Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantifying connectivity as a novel explanatory factor for the non-linear relationship between rainfall and erosion.

Climate change is expected to result in rainfall events with higher intensities and volumes, influencing soil erosion rates and patterns. The order in which rainfall events occur within a sequence and antecedent conditioning also seems to affect (total) erosion and sediment yield. A possible explanation for this is the concept of connectivity; the degree of coupling between sediment sources and sinks. The aim of the research presented herein is map and formula based on the concept of connectivity; defined as the efficiency of water and sediment transport through a system, where a high connectivity corresponds to a high efficiency of transport. A rainfall-erosion experiment was performed in the Total Environment Simulator (TES) at the University of Hull (UK) to analyze the relationships between rainfall magnitude and event sequencing with the resulting erosion. Two plots of 4.0 x 4.0 m, comprising different grain sizes, were built and a rainfall simulator, equipped with 50 nozzles, was used to generate the rain. A range of experiments where run where a total of ten different sequences consisting of five different rainfall events were used. A FARO X330 laser scanner was used to create high resolution DEMs (Digital Elevation Models), with a mean error of 1-2mm, of the evolved plot surfaces. Connectivity maps were created based on several morphological characteristics with the DEMs: 1) Slope; 2) Surface Roughness; 3) Flow accumulation; 4) Strahler order; 5) Euclidean distance to flow path; and 6) the Index of Connectivity (IC, from Borselli et al. 2008). Furthermore, the spatial variability of erosion was assessed by computing DoDs (DEMs of Difference) to the experimental initial conditions and the spatial and temporal variations in soil moisture across the plots were also measured in relation to hydrological connectivity. The processed results comprise three different maps of connectivity: the ATG (all together), VCI (Verschaeren connectivity index) and VIC (Verschaeren index of connectivity). The quality of each connectivity map, and the relationship with erosion, has been evaluated using multiple linear regression and random forest. The results indicate that, of the three methods VIC correlated best with the observed erosion. Additionally, the regression methods were used to assess which factors relate most to volumes and patterns of plot erosion. The non-linear random forest showed improved correlations with the measurements in comparison with multiple linear regression. The VIC map can be characterized as an erodibility map. Whereas the IC (Borselli et al. 2008) can be best described as the connectivity to the outlet of the system. In the VIC, a high connectivity will be assigned to spots which are vulnerable for erosion.
Admissible modules on a symmetric space

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Seasonal Variations and the Prevalence of Malaria in Imo State, Nigeria

Malaria is a serious public health problem in Sub-saharan Africa including Nigeria, with the potential to increase significantly in response to seasonal changes. The aim of the study was to determine the influence of seasonal variations on the prevalence of malaria in Imo state, Nigeria. The study was a retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study using a selfdesigned pro-form to collect secondary data from hospitals in the three zones in Imo State (Owerri, Orlu and Okigwe) and analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis. The relationships between variables were determined using Spearman correlation test and the findings showed a relationship between weather (Rainfall) and Prevalence of malaria in Imo State. The prevalence of malaria was highest in Orlu zone (900 cases in 2017, 955 cases in 2016 and 1,088 cases in 2015) followed by Okigwe zone (854 cases in 2017, 1,116 cases in 2016 and 951 cases in 2015) and Owerri zone (538 cases in 2017, 689 cases in 2016 and 773 cases in 2015). The prevalence of positive malaria was highest among subjects aged 21-30 years in 2015 and 31-40 years in 2016 and 2017 and the burden was higher in females. The relationship between rainfall and prevalence of malaria in 2015 showed a moderate association (r= 0.659 at 0.02). In 2016, the relationship was strong (r= 0.760 at 0.04) and moderate in 2017 (r= 0.571 at 0.052). Overall, the meteorological variation of weather to malaria occurrence showed the prevalence of malaria was highest in rainy seasons than in the dry seasons (from the months of May to September) every year in the three zones. Malaria parasitemia is highest in the rainy season amongst young female adults, thus adequate public health measures need to be undertaken to mitigate the endemicity of the disease within the region.
Transaction Costs and The Choice of Red Chili Marketing Channels in West Java-Indonesia

Farmers have two fundamental selling decisions for their agricultural production (red chili), namely selling on the farm (farmgate) or in the market center (traveling to market). Any decision taken will be charged a transaction fee. The objectives of this study are to identify transaction costs in red chili farming, analyze the factors that influence the selling decisions of red chili and the impact of transaction costs on red chili farming. The respondents of this study were farmer households who grew red chili commodities in Garut Regency. This study used multiple regression analysis, logit analysis and Propensity Score Matching (PSM). The results showed that four variables significantly affected the transaction costs, namely the land area of chili cultivation, the time allocation of non-family labor, the harvesting frequency and the distance from land cultivation to the nearest highway. The variables that significantly affected the farmers’ decision one marketing channels in Garut Regency were the allocation of time for price searching, the time allocation for negotiation, the ownership of communication tools, production and transaction costs. The results of PSM analyses showed that the transaction costs affected the performance of red chili farming such as improving income, productivity, and prices received by farmers.
Hydroxyapatite coating improves fixation of pedicle screws

