Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of Resistin with Endothelium Dysfunction in STEMI and NSTEMI Patients and Its Correlation with Cardiac Markers Troponins

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is the leading cause of mortality worldwide comprised with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). A cross sectional study for a period from March 2015 to June 2016 was designed to find out the role of resistin in endothelium dysfunction in STEMI and NSTEMI patients and its correlation with cardiac markers troponins. 100 consented patients with diagnosed STEMI and NSTEMI with age range 40 to 70 years were included in the study. 50 age matched healthy subjects were taken as controls. Base line blood tests fasting blood sugar, blood urea, serum creatinine, serum total cholesterol and serum triglyceride were estimated by auto analyzer using standard kits. Special tests including serum resistin, cardiac troponin T and cardiac troponin I were estimated by the technique of ELISA. Results were analyzed by SPSS 20 and found that the base line parameters except serum creatinine were significantly raised in patients as compare to controls. Level of resistin and cardiac biomarkers cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) were significantly raised in STEMI patients as compared to NSTEMI patients. A significant positive correlation of resistin with cardiac troponin T and I was observed in STEMI patients only. It is therefore concluded that increased level of resistin along with cardiac markers may be presented as a predictor of injury of myocardium and in turn indicate the severity of AMI in STEMI patients.
Electrical and Thermal Layout Design and Optimization Considerations for DPS Active IPEM

A methodology was developed to optimize the 3D geometrical design layout of an active integrated power electronics module (IPEM) by considering both electrical and thermal performance. This paper is focused on the thermal analysis, which was performed using 3D finite element and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analyses. A parametric study was conducted to determine the thermal performance of several different design layouts. A sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the overall uncertainty of the predicted simulations. The final design, Gen-II.C, provided a 70% reduction in the common mode current, a 4% reduction in the size of the geometric footprint, and a 3°C reduction in the maximum temperature over Gen-II.A, thus providing an increase in the overall performance.Copyright © 2002 by ASME
Dense Dilated Attentive Network for Automatic Classification of Femur Trochanteric Fracture

Automatic classification of femur trochanteric fracture is very valuable in clinical diagnosis practice. However, developing a high classification performance system is still challenging due to the various locations, shapes, and contextual information of the fracture regions. To tackle this challenge, we propose a novel dense dilated attentive (DDA) network for more accurate classification of 31A1/31A2/31A3 fractures from the X-ray images by incorporating a DDA layer. By exploiting this layer, the multiscale, contextual, and attentive features are encoded from different depths of the network and thus improving the feature learning ability of the classification network to gain a better classification performance. To validate the effectiveness of the DDA network, we conduct extensive experiments on the annotated femur trochanteric fracture data samples, and the experimental results demonstrate that the proposed DDA network could achieve competitive classification compared with other methods.
The value of exercise stress testing in prediction of angiography amongst South African patients using quantitative scoring systems

Background: Accurate pre-test assessment of high risk patients may increase positive yield on angiography. Exercise stress testing (EST) prediction of angiography, may be evaluated by Duke Treadmill Score (DTS), and Synergy between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention with Taxus and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX) score, respectively. Aim: To investigate the value of EST in prediction of angiography amongst South African patients using quantitative scoring systems. Methods: The DTS and SYNTAX score were compared in patients with high risk pre-test assessments selected for angiography. Logistic regression modelling determined the odds ratio of abnormal angiograms using EST as a predictor. Results: Pre-test assessment of 525 suspected coronary artery disease patients, indicated angiography in 131 high risk individuals. The positive yield of abnormal angiograms was 58.0%, with no correlation between DTS and SYNTAX scores (Pearson’s correlation coefficient = 0.113, p=0.200). There was low predictive probability on receiver-operator-curve for DTS when compared to angiogram results (area under curve (AUC)=0.529, p=0.574), and SYNTAX categories (AUC=0.432, p=0.378). Chi-square tests had no significance between angiography and EST (all p-values >0.05). However DTS predicted abnormal angiograms with odds ratio of 1.92 when relevant cardiovascular risk factors (smoking, BMI, age) were added. Conclusion: Pre-test assessment of high risk patients represented a homogenous group with prevalent cardiovascular risk factors. However, the high risk group had no relationship between DTS and SYNTAX scores, indicating DTS alone discounts risk factors. Modelling accounted for DTS limitation by demonstrating an obese, elderly smoker with high risk category DTS is 1.92 times more likely to have an abnormal angiogram.
An in-vivo study of ACL strain in the normal knee during Lachman and Drawer tests

