Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Psychological distress during the initial COVID-19 pandemic in an Italian cohort of people living with HIV: an online survey

Our aim was to explore the psychological impact of the initial 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in a cohort of people living with HIV (PLWH), a population at increased risk of psychological distress. PLWH, treated at our unit, responded an online survey. Data on demographics, clinical and physical symptoms, contact history, as well as knowledge, concerns, precautionary measures and additional information required with respect to COVID-19 during the first phase of the pandemic in Italy were collected. Additionally, the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) (identifying COVID-19 pandemic as specific traumatic life event) and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) were also administered. Out of 98 participants, 44 (45%) revealed from mild to severe psychological impact distress from COVID-19 according to IES-R. According to DASS-21, a lower percentage of significant levels of depression (14%), anxiety (11%) or stress (6%) were reported. Higher education, unemployment, number of perceived physical COVID-19 symptoms, concerns contracting COVID-19 and the situation regarding the pandemic in Italy, and the need of additional information to prevent COVID-19 infection were positively associated to psychological distress. Moreover, female gender, older age, recent HIV diagnosis and unawareness of own viremia were associated to a higher psychological distress. Almost half of our cohort experienced significant levels of distress related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Women, elderly patients and those with recent HIV diagnosis resulted to be the more psychological fragile subgroup. Our findings could help to identify patients in need of psychological interventions to improve wellbeing of PLWH.
Increasing robustness of deep neural network models against adversarial attacks

In Autonomous driving detecting correct object is important, further studies proved that by adding small pattern above object can also lead intentional fooling of network. Small intentional changes in the input can significantly distort output of a deep neural network model. This makes the machine learned model vulnerable to these small changes in images. Hence, these models have wide scope of failure. If we are able to tackle these intentional attacks it will help to make system more robust. In this project, we have combined multiple techniques used for defending against adversarial attacks. First technique is Adversarial training which include modifying training dataset, second technique is pre-processing input data before applying it to deep learned model and Third technique randomly selects image pre-processing technique. Third method is aimed to distract attacker who know the method used in pre-processing by randomly selecting from multiple methods in image pre-processing. We will measure robustness of deep learned model in terms of Accuracy on Designed system and previous deep learned model. Test samples and adversarial images generated from dataset will be used for testing on deep learned model. Among all methods which we have combined, Adversarial training proved best method to defend against white box attack. If we would have used strong defences in Random selection of image transformation then the system could have performed much better. However, Random selection have done its work of confusing the attacker by selecting random transformations.
Design and Development of Marine Data Collecting Wave Rider – Towards a New Paradigm

As generations of human beings continue to strive to explore the universe, a separate universe has remained largely unexplored. The marine world encompasses 75% of the earth yet very little is known about it. Currently there are only two ways of collecting marine or oceanic data, one is by the use of buoys and the second is by the use large machines that have to be deployed by heavily manned teams into localized areas in the ocean. The data collected from these localized areas is then expanded for the entire ocean by the use of mathe-matical probabilistic models. Thus, this research project focuses on the design and development of an autonomous device that can collect and transmit relevant oceanic & meteorological data to onshore data centers.
High‐efficiency Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 solar cells fabricated through a low‐cost solution process and a two‐step heat treatment

A method for fabricating high‐efficiency Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) solar cells is presented, and it is based on a non‐explosive, low‐cost, and simple solution process followed by a two‐step heat treatment. 2‐Methoxyethanol was used as a solvent, and Cu, Zn, Sn, chloride salts, and thiourea were used as solutes. A CZTSSe absorber was prepared by sulfurising and then selenising an as‐coated Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) film. Sulfurisation in a sulfur vapour filled furnace for a long time (2 h) enhanced the crystallisation of the as‐coated CZTS film and improved the stability of the CZTS precursor, and selenisation promoted further grain growth to yield a void‐free CZTSSe film. Segregation of Cu and S at the grain boundaries, the absence of a fine‐grain bottom layer, and the large grain size of the CZTSSe absorber were the main factors that enhanced the grain‐to‐grain transport of carriers and consequently the short‐circuit current (Jsc) and efficiency. The efficiency of the CZTS solar cell was 5.0%, which increased to 10.1% after selenisation. For the 10.1% CZTSSe solar cell, the external quantum efficiency was approximately 80%, the open‐circuit voltage was 450 mV, the short‐circuit current was 36.5 mA/cm2, and the fill factor was 61.9%. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Mode dynamics in coupled disk optical microresonators

