Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Community Pharmacists' Attitudes and Practice in the Management of Minor Ailments

This study aimed to know the attitudes and practice of pharmacists regarding the management of minor ailments in Iraqi community pharmacies. A cross-sectional study for 320 community pharmacists was conducted during February 2020 using a newly developed and validated questionnaire. Only 4.4% of pharmacists prefer not to deal with minor ailment cases. Minority (15.6%) of participated pharmacists refer more than half of minor ailment cases they face to the physician. Regarding the assessment of minor ailments using WWHAM technique, what are the symptoms are the most commonly asked questions by pharmacists. Only 49.1% mentioned that they ask all WWHAM questions. On the other hand, most pharmacists (90%) educate their patients about the dosing regimen. Meanwhile, less than 10% of pharmacists provide their patients with all possible information about their medications. All demographic factors had no effect on the pharmacists' usage of WWHAM technique and in pharmacist's role in patient counseling or education. In conclusion minor ailment services that provided by community pharmacists' in Iraq was poor at which most pharmacists don't use WWHAM technique appropriately and also fail to provide their patients with the required medication counseling and education.
Post-project Review of Environmental Impact Assessmentfor Saguling Dam for Involuntary Resettlement

Abstract It is imperative to refine the EIA methodologiesapplicable to dam construction projects. The aim of this study is to seek clues to this end by carrying out a post-project review of the EIA study conducted for the Saguling Dam in Indonesia. The following aspects were found to have been improperly dealt with either in the EIA study or during the implementation of the project: (a) collapse of the community; (b) improperly conveyed information for resettlers; (c) distrust among residents; (d) employment by construction project; and (e) compensation for resettlers. Recommendationsare made on each of these items to improve the methodologies.
Predictors of 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT Positivity in Patients with Biochemical Recurrence of Prostate Cancer After Local Therapy

Visual Abstract Our objective was to investigate the factors predicting scan positivity and disease location in patients with biochemical recurrence (BCR) of prostate cancer (PCa) after primary local therapy using prostate-specific membrane antigen–targeted 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT. Methods: This was a 2-institution study including 245 BCR PCa patients after primary local therapy and negative results on conventional imaging. The patients underwent 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT. We tested for correlations of lesion detection rate and disease location with tumor characteristics, time from initial therapy, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, and PSA doubling time (PSAdt). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to determine predictors of a positive scan. Regression-based coefficients were used to develop nomograms predicting scan positivity and extrapelvic disease. Results: Overall, 79.2% (194/245) of patients had a positive 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT result, with detection rates of 48.2% (27/56), 74.3% (26/35), 84% (37/44), 96.7% (59/61), and 91.8% (45/49) for PSAs of <0.5, 0.5 to <1.0, 1.0 to <2.0, 2.0 to <5.0, and ≥5.0 ng/mL, respectively. Patients with lesions confined to the pelvis had lower PSAs than those with distant sites (1.6 ± 3.5 vs. 3.0 ± 6.3 ng/mL, P < 0.001). In patients treated with prostatectomy (n = 195), 24.1% (47/195) had a negative scan result, 46.1% (90/195) showed intrapelvic disease, and 29.7% (58/195) showed extrapelvic disease. In the postradiation subgroup (n = 50), 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT was always negative at a PSA lower than 1.0 ng/mL and extrapelvic disease was seen only when PSA was greater than 2.0 ng/mL. At multivariate analysis, PSA and PSAdt were independent predictive factors of scan positivity and the presence of extrapelvic disease in postsurgical patients, with area under the curve of 78% and 76%, respectively. PSA and PSAdt were independent predictors of the presence of extrapelvic disease in the postradiation cohort, with area under the curve of 85%. Time from treatment to scan was significantly longer for prostatectomy-bed–only recurrences than for those with bone or visceral disease (6.2 ± 6.4 vs. 2.4 ± 1.3 y, P < 0.001). Conclusion: 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT offers high detection rates in BCR PCa patients. PSA and PSAdt are able to predict scan positivity and disease location. Furthermore, the presence of bone or visceral lesions is associated with shorter intervals from treatment than are prostate-bed–only recurrences. These tools might guide clinicians to select the most suitable candidates for 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT imaging.
OBSERVATION OF ULF ELECTROMAGNETIC EMISSIONS BEFORE THE M 7.8 NEW ZEALAND EARTHQUAKE OF NOVEMBER 13, 2016