To diagnose an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, clinicians perform a Lachman test at 30 degrees of flexion or a Drawer test at 90 degrees of flexion to record how far the tibia displaces anteriorly with respect to the femur. A study was undertaken to characterize the normal strain pattern of the ACL in vivo during the Lachman and Drawer tests, and to determine if there is a significant difference between the strain patterns at clinically applied load levels. Five patients were studied. After routine arthroscopic surgery a Hall-effect displacement transducer was attached arthroscopically to the ACL to measure strain. Loads were applied by a hand-held load cell in a transverse plane directed through the midtibial tuberosity at flexion angles of 90 degrees and 30 degrees . The difference in percentage strain between the Lachman and Drawer tests was highly significant at p<0.01 level. These results clearly show that the Lachman test produces a greater elongation or strain in the ACL in comparison to the Drawer test at loads to 35 lb. From these data the authors characterize the normal ACL strain pattern. <<ETX>>
Video-conference Platforms: Understanding the Antecedents and Consequences of Participating in or Attending Virtual Conferences in Developing Countries

ABSTRACT This paper provides an empirical perspective on the antecedents and consequences of virtual conference participant/attendee behavior and continuance behavior through video-conference platforms using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) combined with further related factors. The sample consisted of 209 participants and attendees of three Middle Eastern virtual conferences. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the research model. The results indicate that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, and perceived trust are associated with actual participating/attending behavior, and that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, perceived trust, and system quality influence the intention of continuance participation/attendance behavior. The results further reveal the influence of use behavior on knowledge acquisition and the influence of continuance behavior on knowledge acquisition and communication quality. The implications for both theory and practice are provided based on the findings.
“My freedom doesn’t care about your fear. My freedom doesn’t care about your feelings”: Postmodern and oppositional organizing in #OpenAmericaNow

In April 2020, amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, fringe political activists, conspiracy theorists, and far-right subcultures joined together to protest stay at home orders and social distancing decrees. Largely sharing information and organizing strategies on social media, these protestors adopted the Twitter hashtag #OpenAmericaNow to activate and mobilize supporters across the United States. In this study, we examine the online organizing of #OpenAmericaNow through analysis of 17,965 tweets to understand how fringe and conspiracy subcultures organized through oppositional consciousness raising. Our findings reveal multi-level discourses, which bridge identification on the micro-level with anti-elitist and post-truth logics on the macro-level. Theoretically, our study advances theorizing on postmodern organizing and conceptualizes alt-civic engagement, while also engaging in innovative methodological strategies useful for interrogating paradoxical and multi-level discourses.
The Covid-19 shock in European regions

ABSTRACT We examine the regional mortality rates associated with the spread of Covid-19 in Europe. In particular, we analyse the potential contribution of the country’s geographical and institutional features in shaping the virus's interregional spread and resulting local death rates. Our analysis is based on information from both pandemic waves from March to the end of November 2020. In a multilevel hierarchical regression estimation setting, covering information from over 600 OECD-TL3 areas, over 120 larger OECD-TL2 areas and 15 national-level areas, our findings suggest that local death rates are affected by the geographical and institutional features at the local, regional and national levels.
Ferromagnetic tridisk-coupled resonator and magnetically tunable stripline Y circulator

A ferromagnetic tri-disk-coupled (TDC) resonator is constructed by placing three YIG ferrite disks mutually attached on the circular center conductor. The EM fields in one of the disks is described in terms of expanded circular harmonics with an approximated transformation of derivative, and the EM fields in a TDC resonator is synthesized from the respective constituent fields of the disks, by sum-transformation, regarding three eigenjunctures of the TEC resonator. The synthesized fields include coefficients A, B, and D, which are described as functions of the radis ratio r/sub 0//r and azimuthal angle phi . The special case in which A=D=0 is treated. Two conditional equations of perfect Y circulation are calculated. Magnetically tunable operation is theoretically analyzed using the conditional curves, and the magnetically tunable operation is examined experimentally with theoretical analysis. >
A New Index for Public Investment Management

The objective of this article is to improve the most widely used indicator of quality in public investment management (the PIMI). The methodology was to use an alternative algorithm to build a new version of the PIMI and calculate it for sixteen Latin American countries. The result is a New PIMI that appears better than the original one, as it has a positive correlation with an objective indicator of the efficiency of public investment, which is not achieved by the original PIMI. We recommend the use of the New PIMI, proposed here, as a control variable in studies on aggregated public investment and its impacts on economic growth and social welfare. One limitation of the New PIMI is that it reflects the quality of public investment management at the aggregate level and based on de jure criteria, thus not capturing key differences that occur at a more disaggregated or informal level. Even so, the relevance, originality and replicability of the New PIMI make it a significant contribution to knowledge in this field.
Promoting Healthy Eating Behaviors by Incentivizing Exploration of Healthy Alternatives

