Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Awareness About the Benefits of Post-bariatric Surgery in Diabetic Patients in Makkah Almukarramah, Saudi Arabia

Aim: To measure awareness about the benefits of post-bariatric surgery, which is a shortening of the gut in order to lose weight in diabetic patients in the Makkah region, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among diabetic patients aged 18-65 from February to July 2023. An online questionnaire via Google Forms was distributed and used to assess the participants' awareness of the benefits of post-bariatric surgery for diabetic patients. Results: Overall, 388 participants (56.40% female, 43.60% male) were surveyed. Most participants (91.5%) showed awareness of gastric sleeve surgery, while a significant proportion (85.8%) recognized obesity as a disease. A majority of participants (80.90%) showed awareness of the association between obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure. However, only 46.10% of participants showed awareness of eligibility criteria associated with bariatric surgery. The majority recognized the effectiveness of bariatric surgery for weight loss but did not consider it the first choice, emphasizing a preference for non-surgical weight loss strategies. Conclusion: Participants demonstrated good knowledge about obesity and its implications for health. They also demonstrated good knowledge about bariatric surgery as an effective weight reduction method but expressed a preference for non-surgical methods, which reflects their awareness of the complications of bariatric surgery. However, the results showed a lack of awareness of postoperative indications and lifestyle changes, thus highlighting the need for comprehensive patient education and counseling.
Antithyroid Drug-Induced Agranulocytosis: A Case Report

Agranulocytosis is a rare but life-threatening complication of methimazole and propylthiouracil, antithyroid drugs (ATDs) prescribed for the treatment of hyperthyroidism. We report the case of a 41-year-old female who presented to our institution with complaints of fevers, chills, sore throat, myalgias, and generalized weakness one month after treatment initiation with methimazole. A complete blood count at admission revealed agranulocytosis with an absolute neutrophil count of 0/μl. After discontinuation of the medication, she was treated with granulocyte-colony stimulating factor and intravenous broad-spectrum antibiotics, which improved her condition on day seven of hospitalization. Although agranulocytosis is a rare complication of antithyroid drugs, providers must maintain a high index of clinical suspicion as prompt diagnosis and treatment are essential. After the diagnosis is confirmed with an absolute neutrophil count <500/μl, management involves discontinuation of the offending agent and initiation of intravenous broad-spectrum antibiotics. Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, commonly employed in addition to antibiotics, is a controversial treatment option and more research demonstrating its efficacy is necessitated. Preventing mortality associated with antithyroid drug-induced agranulocytosis is achieved through patient education at the time of ATD initiation.
Ultrawide ‐ Bandgap Semiconductors : Research Opportunities and Challenges

Ultrawide-bandgap (UWBG) semiconductors, with bandgaps significantly wider than the 3.4 eV of GaN, represent an exciting and challenging new area of research in semiconductor materials, physics, devices and applications. Because many figures-ofmerit for device performance scale nonlinearly with bandgap, these semiconductors have long been known to have potential compelling advantages over their narrowerbandgap cousins in high-power and RF electronics, as well as in deep-UV optoelectronics, quantum information, and extreme-environment applications. Only recently, however, have the UWBG semiconductor materials, such as high Al-content AlGaN, diamond and Ga2O3, advanced in maturity to the point where realizing some of their tantalizing advantages is a relatively near-term possibility. In this article, we survey, and present an enumerated list of, the materials, physics, device and associated application research opportunities and challenges that are believed to be important for advancing the state of their science and technology. These research opportunities and challenges emerged from a workshop, The Second Technical Exchange on Ultrawide-bandgap Semiconductors: Research Opportunities and Directions, held in Arlington, VA, April 24-25, 2016, which brought together leading experts from academia, government, and industry. DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release: distribution unlimited. This material is based upon work supported by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering under Air Force Contract No. FA8721-05-C-0002 and/or FA8702-15-D-0001. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.
Regional frequency analysis and spatial pattern characterization of Dry Spells in Iran

This paper presents a methodology for regional frequency analysis and spatial pattern features of the Annual Maximum Dry Spell Length (AMDSL) as an indicator of drought conditions using the well‐known L‐moments approach and statistical‐based methods. Applying Ward's cluster‐analysis method identifies eight regions with distinctive AMDSL behaviours for Iran. Homogeneity testing indicates that most of these regions are homogenous. The goodness‐of‐fit test ZDist shows that Generalized Logistic; Generalized Extreme Value and Pearson type III, distributions fit best for most regions. The spatial pattern of L‐Moment statistics demonstrates that although the northwestern and northern parts of the country experience short dry spells, these periods are inconstant, and extreme dry spell events may happen in these areas. Almost all spatial mapping of AMDSLs at different probabilistic levels demonstrates that dry spells increase gradually from west to east and from north to south, and the southern parts (especially along the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea) and central areas, including most agricultural lands, stand out as the most sensitive to soil moisture deficits, because of longer lasting droughts. © 2013 Royal Meteorological Society
Influence of Blunt-Body Base Protuberances on Near-Wake Unsteadiness.