We analyzed the ground geomagnetic data obtained from a 3-component fluxgate magnetometer at the Eyrewell Geomagnetic Observatory (New Zealand) (43.474 °S, 172.393 °E) from October 1 to December 31, 2016. The study aimed to investigate electromagnetic precursors associated with the M 7.8 New Zealand earthquake of November 13, 2016. This earthquake occurred 54 km northeast of Amberley (New Zealand). Its epicenter was located 158 km from the Eyrewell Observatory. We used three methods focused on the polarization ratio, fractal dimension and principal component analysis to identify anomalies in the geomagnetic data. The time series showed an enhanced polarization ratio at two times, October 20 and October 30, 2016, i.e. before the occurrence of the New Zealand earthquake, and a value ~1 or more during these instances. Since the global geomagnetic indices Kp and Dst were normal in these cases, the enhanced polarization ratio may be related to the preparation phase of the New Zealand earthquake. To further classify them, we applied the principal component analysis to the magnetic data on component H. The first three principal components showed more than 90 % of the variance of the original ultra-low frequency (ULF) magnetic field time series. The first principal component was found to be well correlated with the storm index (Dst) recorded during this period. Again, the second principal component was dominated by daily variations, which were the periodic component of the recorded ULF magnetic field. The temporal variation of the third principal component was analyzed to verify a possible correlation between the ULF emissions and the occurrence of the earthquake. The fractal dimension of components D and Z of the magnetic data decreased initially and sharply increased three days before the New Zealand earthquake.
Low‐Latitude Zonal Ion Drifts and Their Relationship With Subauroral Polarization Streams and Auroral Return Flows During Intense Magnetic Storms

We analyze horizontal plasma drifts measured by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellites during two intense magnetic storms. It is found, for the first time, that westward plasma flows associated with subauroral polarization streams (SAPS) in the dusk‐evening sector penetrate continuously to equatorial latitudes. The westward ion drifts between subauroral and equatorial latitudes occur nearly simultaneously. The latitudinal profile of the westward ion drifts at low latitudes (approximately within ±30° magnetic latitude [MLat]) is relatively flat, and the westward ion drifts at the magnetic equator reach 200–300 m s−1. In the dawn‐morning sector, eastward ion drifts at subauroral latitudes are also SAPS. The storm‐time dawnside auroral boundary moves to ∼±55° MLat, and the dawnside SAPS penetrate to ∼±20° MLat at 0930 local time. A dawnside SAPS flow channel appears to exist, although it is not as well defined as the duskside SAPS flow channel. Thermospheric wind data measured by the Challenging Minisatellite Payload satellite are analyzed, and zonal disturbance winds are derived. Disturbance winds can reach equatorial latitudes rapidly near midnight but are limited to ±40° geographic latitude or higher near noon. The effects of disturbance winds on the zonal ion drifts at middle and low latitudes are discussed. It is suggested that both the westward ion drifts at middle and low latitudes in the dusk‐evening sector and the eastward ion drifts at middle and lower latitudes in the dawn‐morning sector are caused primarily by penetration of the SAPS and auroral electric fields.
Reduced Interleukin-17-Expressing Cells in Cutaneous Melanoma