Incentive-based intervention programs aimed at promoting healthy eating behaviors usually focus on incentivizing repeating the desired behavior. Unfortunately, even when effective, these interventions are often short-lived and do not lead to a lasting behavioral change. We present a new type of intervention program focused on incentivizing exploration of new healthy alternatives rather than incentivizing repeated healthy behaviors. This intervention aims to help participants find long-lasting “personal treasures” —new foods that are both healthy and tasty for them. Our field study included a final sample of 48 students with low or medium daily consumption of fresh salads. Participants in the control group received a fixed payment for completing the program, while the participants in the incentivized exploration group received a lower fixed fee for completing the task and a bonus for each new salad they tried. Results show that participants in the incentivized exploration group reported eating more salads even 1 year after the program ended compared to the participants in the control group. Though preliminary, our results paint a promising picture for the successful application of incentivizing exploration interventions to promote healthy lifestyle.
Ultra-tightly Coupled GPS/Vehicle Sensor Integration for Land Vehicle Navigation

With the increasing demand for location dependent applications in land vehicles, modern vehicle systems are often equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and vehicle sensors to provide position, velocity, and attitude information. This paper investigates an ultra-tight integration strategy to fuse GPS and a vehicle sensor configuration consisting of two horizontal accelerometers, a single vertical gyroscope, and wheel speed sensors. Data from a field test is analyzed in the tracking and navigation domains to verify the feasibility of implementing the proposed system. Results demonstrate that the ultra-tight approach is still beneficial under typical driving conditions even with a limited vehicle sensor configuration that cannot measure the full motion of the body.
Interactive 3D Artefact Puzzles to Support Engagement Beyond the Museum Environment

The need for online 3D interactive experiences was evidenced during the COVID-19 lockdowns, as audiences across the world have been unable to visit museums, physically interact with their collections on site or digitally interact with technologies and digital media situated within such settings. As a response, this research addresses gaps identiﬁed in a review of the digital offerings from UK and US museums during the 2020 lockdowns, highlighting the limited number and nature of 3D interactive offerings provided, despite the wide efforts on 3D digitisation over the last decade. Thus, the research investigates the development and testing of an online 3D interactive activity, resembling a physical activity situated in the archaeological gallery of Brighton Museum and Art Gallery (UK). Through a pilot user survey, the research aims to understand what is the impact of such online offerings to better contextualise heritage collections; enhance cultural heritage learning and appreciation; and complement physical activities of similar nature. The analysis of audiences’ opinions about these interactions can be of great importance, as such activities have the power to enable active access to cultural heritage resources regardless of the physical location of users and transform heritage experiences in the long term. Our research indicates that, while the physical experience might offer advantages as far as it concerns the familiarity with the tactile nature of interaction, the digital counterpart has potential to allow for the experience of assembling the puzzle to achieve a wider reach.
Observations On The Relative Importance Of Different Trail Families In Meteor Burst Communications

This pager gives some of the results obtained from monitoring systems over different path lengths, using both mid and end path meteor burst links. The various family contributions and overall throughput capacities of meteor burst systems are discussed, these results being determined according to both ‘ideal’ situations where received power over the monitored links was the only factor considered, and also according to ‘real-world’ simulations where all the factors that would affect performance (such as propagation delays, synchronisation time, etcetera) were considered.The results obtained are compared with those predicted by earlier work in the field, and some reaons for discrepancies are postulated.
Computation and Experimental Results of Wear in a Slurry Pump Impeller

Using a computer program to obtain the internal flow in a pump impeller, the trajectories of solid particles were found and used to predict the regions of wear within the pump. In order to assess the validity of this prediction method tests were undertaken to obtain the erosion-prone areas of the pump by observing the erosion of layers of paint on the pump impeller. There was good agreement but the level of erosion was underestimated by the predictions. The calculation method and the use of paint to obtain wear patterns were both promising methods. Maximum wear in this case was near the leading edge on the pressure side and on the back shroud in the eye of the impeller.
Mediation Role of Job Satisfaction on the Effect of Quality of Work Life and Work Engagement on Psychological Well Being: Case Study on Start Up Companies in Malang