We investigated the effects of hydroxyapatite (HA) coating on the purchase of pedicle screws. A total of 23 consecutive patients undergoing lumbar fusion was randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. The first received uncoated stainless-steel screws, the second screws which were partly coated with HA, and the third screws which were fully coated. The insertion torque was recorded. After 11 to 16 months, 21 screws had been extracted. The extraction torque was recorded. Radiographs were taken to assess fusion and to detect loosening of the screws.At removal, the extraction torques exceeded the upper limit of the torque wrench (600 Ncm) for many HA-coated screws. The calculated mean extraction torque was 29 ± 36 Ncm for the uncoated group, 447 ± 114 Ncm for the partly-coated group and 574 ± 52 Ncm for the fully-coated group. There were significant differences between all three groups (p < 0.001). There were more radiolucent zones surrounding the uncoated screws than the HA-coated screws (p < 0.001.
The role of innate immunity in the long-term outcome of lung transplantation

Long-term survival after lung transplantation remains suboptimal due to chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD), a progressive scarring process affecting the graft. Although anti-donor alloimmunity is central to the pathogenesis of CLAD, its underlying mechanisms are not fully elucidated and it is neither preventable nor treatable using currently available immunosuppression. Recent evidence has shown that innate immune stimuli are fundamental to the development of CLAD. Here, we examine long-standing assumptions and new concepts linking innate immune activation to late lung allograft fibrosis.
Taxation and Informality

This paper studies an optimal non-linear tax problem in the presence of informality. Empirical evidence suggests that informality is costly and this cost increases in the worker’s skill. I show that, in this case, it is possible to improve welfare by limiting access to the formal sector. I also consider a framework in which workers of the same skill may face different costs. I derive a modified Mirrlees Formula for an optimal non-linear income tax schedule in the presence of informality that accounts for the effects of this additional heterogeneity. I prove that, in this richer model, the second best requires positive sales taxes. This demonstrates that Atkinson-Stiglitz theorem fails when workers can become informal.
Ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytology diagnosis of gall bladder lesions with application of WHO histological classification of tumors on cytoaspirate material

Introduction: Due to the increasing trend in gall bladder (GB) carcinoma in India, early diagnosis of GB lesion has become essential. Aim: It is to determine the accuracy of Ultrasonography (USG)-guided fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and an attempt to classify the cytological material according to World Health Organization classification. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study for a span of 3 years was done in the Departments of Radiology and Pathology in Tertiary Teaching Hospital. US-guided FNAC of GB lesion and their histopathological finding were compared. Results: Sensitivity of US-guided FNAC was 98.6% and specificity 97.3%.
Analytical Modeling for Assessing the Impact of DG on Distribution system Reliability

Distributed Generation in an electric power distribution system plays an important role in many ways. There are various kinds of DGs with different technologies. Due to clearly defined features of DG a suitable model is needed for reliability evaluation with DGs.In this paper a mathematical approach has been proposed for analyzing the effect of DG on reliability of electrical distribution networks. The proposed approach is based on conventional reliability evaluation algorithm. A probabilistic islanding technique has been used with multiple DGs for reliability assessment. Case studies for a typical utility feeder have been undertaken to validate the proposed method and the results have been compared with the single DG case.
Precommitment and flexibility in internationalization strategies of heterogeneous firms

This paper considers an asymmetric cost duopoly to examine the exports versus foreign direct investment (FDI) decision in a game with demand uncertainty. One of the rms, the more e¢ cient, is allowed to commit or delay its choice once uncertainty is resolved. It is shown that rms internationalization strategies are complements, i.e. the more e¢ cient rm opts for commitment FDI and the less e¢ cient one imitates the leaders behaviour, when demand uncertainty is low enough and so are set-up costs; this is less likely to occur as rms become more heterogeneous. Firmsstrategies are complements in exports when demand uncertainty is very low together with large set-up costs. An equilibrium where the less e¢ cient rm engages in FDI and the more e¢ cient one exports cannot occur when the leader role is given to the more e¢ cient rm. However, this may be so when it is given to the less e¢ cient rm, a nding in contrast with the received wisdom on productivity thresholds that emphasizes the strategic setting under consideration. The authors would like to thank José J. Sempere-Monerris, Amparo Sanchis, Enrico Pennings, Christos Constantatos and Mari Paz Espinosa for their comments and suggestions. Barac would like to thank Generalitat Valenciana for the doctoral scolarship reference number BFPI/2007/125. Moner-Colonques gratefully acknowledge nancial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness under project ECO2013-45045-R, and Generalitat Valenciana under project PROMETEO/2014/Fase II. yDepartament of Applied Economics, University of Valencia, Campus del Tarongers, 46022 Valencia, Spain. email: maja.barac@uv.es zDepartament of Economic Analysis and ERI-CES, University of Valencia, Campus del Tarongers, 46022 Valencia, Spain. email: rafael.moner@uv.es
Personalized post-surgical care?—possible strategies for NSCLCs with EGFR mutation