: This work aims to assess the influence of blunt body base protuberances, such as a sting in an experiment, on near-wake unsteadiness using high-fidelity simulations. To evaluate the sensitivity of the near-wake dynamics to these geometrical features, three sting configurations are considered; a ‘no-sting’ case, a ‘centered-sting’ case (where the sting axis is aligned with the body axis), and an ‘offset-sting’ case (where the sting axis and body axis are offset by some distance). To generate a more comprehensive simulation database, two different types of flows are simulated, namely a Mach 2.49 cylinder wake, and a Mach 8 cone wake, thereby comprising six total cases. Flowfield visualizations highlight the influence of the sting on the near-wake structure, particularly the recirculation region, the separated shear layers, and the expansion/recompression process. Analysis of the unsteady base pressure field shows the presence of the sting suppresses dynamics that occur in the no-sting cases. A modal decomposition of the near-wake velocity field suggests the behavior of the recirculation region is associated with the suppression of these dynamics.
Assessing the potential of integrated Landsat 8 thermal bands, with the traditional reflective bands and derived vegetation indices in classifying urban landscapes

Abstract Reliable and up-to-date urban land cover information is valuable in urban planning and policy development. Due to the increasing demand for reliable land cover information there has been a growing need for robust methods and datasets to improve the classification accuracy from remotely sensed imagery. This study sought to assess the potential of the newly launched Landsat 8 sensor’s thermal bands and derived vegetation indices in improving land cover classification in a complex urban landscape using the support vector machine classifier. This study compared the individual and combined performance of Landsat 8’s reflective, thermal bands and vegetation indices in classifying urban land use-land cover. The integration of Landsat 8 reflective bands, derived vegetation indices and thermal bands overall produced significantly higher accuracy classification results than using traditional bands as standalone (i.e. overall, user and producer accuracies). An overall accuracy above 89.33% and a kappa index of 0.86, significantly higher than the one obtained with the use of the traditional reflective bands as a standalone data-set and other analysis stages. On average, the results also indicate high producer and user accuracies (i.e. above 80%) for most of the classes with a McNemar’s Z score of 9.00 at 95% confidence interval showing significant improvement compared with classification using reflective bands as standalone. Overall, the results of this study indicate that the integration of the Landsat 8’s OLI and TIR data presents an invaluable potential for accurate and robust land cover classification in a complex urban landscape, especially in areas where the availability of high resolution datasets remains a challenge.
Does a rainfall‐based drought index simulate hydrological droughts?

The drought severity index (DSI) is applied at 3‐, 6‐, 12‐ and 24‐month time scales to both monthly gridded rainfall and monthly river flow datasets to evaluate if a rainfall‐based drought index is able to simulate hydrological droughts. Time series of the rainfall‐based and the flow‐based DSIs are analysed at different drought severities and seasons at seven benchmark catchments in England. The analysis also includes the ability of the indices to reproduce the statistics of three drought characteristics, namely drought intensity, frequency of drought months and frequency of drought events at a given duration. Results of this study show that: (1) the rainfall‐based DSI is able to capture periods of low flows as can be seen in its ability to represent major hydrological drought events as simulated by the flow‐based DSI, (2) the rainfall‐based DSIs generally represent moderate hydrological droughts better than extremes as shown by the smaller difference between the rainfall‐based and the flow‐based DSIs in terms of the statistics of the three drought characteristics and (3) there is a positive relationship between the time scale of DSI and the intensity (and duration) of the drought event it produces. As a secondary objective, the study has shown that the monthly gridded rainfall is a good proxy for monthly catchment rainfall and can therefore be considered a reliable dataset against which climate change experiments can be evaluated. The study concludes that the DSI is a credible index in estimating hydrological droughts. The strong positive correlation between the rainfall‐based and the flow‐based DSI time series suggests that changes and trends in rainfall‐based DSIs can provide useful inferences for understanding changes in future hydrological droughts, as well as meteorological droughts. It is hoped that results from this study provide useful information when utilizing the DSI for assessment of drought impacts and future planning and management of water resources.
Transitional Metaplasia of Renal Collecting Ducts in Vesicoureteral Reflux and Chronic Pyelonephritis: An Immunohistochemical Study of a Case and Review of the Literature