This study aims to analyze and investigate the effect of quality of work life and work engagement on psychological well being directly, and to know in depth the indirect effect through job satisfaction or in other words mediation. This research was conducted at a start-up company in Malang with a total sample of 71 permanent employees who have worked for more than one year. Collecting data using a questionnaire distributed via google form directly to the research respondents. After the data is collected, then the data is tabulated and coding is done. Then the data was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM-PLS) using the help of the Smartpls application version 3. The results of this study indicate that the quality of work life can directly affect job satisfaction and psychological well being, work engagement can increase job satisfaction and psychological well being directly, job satisfaction can directly improve psychological well being, furthermore job satisfaction is able to mediate the influence between quality of work life and work engagement on psychological well being.
Cellular and molecular basis of thyroid autoimmunity

Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) is the most common human autoimmune disease. The two major clinical manifestations of AITD are Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT). AITD is characterized by lymphocytic infiltration of the thyroid gland, leading either to follicular cell damage, thyroid gland destruction, and development of hypothyroidism (in HT) or thyroid hyperplasia, induced by thyroid antibodies which activate thyrotropin receptor (TSHR) on thyrocytes, leading to hyperthyroidism. The aim of this review is to present up-to-date picture of the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie the pathology of AITD. Based on studies involving patients, animal AITD models, and thyroid cell lines, we discuss the key events leading to the loss of immune tolerance to thyroid autoantigens as well as the signaling cascades leading to the destruction of thyroid gland. Special focus is given on the interplay between the environmental and genetic factors, as well as ncRNAs and microbiome contributing to AITD development. In particular, we describe mechanistic models by which SNPs in genes involved in immune regulation and thyroid function, such as CD40, TSHR, FLT3, and PTPN22, underlie AITD predisposition. The clinical significance of novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers based on ncRNAs and microbiome composition is also underscored. Finally, we discuss the possible significance of probiotic supplementation on thyroid function in AITD.
Double-Layer Flexible Neural Probe With Closely Spaced Electrodes for High-Density in vivo Brain Recordings

Flexible polymer neural probes are an attractive emerging approach for invasive brain recordings, given that they can minimize the risks of brain damage or glial scaring. However, densely packed electrode sites, which can facilitate neuronal data analysis, are not widely available in flexible probes. Here, we present a new flexible polyimide neural probe, based on standard and low-cost lithography processes, which has 32 closely spaced 10 μm diameter gold electrode sites at two different depths from the probe surface arranged in a matrix, with inter-site distances of only 5 μm. The double-layer design and fabrication approach implemented also provides additional stiffening just sufficient to prevent probe buckling during brain insertion. This approach avoids typical laborious augmentation strategies used to increase flexible probes’ mechanical rigidity while allowing a small brain insertion footprint. Chemical composition analysis and metrology of structural, mechanical, and electrical properties demonstrated the viability of this fabrication approach. Finally, in vivo functional assessment tests in the mouse cortex were performed as well as histological assessment of the insertion footprint, validating the biological applicability of this flexible neural probe for acquiring high quality neuronal recordings with high signal to noise ratio (SNR) and reduced acute trauma.
Bias against men's issues within the United Nations and the World Health Organization: A content analysis

Males fare worse than females on many health outcomes, but more attention, particularly at a national level, is given to women’s issues. This apparent paradox might be explained by gamma bias or a similar gender bias construct. Such potential biases require exploration. The purpose of the current paper is to present six streams of evidence that illustrate a bias against men’s issues within the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (WHO). First, the UN’s sustainable development goal on ‘gender equality’ is exclusive to females. Second, the UN observes nine International Days for women’s issues/achievements and one day for men’s issues/achievements. Third, the UN operates 69 Twitter accounts dedicated to women’s issues, culminating in 328,251 tweets since 2008. The UN does not operate a Twitter account for men’s issues. Fourth, female words (e.g., ‘women’) appear more frequently than male words (e.g., ‘men’) in documents archived in the UN and WHO databases, indicating more attention to women’s issues. Fifth, in WHO reports where similar use of male and female words might be expected (e.g., gender and health reports), female words appear more frequently. Sixth, more female than male words appear in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, with articles on women’s health more frequently non-original research (e.g., editorials). Overall, because the UN and WHO are the causal agents directly responsible for the outcomes assessed, the findings reveal a bias against men’s issues within these organisations. The findings support the construct of gamma bias. Ways to reduce this bias are discussed.