Die vorliegende Dissertation beschaftigt sich mit gekoppelten optischen Flustergalerieresonatoren in Form von Mikrodiskresonatoren und deren kollektiven resonanten Anregungen, den sogenannten Flustergaleriemoden. Im Mittelpunkt der Arbeit stehen die umfassende theoretische und experimentelle Charakterisierung gekoppelter Mikrodiskresonatoren, wobei gezeigt wird, dass durch die Kopplung mehrerer Resonatoren deren herausragende Eigenschaften, wie etwa die hohe optische Gute, nur geringfugig beeinflusst werden. Der Nachweis der optischen Kopplung der Moden in den vorliegenden Strukturen wird anhand der charakteristischen spektralen Resonanzaufspaltung erbracht, die von der Anzahl als auch der Anordnung der einzelnen Mikroresonatoren abhangt. Es wird eine Methode vorgestellt, mit welcher erstmals die Intensitatsverteilung der kollektiven Anregungen in gekoppelten Scheibenresonatoren mit einer raumlichen Auflosung im Nanometerbereich gemessen werden kann. Aufbauend auf der Realisierung gekoppelter Mikroresonatoren erfolgt die Untersuchung des Einflusses thermischer nichtlinearer Effekte auf die Resonatormoden. Diese dynamische Licht-Materie-Wechselwirkung wird durch Absorption des Lichts in den Mikroresonatoren und der thermischen Relaxationszeit des Resonatorsystems bestimmt. In diesem Zusammenhang wird eine anregungsleistungsabhangige Resonanzverschiebungen und optische Bistabilitat in gekoppelten Mikrodiskresonatoren untersucht. Durch Kombination der thermischen Nichtlinearitat und der charakteristischen Intensitatsverteilung der einzelnen Moden kann somit in gekoppelten Mikrodiskresonatoren eine differentielle opto-optische Resonanzverstimmung realisiert werden. Des Weiteren erlaubt die detaillierte Kenntnis der thermo-optischen Eigenschaften der Mikrodiskresonatoren die Realisierung einer Methode zur Kompensation der thermisch induzierten Resonanzverstimmungen, wodurch die Resonanzwellenlange fur einen grosen Bereich der Anregungsleistung stabilisiert werden kann.
Little Ice Age to modern lake-level fluctuations from Ferguson's Gulf, Lake Turkana, Kenya, based on sedimentology and ostracod assemblages

Abstract Lacustrine sedimentary records and the proxies contained within them are valuable archives of past climate. However, the resolution of these records is frequently coarse or contains a high degree of uncertainty, making it difficult to resolve how climatic variability impacts the ecosystems on which humans depend. The goal of this study is to couple recent sediment cores sampled at centimeter-scale resolution with paleo- and historical information about lake levels to document how changes in the paleoenvironment impact the paleoecology of a rift basin lake. We present multiproxy data from three short cores collected from Ferguson's Gulf (FG), a shallow embayment connected to the western shore of Lake Turkana, Kenya. Five distinct biozones were interpreted on the basis of ostracods and geochemistry (δ18O, δ13C, and major elements), spanning the Little Ice Age (LIA) to the modern. Overall, ostracod total abundance and assemblage diversity decreased up-core, with the largest total abundance and genera diversity occurring during the LIA. This fits with regional datasets that indicate the Eastern Branch of the East African Rift System was wetter during the LIA than it is today. This also suggests that human impact in and around Lake Turkana has weakened the resiliency of the ecosystems in FG.
Baseline resting-state functional connectivity determines subsequent pain ratings to a tonic ecologically valid experimental model of orofacial pain.

ABSTRACT Pain is a subjective experience with significant individual differences. Laboratory studies investigating pain thresholds and experimental acute pain have identified structural and functional neural correlates. However, these types of pain stimuli have limited ecological validity to real-life pain experiences. Here, we use an orthodontic procedure-the insertion of an elastomeric separator between teeth-which typically induces mild to moderate pain that peaks within 2 days and lasts several days. We aimed to determine whether the baseline structure and resting-state functional connectivity of key regions along the trigeminal nociceptive and pain modulatory pathways correlate with subsequent peak pain ratings. Twenty-six healthy individuals underwent structural and resting-state functional MRI scanning before the placement of a separator between the first molar and second premolar, which was kept in place for 5 days. Participants recorded pain ratings 3 times daily on a 100-mm visual analogue scale. Peak pain was not significantly correlated with diffusion metrics of the trigeminal nerve or gray matter volume of any brain region. Peak pain did, however, positively correlate with baseline resting-state functional connectivity between the thalamus contralateral to the separator and bilateral insula, and negatively correlated with connectivity between the periaqueductal gray (PAG) and core nodes of the default mode network (medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices). The ascending (thalamic) nociceptive and the descending (PAG) pain modulatory pathways at baseline each explained unique variation in peak pain intensity ratings. In sum, preinterventional functional neural architecture of both systems determined the individual pain experience to a subsequent ecologically valid pain stimulus.
Experience and Challenges during Establishment of a Cyclotron and PET-CT facility at National Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (NINMAS)

National Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (NINMAS) is the ‘Center of Excellence’ and a leading institute amongst all other Nuclear Medicine (NM) facilities in Bangladesh. It is a sister concern of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) running under Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and located in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical university (BSMMU) campus. The Institute started its journey back in 1980 and now it has well equipped Scintigraphy, Nuclear Cardiology, Thyroid, In-Vitro and Ultrasound & Color Doppler division. Besides it has well established Research & Development and Medical Physics division that ensures future advancement of NM at the Institute. The seeking and thinking of an establishment of Cyclotron and Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography (PET-CT) facility at the institute initiated inthe year 2003. At that time, Prof. Dr. M. A. Karim, the then Director and now ex-chairman of BAEC, Prof. Dr. Lutfun Nisa, head of scintigraphy division and chief scientific officer Prof. Dr. Kamila Afroj inspired me to plan and submit an annual development project (ADP) on the establishment of Cyclotron and PET-CT facility at NINMAS. Accordingly, the project was submitted and finally approved by MOST on October 09, 2011 as a project titled “Establishment of PET-CT with Cyclotron Facilities”. Three latest model PET-CT sytems and one modern medical Cyclotron with Radiochemistry facility were procured for this project.We could successfully install a model of GE Discovery 710 as the first PET-CT scanneron November 2014. This model of GE Discovery 710 used Lutetium based scintillator (LBS) (1) for detection of positron emission and Time of Flight (TOF) (2) technique for data acquisition. A 128 slice CT was included with this PET-CT scanner with a resolution of approximately 0.625 mm and low radiation exposure as measured with CT Dose Index e.g. CTDIvol –Helical head 17.0mGy/100 mAs and CTDIvol –Helical body 8.8mGy/100 mAs (1). Second PET-CT scanner was installed at Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) campus on April 2018 and the third one at NINMAS on January 2019. Both the second and third ones were supplied by Philips Medical Systems and their model was ‘Ingenuity TF’ having Yttrium doped Lutetium Ortho-silicate (LYSO) crystal detector and modern Time of Flight (TOF) technique for data acquisition (3). A 128 slice CT was included with these PET-CT scanners having a resolution of approximately 0.6mm and low radiation exposure as measured with CT Dose Index e.g.CTDIvol – head 11.0 mGy/100 mAs and CTDIvol – body 5.6 mGy/100 mAs (3).
Christian Faith and Resilience: Implications for Social Work Practice

This scoping review was undertaken to understand the current intersection of resilience, Christian faith, and social work practice in the professional literature. Five prominent themes emerged that included characteristics of resilience, cultural and communal resilience, spiritual practices, positive and negative spiritual/religious coping, and social work practice principles. Implications for practice and research are discussed with an emphasis on building the knowledge and literature on Christian spirituality and resilience within the social work field beyond a conceptual understanding.
Construction of Hyperplane, Supporting Hyperplane, and Separating Hyperplane on ℝ n and Its Application

Hyperplane, supporting hyperplane and separating hyperplane have been defined well in inner product space. These definitions are expressed in very general concept of space, so in its understanding it requires understanding the specific inner product space. It is difficult, so in this paper the definitions will be explained in the ℝ n space or Euclidean space, beginning with constructing all possible hyperplanes of a given convex set. From all the hyperplane constructions, they will be classified as supporting hyperplane or separating hyperplane. This understanding will be generalized in the case of convex set with point and with other convex set. To clarify this discussion, it is completed with several examples of the construction of the hyperplane in ℝ n . In addition, this paper will give some examples of the application of hyperplane construction in ℝ n in computing the distance between point and a convex set. The application will also be further discussed in a more general problem, namely the distance between two disjoint convex sets.
Experimental and numerical analysis of axially loaded slender piles implementing a hypoplastic model