Personalized treatment has become the standard of care for advanced stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients (1). Mutational status of driver genes, such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), and ROS1, as well as membranous protein expression of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) in tumor cells are used to select the appropriate systemic therapy for these patients. However, in earlier stage cases, NSCLCs are still being treated as one disease even though surgical resection provides large amounts of tumor tissue for molecular analyses. The risk of post-surgical recurrence is still problematic even when locoregional control is thought to have been achieved by “complete” surgical resection; e.g., a recent Japanese registry study for surgically resected lung cancer patients (n=18,973) reported that the disease-free survival rate at 5 years was 67.8% (2). Currently, TNM staging is the sole established prognostic factor to stratify the risk of recurrence. The pathological stage is used to guide surgeons in deciding intervals of post-surgical surveillance and determining indications for adjuvant therapy. As a next step, how can we optimize the post-surgical treatment strategy to improve the outcomes of surgically resected NSCLC patients? I propose that, similar to the advanced-stage setting, personalization will be an important component for this strategy and that personalized post-surgical care will consist of the following three steps: evaluate the personal risks of recurrence, predict the possible metastatic organ(s), and select an appropriate adjuvant therapy for high-risk patients. In a recent study, Jianjiao Ni and colleagues analyzed the implications of routine immunohistochemistry (IHC) markers as prognostic factors and as predictors of initial recurrence sites in a large cohort (n=531) of surgically resected NSCLC patients (3). A noteworthy point of this study is that the study only included NSCLC patients with activating EGFR mutation. The authors reported two IHC markers, Ki67 and CK20, as independent predictors of overall recurrence, as well as some risk factors of sitespecific recurrence. In N2-positive EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients, the authors found that adjuvant radiotherapy improved disease-free survival (but not overall survival). In this Editorial, I would like to discuss the possibility of personalized post-surgical care in NSCLC patients, referring to the contributions from the recent publication by Ni and colleagues (3).
Transferring the Purchasing Role from International to National Organizations During the Scale-Up Phase of Performance-Based Financing in Cameroon

Abstract—The World Bank and the government of Cameroon launched a performance-based financing (PBF) program in Cameroon in 2011. To ensure its rapid implementation, the performance purchasing role was sub-contracted to a consultancy firm and a nongovernmental organization, both international. However, since the early stage, it was agreed upon that this role would later be transferred to a national entity. This explanatory case study aims at analyzing the process of this transfer using Dolowitz and Marsh's framework. We performed a document review and interviews with various stakeholders (n = 33) and then conducted thematic analysis of interview recordings. Sustainability, ownership, and integration of the PBF intervention into the health system emerged as the main reasons for the transfer. The different aspects of transfer from international entities to a national body consisted of (1) the decision-making power, (2) the “soft” elements (e.g., ideas, expertise), and (3) the “hard” elements (e.g., computers, vehicles). Factors facilitating the transfer included the fact that it was planned from the start and the modification of the legal status of the national organization that became responsible for strategic purchasing. Other factors hindered the transfer, such as the lack of a legal act clarifying the conditions of the transfer and the lack of posttransition support agreements. The Cameroonian experience suggests that key components of a successful transfer of PBF functions from international to national organizations may include clear guidelines, co-ownership and planning of the transition by all parties, and posttransition support to new actors.
Creative Gamification In Kahoot! For Worker’s Health And Safety Learning Assessment

The Kahoot! game application is used to determine differences in the level of understanding of mining workers, between before and after watching the safety video on the topic of "fatigue". Data shows cognitive improvement between before and after the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) video was shown. However, the results of increased knowledge of this video material are not accompanied by keeping safety commitments at work. Therefore this research is important to do with the aim of finding indicators of collecting material in the Kahoot! game which can increase workers’ awareness and commitment to safety at work. This research method uses a quasi-experimental method on 60 people who are not mining workers that is analysed using t-test and ANOVA test. The results showed that Kahoot! creative gamefication must fulfill the criteria of preparing questions and answer choices that are capable of: 1) stimulating players to apply their knowledge in the real world; 2) relating aspects of memory, perception, and action; 3) having dramatic, antagonistic, witty, and affective qualities. Implications of this study, the creative gamefication of Kahoot! as an instrument of learning assessment should put more emphasis on the content of OHS guidelines, and further can be applied to the workers that will translate them into practicing safety at work consistently.
Numerical analysis of shrinkage induced micro-cracking of concrete based on Peridynamic theory