Characterization of tumor associated lymphocytes (TILs) in tumor lesions is important to obtain a clear definition of their prognostic value and address novel therapeutic opportunities. In this work, we examined the presence of T helper (Th)17 lymphocytes in cutaneous melanoma. We performed an immunohistochemical analysis of a small cohort of primary melanomas, retrospectively selected. Thereafter, we isolated TILs from seven freshly surgically removed melanomas and from three basal cell carcinomas (BCC), as a comparison with a non-melanoma skin cancer known to retain a high amount of Th17 cells. In both studies, we found that, differently from BCC, melanoma samples showed a lower percentage of Th17 lymphocytes. Additionally, TIL clones could not be induced to differentiate towards the Th17 phenotype in vitro. The presence or absence of Th17 cells did not correlate with any patient characteristics. We only observed a lower amount of Th17 cells in samples from woman donors. We found a tendency towards an association between expression by melanoma cells of placenta growth factor, angiogenic factors able to induce Th17 differentiation, and presence of Th17 lymphocytes. Taken together, our data indicate the necessity of a deeper analysis of Th17 lymphocytes in cutaneous melanoma before correlating them with prognosis or proposing Th17-cell based therapeutic approaches.
EVALUATION OF THE 1992-1996 TRANSPORT ACCIDENT COMMISSION FUNDED ACCIDENT BLACK SPOT TREATMENT PROGRAM IN VICTORIA

This report presents the results of an evaluation of the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) funded Accident Black Spot Program, implemented between 1992 and 1996. More than 550 hazardous locations throughout Victoria were treated at a cost of $85 million. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the TAC-funded program in terms of reductions in casualty crashes and casualty crash costs at treated locations, and the economic worth of treatments. The evaluation addressed the economic impacts on the community and examined effectiveness by treatment type. The results showed the Program has been effective overall, yielding positive outcomes for the community. In summary, the Program has reduced reported casualty crash numbers by 26.4 percent, and has reduced casualty crash costs to the community by 29.6 percent. Over its full life, the program was estimated to deliver safety benefits to the community 4.1 times program costs, rising to 5.1 times the program costs if seven high-cost treatments, funded within the program for reasons in addition to poor casualty crash record alone, are excluded. Expressed differently, the Program was estimated to achieve a net present worth of $274 million for the community or $277 million if the seven high-cost sites are excluded from the evaluation. Evaluation of the program has identified some treatment types that were highly successful, while others seem to have been unsuccessful or have not been shown to be successful because of insufficient numbers of sites having undergone these treatment types in the program. The results of the evaluation provide a reliable and objective basis for enhancing strategies for future investment in road infrastructure safety. (a)
Influence of the supporting braces on the dynamic control of buildings with added viscous dampers

The aim of this paper is to suggest a procedure to analyse the supporting brace stiffness influence on the damping optimization of a linear‐elastic shear‐type model. This analysis appropriately extends the Takewaki's technique based on the minimization of an objective function, which represents the sum of mean‐square inter‐storey drifts to stationary random excitation. The new procedure is a two‐phase optimization technique in which an optimal value of the supporting brace stiffness is also involved. In order to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed procedure, the results of the numerical analysis for an 8‐dof shear‐type model subjected to a base excitation are presented. Moreover, response in the time domain is worked out for the analysed model. The procedure presented in this paper is readily available for practical applications. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cooperative Transportation Robot System Using Risk-Sensitive Stochastic Control

We propose a method to determine control input on the basis of minimizing the risk-sensitive cost function and show the results of an experiment in which the method was applied to a cooperative transportation robot system that we have developed. In the robot system, two robots hold a work object to transport without an external fixing device. The mechanism yields the force interaction between the robots and the object, which results in unexpected random errors in transportation. We add a stochastic term to the system model to describe such errors and solve the stochastic differential equation numerically to estimate the cost function. Utilizing the risk-sensitive cost function enables us to find the control input that balances efficiency and safety. The experimental results revealed that the chance of a robot colliding with an obstacle during transportation decreased from 90% to 7% compared with the optimal control.
Knowledge Transformation in Project Networks: A Speech Act Level Cross-Boundary Analysis