The capability of the urinary tract to undergo metaplastic changes such as squamous, intestinal, glandular, mucinous, or ciliated epithelium in renal pelvis has been previously reported, which hypothetically is due to the mechanical irritation of the transitional epithelium. However, transitional metaplasia is a rare presentation in the collecting ducts. The aim of this paper was to report this type of extremely rare metaplasia and to inform pathologists that they may encounter this kind of metaplasia. A 25-year-old man, a known case of vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), referred to the Imam Reza Hospital; affiliated to the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, for bilateral nephrectomy. Gross evaluation of bilateral nephrectomy specimens showed atrophic kidneys and dilated pelvicalyceal systems. The light microscopic evaluation showed transitional metaplasia in the background of chronic pyelonephritis, confirmed by GATA3 nuclear immunohistochemical stain. In this study, we presented a rare case of a renal collecting duct with transitional epithelial lining replacing the normal epithelium as a metaplastic change, with the hypothesis that previous medical history including VUR, or hemodialysis could be the trigger for the metaplastic change, which should be confirmed by further studies.
Feeding ecology of benthic invertebrates in an intermittently open estuary

Abundances of benthic invertebrates in the Hopkins River estuary were not affected by connection to the ocean, but by freshwater discharge and sediment properties. The bivalve Soletellina alba was identified as a suspension feeder. Invertebrate food sources were derived mainly from estuarine organic matter, but also contained marine and freshwater/terrestrial plants despite reduced river flow during drought conditions.
Correlation Between Reinforcers and Level of Self-Esteem

This study, conducted during the academic year 2022-2023 at the University of Cebu Main Campus, aimed to establish the correlation between effective reinforcers and the self-esteem of fourth-year psychology students. Utilizing the Slovin formula, a sample size of 120 students was selected from the total population of 166. The Descriptive Correlational Method was employed to explore the connection between effective reinforcers and self-esteem, with a focus on these senior students who might be susceptible to academic stress and burnout. The study employed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem questionnaire for self-esteem assessment and conducted a pilot test to ensure questionnaire reliability. Data were collected via Google Forms, and a chi-square test was utilized to assess the relationship between student profiles, self-esteem, and effective reinforcers. Also, the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was run to determine the relationship between self-esteem and effective reinforcers. The results revealed that natural reinforcers were the most effective in boosting self-esteem, with no significant relationship between student output and the variables. However, a significant connection was found between self-esteem and effective reinforcers. This study underscores the vital role of effective reinforcers in enhancing self-esteem.
Organochlorine pesticide residue concentrations and accumulation patterns in waterbirds and in their prey at Lake Kerkini, a Ramsar wetland, Greece

The levels of 16 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were measured in egg samples of the great cormorant, great-crested grebe, grey heron, little egret, black-crowned night heron and in their prey being bleak, roach, pumpkinseed, goldfish and frogs from Lake Kerkini, NE Greece. Concentrations of most OCPs differed among most bird and prey species. DDTs predominated in all species, contributing to about 80% of the total OCPs in most sample types. Moving up the food chain, the relative contribution of ∑DDTs increased whereas of ∑HCHs and ∑Cycls (cyclodienes) decreased. Regarding trophic transfer, all OCPs exhibited bioconcentration but, in contrast, compounds such as A-HCH, endrin, heptachlor, heptachlor hepoxide, ·-, ‚-endosulfan and endosulfan sulfate showed low or no biomagnification. No correlations were found between either bioaccumulation (BAF) or biomagnification factors (BMF) and lipid content of biota. Nevertheless, there was a significant relationship between logK ow (the octanol-water partition coefficient) and BAF of all OCPs. OCP bioaccumulation patterns at Lake Kerkini are probably governed by the chemical properties of compounds and their metabolic ways in biota. The levels of OCPs were too low to have adverse biological effects to the waterbirds. The great cormorant, pumpkinseed and Rana frogs are suggested as the most suitable bioindicators for monitoring OCPs at Lake Kerkini due to the highest concentrations of most compounds and showing the greatest bioaccumulative properties.
Crop plant resistance to biotic and abiotic factors: current potential and future demands. Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Plant Protection and Plant Health in Europe, Julius Kühn-Institut, Berlin-Dahlem, Germany, 14-16 May 2009.

Cherry leaf roll virus (CLRV) was first mentioned to occur in Finland in 1980 by Cooper and Edwards who described an isolate from red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa). CLRV affecting birch species in the country have also been confirmed sporadically from single silver birch (Betula pendula) trees. Since 2002 the situation changed as virus-like symptoms in birch species native to Fennoscandia started to accumulate. Leaf roll, vein banding and chlorotic patterns with subsequent necrosis of birch leaves were increasingly observed. Disease symptoms affecting downy birch (B. pubescens ssp. pubescens), curly birch (B. pendula var. carelica), mountain birch (B. pubescens ssp. czerepanovii), dwarf birch (B. nana), the local variety Kiilopää birch (B. pendula var. appressa) and silver birch could be associated with an infection of CLRV. Since the incidence in 2002, virus-associated symptoms are spreading in Betula species and are distributed all over the country at present. As causes of the sudden appearance of the disease are still unknown, possible ways of transmission and viral dissemination as well as unique features of the CLRV population occurring in Finland are discussed.
Peri-anal infiltration versus caudal block for multimodal analgesia in paediatric patients with Hirschsprung's disease undergoing transanal endorectal pull-through procedure: A randomised trial