This work presents a numerical investigation of shrinkage induced micro-cracking of concrete by using the peridynamics theory. A numerical concrete model, with a regular aggregate arrangements, is firstly established. In order to study the influence of the aggregate diameter as well as its volume fraction, a series of parametric studied has been performed. The obtained value of crack width have been compared. Based on the previous results, a new numerical model with random aggregate arrangements is proposed for studied material. Finally, the numerical prediction is compared with the experimental investigation. The results show that a good agreement is obtained between the numerical results and experimental observations. Mots clefs : Peridynamics/ Shrinkage/ Micro-cracking/ Concrete/ Numerical analysis 24ème Congrès Français de Mécanique Brest, 26 au 30 Août 2019
Eyelid Phase Shift and Difference Map Algorithm for Gaze Pattern Estimation

: Eye gaze provides a vital sign for vision-based intelligent systems to recognize the human visual attention, emotion, feelings and so on. A different gaze estimation method employs local or global features as eye. But it failed to work well under natural light and it is still hard to obtain accurate gaze pattern for human vision recognition. In order to improve the gaze pattern estimation, Eyelid Phase shift Momentum based Difference MapAlgorithm (EPSM-DMA) is introduced. The EPSM-DMA technique captures the various eye images from the dataset. Initially, the Eyelid Phase shift Momentum technique is applied in EPSM-DMA to measure the movement of the eyelid for detecting the gaze pattern. After that, Difference Mapalgorithm is used formappingthe point in Euclidean space to providefixed degree of the mapping. This helps to provide the accurate eye image alignment. Finally, the recovered gaze pattern is matched with the ground truth pattern by using Bayes’ theorem to recognize the gaze pattern. Experimental results show that the proposed EPSM-DMA technique significantly achieves better performance in terms of Computational complexity, true positive rate and Pattern matching accuracy with number of eye images.
Analysis of Productivity Costs in Cancer: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT Introduction The concept of indirect costs – or productivity losses to both patients and their informal caregivers arising from an illness – started to gain more importance two decades ago with the intention of strengthening cost estimates prior to evaluating, which historically was performed only with direct cost data. Objective The aim of this study is to explore the methodological differences in estimating productivity costs in studies of cancer diseases, as well as providing an updated and comprehensive overview of the worldwide relevance of productivity costs of cancer. Methods The study is conducted using a systematic literature review. Results The literature search resulted in 332 articles. After removing those not meeting eligibility criteria or duplicities, 27 articles were included in the qualitative analysis. It is observed that the weight of cost productivity is noticeable; in several cases, it may represent over 50% of the total. The most common method of estimation is the Human Capital method. However, certain heterogeneity is observed in the method of estimating, as well as in the resultant figures. Conclusions More efforts are needed to standardize calculations and allow for real comparisons between countries.
Effects Of Moderating Variables On Audit TenureAnd Audit Quality

A problem of public accountant profession is that public accountant profession is perceived to fail in conducting its role as independent auditor, after the disclosure of several scandals such as the case of Enron Corporation, WorldCom, Kanebo Limited, Waste Management.Inc, Saytam Computer Service, and PT. Telkom, involving a number of public accountants, even The big-five accounting firm. This study aims to (1) predict that the shorter period of audit tenure, the more it positively affects quality of audit result; (2) predict that the larger Public Accountant Firm, the more audit tenure positively affects audit quality with the shorter period of audit tenure, the better audit quality; (3) to predict that the greater fee audit received by auditor, the more audit tenure negatively affects audit quality with shorter period of audit tenure, the less qualified audit result will be. Data used are audited financial report of manufacturing company that is listed in Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) during period of 2009-2014. Testing is conducted with multiple linear regression. From the result of statistic testing, it is proven that: (1) Short Audit Tenure (3 years) has positive and is significant towards audit quality. It means that short period of audit tenure can give qualified audit result; (2) contingency effect of APF scale (big four APF) with short audit tenure affects positively and is significant towards audit quality. Meanwhile, the size of APF (Non big four APF) on Audit Tenure affects negatively and is significant towards audit quality; (3) Contingency effect of fee audit on Audit Tenure affects negatively and is significant towards audit quality. Index Terms: Audit quality, Audit Tenure, APF scale, Fee audit. —————