Researchers stress the importance of understanding knowledge transformation in projects. To explore how knowledge is transformed across organizational and specialization boundaries in project networks, we observed 22 knowledge transformation cases in two project networks. We found that new knowledge was created across specialization boundaries and that knowledge was altered across organizational boundaries. When both organizational and specialization boundaries were crossed, new knowledge was created. From these findings, we developed a set of propositions and formulated these into a model of knowledge transformation in project networks. This research contributes to a better understanding of knowledge transformation processes and outcomes in project networks.
A seafarer’s reliability assessment incorporating subjective judgements

More than 80% of international cargo moves through seaports, making a contribution to the world economy. As a result, the performance of seafarers plays a major role in the safety of international trade and the maritime environment. This paper presents a novel approach to monitoring the performance of seafarers in terms of their conditional reliability. Unlike a traditional reliability analysis of a seafarer, this approach contains a dynamic model capable of coping with continually changing conditions that affect a seafarer’s performance. The proposed methodology enables and facilitates decision makers to assess the performance of a seafarer before his or her designation to any activities and during his or her seafaring period. To evaluate a seafarer’s reliability, a generic model is constructed and a combination of different techniques such as fuzzy logic, a fuzzy rule base, an analytical hierarchy process, evidential reasoning, a mapping process and expected utility is used. Furthermore, by changing the conditions that affect the reliability of an ideal seafarer and through calculating a value for this reliability, a benchmark is constructed. A seafarer’s reliability depends upon many variables and their dependencies; alteration of a criterion value will ultimately alter a seafarer’s reliability. In order to correct any deviation on time, a seafarer’s reliability has to be measured appropriately and regularly.
High-speed generalized distributed-amplifier-based transversal-filter topology for optical communication systems

The use of a distributed-amplifier-based transversal filter as a signal processor for high-rate pulse shaping/filtering is discussed. By showing the analogy between transversal filters and distributed-amplifier topologies, schemes demonstrating practical approaches for the design of such filters are explored. The practicability of one of the different schemes is illustrated via an implemented design. A four-stage 10-Gb/s distributed-amplifier monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) is constructed using one of the developed schemes and its behavior is discussed.
Significance of residual drifts in building earthquake loss estimation

The influence of residual interstorey drifts on economic losses in building resulting from earthquakes is examined. Current building‐specific loss estimation methodologies that estimate economic losses based on peak response quantities such as peak interstorey drift ratios or peak floor accelerations are extended to explicitly account for residual interstorey drifts. The new approach incorporates the influence of residual drifts by accounting for the possibility of having to demolish a building as a result of excessive residual interstorey drifts, where the probability of demolition is computed as a function of the maximum residual drift in the building. The proposed approach is illustrated by estimating direct economic seismic losses in four reinforced concrete moment‐resisting frame buildings in Los Angeles, California. Two buildings have nonductile detailing representative of pre‐1970s building codes, whereas the other two buildings have ductile requirements satisfying current seismic building codes in the U.S. Results indicate that economic losses at intermediate levels of ground motion intensity are often dominated by losses due to residual interstorey drifts. This is particularly true in the case of ductile buildings in which neglecting losses from residual drifts can lead to significant underestimations of economic losses. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Uniplanar EBG structure with improved compact and wideband characteristics

A novel uniplanar electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure incorporated with spiral-shaped capacitor and meandered line inductor (SC-ML-EBG) is presented. This novel structure significantly enlarges the fringe capacitance in a spiral shape to reduced-sized cells, as well as increases the equivalent inductance to widen the relative bandwidth. Its design details are given and several experimental results are presented; the improved properties of the proposed SC-ML-EBG are examined, in comparison with the conventional UC-EBG and one novel EBG incorporated only a with spiral-shaped capacitor (SC-EBG).
Impact of Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract Approach with Collaborative Lesson Research on Year Four Pupils’ Proficiency in Perimeter

