p<0.0001), and severe cholangitis (p=0.0023). Mortality was significantly associated with the worsening severity of the cholangitis (moderate [p=0.0001] and severe [p<0.0001], but not mild disease) and the use of vasopressors. Conclusions Timely biliary decompression within 24 hours of admission significantly reduces the length of stay, pyrexia, and hemodynamic abnormalities. In addition, our data corroborate the 2018 Tokyo guidelines that correlate the severity of cholangitis with mortality.
Influential Characteristics and Benefits of Cloud ERP Adoption in New Zealand SMEs: A Vendors’ Perspective

Cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are hosted services offering opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that often lack IT resources. Few studies have examined the adoption of cloud ERP systems in SMEs, specifically, from the perspective of cloud ERP vendors who are the domain experts. Drawing on vendors’ perspectives in the New Zealand (NZ) context, this paper evaluates the influential characteristics for adopting cloud ERP systems in SMEs. The paper uses an integrative model combining the technological, organizational, and environmental (TOE) framework with the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) based on individual dimension for a holistic evaluation. Findings reveal novel characteristics including system reliability and data security that influence adoption of cloud ERP. Further, benefits are identified such as reduced cost and time for deployment, increased scalability, and improved accessibility. The paper presents new insights that can help SME managers successfully adopt cloud ERP in their firms in addition to providing practical guidelines for adoption in NZ. The development of a theoretical model integrating TOE and UTAUT is a novel approach, substantially contributing to the body of knowledge.
Pressure–temperature paths of tectonic blocks in mélange: Recording thermal evolution of a subduction channel at an initial stage of subduction

We investigated the tectonic evolution of amphibolite and blueschist tectonic blocks in the serpentinite‐ or pelite‐matrix mélange, which are distributed at the highest structural level of the high‐P/T type Kamuikotan metamorphic rocks in northern Japan. The tectonic blocks in this study area are divided into six rock types: garnet‐epidote amphibolite, epidote amphibolite, amphibolite, plagioclase‐poor amphibolite, epidote blueschist and glaucophane‐bearing quartz schist. Based on phase equilibrium modelling, garnet‐epidote amphibolite and epidote amphibolite experienced peak metamorphism at pressure and temperature conditions of 1.1–1.25 GPa and 550–590°C, and 0.8–1.3 GPa and 475–550°C, respectively, (at an apparent thermal gradient ranging between 13 to 17°C/km). By contrast, although the peak‐metamorphic conditions for each one of amphibolite, plagioclase‐poor amphibolite, and glaucophane‐bearing quartz schist are not well constrained, they may have been originally metamorphosed at amphibolite to epidote‐amphibolite facies at thermal gradients exceeding 20°C/km, inferred from the core composition of amphibole (edenite/magnesiohornblende/barroisite). The epidote blueschist experienced peak metamorphism at pressure and temperature conditions of 0.8–1.6 GPa and 360–520°C (most probably 0.8–0.85 GPa and 360–480°C). Although different types of tectonic blocks experienced a variety of peak metamorphism under different P/T conditions, all of them underwent epidote blueschist facies metamorphism at the peak or retrograde stage (as shown by the glaucophane rims of amphibole with different core compositions). The overall P–T paths appear counter‐clockwise, which could be interpreted to reflect the cooling history of the subduction channel from the beginning to the steady state of subduction. The geothermal gradient could have changed from 15–17° to ~10°C/km over ~20–25 Myr, as estimated by previously reported radiometric ages. The protoliths to the tectonic blocks could have begun to subduct into the subduction channel at different times (where the thermal structure evolved with time), acquiring different prograde P–T paths. Subsequently, these tectonic blocks were juxtaposed at a certain depth and incorporated into the overlying serpentinite during the subduction stage. Finally, the serpentinite‐ or pelite‐matrix mélange, including these tectonic blocks, were exhumed together with the coherent accretionary units as the former was emplaced over the latter.
Sport and exercise as medicine in the prevention and treatment of depression

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Radiation Response of Large-Area 4H-SiC Schottky Barrier Diodes

We report on the effects of large-area 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes on the radiation response to ionizing particles. Two different diode areas were compared: 1 mm × 1 mm and 5 mm × 5 mm. 6LiF and 10B4C films, which were placed on top of the diodes, were used as thermal neutron converters. We achieved a thermal neutron efficiency of 5.02% with a 6LiF thermal neutron converter, which is one of the highest efficiencies reported to date. In addition, a temperature-dependent radiation response to alpha particles was presented. Neutron irradiations were performed in a JSI TRIGA dry chamber and an Am-241 wide-area alpha source was used for testing the alpha response of the 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes.
Two micron spectroscopy and 2.7 mm CO line observations of V645 Cygni

Spectroscopy of V645 Cyg from 1.5 to 2.5 microns and CO line observations at 2.7 mm are presented. A kinematic distance of 6 kpc is derived from the CO line velocity. The strengths of the observed members of the hydrogen Brackett recombination line series are consistent with a spectral type of O9 and an extinction of 4-5 mag to both the line-emitting region and to the exciting star. The infrared continuum is probably produced by thermal emission from hot (about 1000 K) dust. The star is embedded in a 20 pc diameter molecular cloud with a mass not less than 2500 solar masses. The cloud shows CO line broadening in the vicinity of the star and a velocity gradient perpendicular to the plane of polarization of the stellar optical emission. The system has many similarities to R Mon.