Background and Aims: Transanal endorectal pull-through (TERPT) is a standard procedure for managing paediatric patients with Hirschsprung's disease (HD). This study aimed to evaluate peri-anal infiltration versus caudal block as a part of multimodal analgesia for paediatric patients with HD undergoing the TERPT procedure. Methods: This randomised trial included 60 patients of both genders, aged 6 to 18 months who underwent the TERPT procedure under general anaesthesia. The patients were randomly assigned into two groups to receive either peri-anal infiltration or caudal block with 1 ml/kg bupivacaine 0.25% and dexmedetomidine 1 μg/kg in 0.5 ml normal saline. The primary outcome was the time to the first rescue analgesia. The secondary outcomes were the total consumption, the frequency of nalbuphine administration as rescue analgesia within 24 hours and the level of postoperative sedation. Results: The time to first rescue analgesia was significantly shorter in the peri-anal infiltration group versus the caudal block group (median [interquartile range] 10 [7.5–12.5] h versus 16 [13.5–18.5] h, respectively, P = 0.008). The frequency of administration and the total dose of nalbuphine was significantly higher in the peri-anal infiltration group (P = 0.003 and 0.013, respectively). The sedation score was significantly higher in the caudal block group postoperatively. Conclusion: For paediatric patients undergoing the TERPT procedure, peri-anal infiltration was less effective than caudal block in terms of the duration of postoperative analgesia. However, both techniques were comparable during the first 6 hours postoperatively.
Do Sin Firms Commit Accounting Sins?

Social norms deter socially responsible investors from investing in sin firms, i.e., firms that sell unethical products and profit from human vice. Existing literature documents that sin firms are less held by institutional investors and less followed by analysts, and this neglect effect leads to higher expected returns than in other firms. Our study explores the earnings management behavior of sin firms. Our empirical findings suggest that compared to others, sin firms are more likely to report small earrings surprises and small earnings increases, but less likely to report superior earnings. Sin firms’ earnings management behavior is exacerbated by lower non-transient institutional ownership, lower analyst coverage, and greater litigation risks. Additional analyses document that sin firms use both accrual-based management and real activity manipulation to report earnings that just meet earnings thresholds. The overall findings suggest that sin firms’ opportunistic behavior likely increases the information risks and contributes to the documented higher expected returns.
Data Analytics and Organizational Performance of Kenya Civil Aviation Authority

: Organizational performance, a pivotal metric determining its sustainability and standing among stakeholders and shareholders, was the focal point of investigation in this study within the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) and its relationship with data analytics. Four specific objectives were established: to evaluate the impact of descriptive analytics on KCAA's organizational performance; to assess the influence of prescriptive analytics on the same; to understand the relationship between predictive analytics and KCAA's organizational performance; and to scrutinize the effect of diagnostic analytics on KCAA's organizational performance. The study drew upon three established theoretical frameworks: the Resource-Based View (RBV), the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and the Schumpeterian Innovation Theory. The research encompassed 1400 technical and operational staff across KCAA's headquarters in Nairobi, Moi International Airport in Mombasa, and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, along with airline operators and pilots. A pilot study, conducted with 30 respondents, ensured the reliability and validity of the research instrument. Reliability tests yielded a Cronbach alpha coefficient averaging 0.79, indicating strong reliability, while validity tests confirmed the instrument's validity, with Average Variance Extracted (AVE) values surpassing the 0.5 threshold. The primary study involved 300 randomly selected participants, utilizing questionnaires for data collection. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed for data analysis, revealing a strong positive correlation among variables. Specifically, various types of data analytics displayed positive significance: Descriptive Analytics (β = 0.133, t = 2.046, p < 0.05), Prescriptive Analytics (β = 0.198, t = 3.146, p < 0.05), Diagnostic Analytics (β = 0.190, t = 3.089, p < 0.05), and Predictive Analytics (β = 0.120, t = 1.961, p = 0.05). Diagnostic tests affirmed the absence of multi-collinearity, data normality, and heterogeneous data. Respondents collectively acknowledged the significant impact of data analytics on KCAA's organizational performance, with the study concluding that KCAA had not fully leveraged data analytics, leading to the recommendation of a policy framework prioritizing their ongoing big data ICT initiatives, and advocating for regular implementation of diagnostic analytics to enhance aviation performance, employee engagement, and overall organizational success. Key Words: Data Analytics, Descriptive Analytics, Prescriptive Analytics, Diagnostic Analytics, Predictive Analytics, Organizational Performance