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the concrete-pictorial-abstract (CPA) approach developed based on the Collaborative Lesson Research (CLR) cycles can positively impact Year Four pupils’ proficiency in perimeter. Counterbalanced design was used with pre- and post-test in every CLR cycle. The participants involved were three groups of pupils totaling 115 pupils and a group of three teachers. The sampling used was cluster random sampling. A paired-samples t test was used to determine whether there is a significant difference between the pre- and post-test for each CLR cycle while a one-way ANOVA test was used to analyze if there is an increase in proficiency from the first, second and third CLR cycles. The results indicated that there was an increase in the mean post-test scores compared to the mean of pre-test scores and the mean difference between the first, second and third CLR cycles. In conclusion, the CLR cycle carried out helped teachers in developing better teaching plans based on the CPA approach as well as enhancing pupils’ proficiency in the perimeter.
Immunomodulation and Intestinal Morpho-Functional Aspects of a Novel Gram-Negative Bacterium Rouxiella badensis subsp. acadiensis

A novel bacterium (Rouxiella badensis subsp. acadiensis) isolated from the microbiota of wild blueberry fruit was investigated for its immunomodulation capabilities and intestinal morpho-functional aspects. The whole-genome shotgun sequencing of this bacterium led to its new taxonomy and showed absence of pathogenicity genes. Although the bacterium was used for blueberry-fermentation and enhancing its anti-inflammatory effects on neurodegeneration, diabetes, and cancer, no study has assessed the effect of the bacterium on health. In this study, we used several in vitro and in vivo assays to evaluate the interaction of R. badensis subsp. acadiensis with the intestinal mucosa and its impact on the localized immune response. The strain antibiotic susceptibility has been investigated as well as its tolerance to gastric and intestinal environment and ability to attach to human intestinal epithelial cells (Caco-2 and HT-29). In addition, Balb/c mice were used to explore the immune-modulatory characteristics of the live bacterium at the intestinal level and its impact on the morpho-functional aspects of the intestinal mucosa. In vitro assays revealed the ability of R. badensis subsp. acadiensis to survive the gastric and intestinal simulated conditions and to satisfactorily adhere to the human intestinal epithelial cells. The bacterium was shown to be sensitive to an array of antibiotics. Immuno-modulation studies with mice orally administered with R. badensis subsp. acadiensis showed a higher number of IgA positive cells in the small intestine, a higher concentration of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in the intestinal mucosa, as well as an increase in the number of goblet cells. The anti-inflammatory cytokine miR146a was found to be increased in the ileum and brain. Furthermore, it increases the number of goblet cells which contribute to intestinal barrier integrity. Taken together, our findings reflect the ability of the tested bacterium to modulates the intestinal homeostasis and immune response. Detailed safety unpublished studies and genome data support our finding. The strain Rouxiella badensis subsp. acadiensis has been filed in a provisional patent; a U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/916,921 entitled “Probiotics Composition and Methods. ” Future studies are still needed to validate the potential utilization of this strain as functional food and its potential probiotic effect.
Green UHPLC Method for Simultaneous Determination of Febuxostat and Diclofenac in Pharmaceutical Dosage Form and Human Plasma

Eco-friendly Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) with green aqueous-organic mobile phase was applied for the simultaneous determination of febuxostat (FEB) and diclofenac (DIC) with the composition of water:ethanol (85:15 v/v) utilizing phenomenex Kinetex C 18 column (4.6 × 100 mm 2.6 µm), flow rate 1 ml/min and UV detection at 280 nm with linear ranges of 0.4 - 4.0 μg/mL and 0.5 - 5.0 μg/mL for FEB and DIC, respectively. The proposed method was also successfully applied to analyze the two drugs in pharmaceutical dosage form and human plasma. The results obtained were validated and statistically analyzed and found to be in accordance with those given by reported methods. Moreover, the greenness of the developed method is assessed using suitable analytical Eco-Scale and GAPI tools and comparison with the previously published methods have been carried out to indicate the priority of the proposed method. UHPLC is considered eco- friendly method regarding uses of safe solvents, simple, accurate and short time of analysis.