Multiple studies have been carried out to estimate uplift pile capacity, within three main categories: i) the experimental method, which is very costly; ii) a simpler method using load transfer mechanisms; and iii) the numerical finite element method (FEM). The predictive capacity of numerical simulation depends mainly on the constitutive model used to model the soil-structure interface at which the load transfers from the pile to the surrounding soil. A reliable constitutive model capable of capturing the main features of soil behaviour based on easily obtained parameters is thus required. The hypoplasticity model is a promising constitutive model in this respect, offering a particular class of rate non-linear constitutive model in which the stress increment is expressed in a tensorial equation as a function of strain increment, actual stress, and void ratio. The hypoplastic model thus requires only eight material parameters (critical friction angle φc , e c0, e i0, e d0 (critical, maximum, and minimum void ratios, respectively), granular stiffness hs, and the model constants n, α, and β), with two additional parameters used to simulate the pile-soil interface (kr and dvs ), which represent the surface roughness and the thickness of the shear zone, respectively. The performance of the model was verified in this work by comparing the numerical results with the experimental results for a single pile model under pull-out force with different surface roughnesses and confining pressures. The resulting good agreement between the numerical and the experimental results confirmed the ability of the hypoplastic model to simulate soil behaviour under complex conditions.
Networks and themes in the publications of the New Zealand Ecological Society over the last six decades

The Proceedings of the Ecological Society of New Zealand (PESNZ) and its continuation, the New Zealand Journal of Ecology (NZJE), published more than 1250 articles over the 58 years from 1961–2019. Over this period, the emphasis of ecology as a science and the social context in which it is embedded have changed. Here we provide a bibliometric analysis of the history of the PESNZ and the NZJE to assess how the dominant research themes have changed through time, and the extent to which they reflect broader trends in the policy and funding landscapes. The journals’ consistent focus has been on applied ecological issues, especially the effects and control of invasive mammals. However, the most discussed taxa have shifted over time (from deer to brushtail possums to rodents and mustelids). Collaboration has altered dramatically, with few author networks and single-author articles in early issues versus multi-author articles and widespread networks today. Thus, the research published by the Society reflects NZ-specific concerns and broader trends in knowledge production (e.g. the shift to team-based science). We conclude by considering the publications of the NZ Ecological Society through the lens of journals being ‘clubs’ for the social production of shared knowledge.
Parametric Skeletons with Reduced Soft‐Tissue Deformations

We present a method to augment parametric skeletal models with subspace soft‐tissue deformations. We combine the benefits of data‐driven skeletal models, i.e. accurate replication of contact‐free static deformations, with the benefits of pure physics‐based models, i.e. skin and skeletal reaction to contact and inertial motion with two‐way coupling. We succeed to do so in a highly efficient manner, thanks to a careful choice of reduced model for the subspace deformation. With our method, it is easy to design expressive reduced models with efficient yet accurate force computations, without the need for training deformation examples. We demonstrate the application of our method to parametric models of human bodies, SMPL, and hands, MANO, with interactive simulations of contact with nonlinear soft‐tissue deformation and skeletal response. >
Proportional-Resonant and Unipolar Switching Control of Single-Stage Solar Photovoltaic Grid Interfaced System

ABSTRACT In the proposed work, a new control is used with inner loop as a current control and the outer loop as a voltage control of a solar photovoltaic (PV) array-fed single-phase grid interfaced system, using a voltage-source converter (VSC). It deals with the power quality mitigation, which includes power factor correction, harmonic mitigation in abnormal conditions such as grid voltage sag and swell and irradiation changes. The PI (Proportional–Integral) controller is used as an inner current loop control for reference and sensed DC link voltage balancing and to generate the command for the harmonics accurately, which generates the reference current. The PI controller is used for generating reference current and PR (Proportional-Resonant) is used for generating voltage reference, which, in turn, produces modulating signal within the limit of carrier wave. A comparison between reference voltage and carrier gives unipolar switching, attaining three levels for the VSC. Here, the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is achieved by an incremental conductance (INC) method. Experimental performance is studied at dynamic abnormal conditions such as voltage sag and voltage swell in order to investigate the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the grid current and point of common coupling (PCC) voltage, which are observed within the IEEE-519 standard.
High Performance Work Systems Reality in Multinational Subsidiaries: Lessons from South Eastern European Periphery

Loukas K. Tsironis, “High Performance Work Systems Reality in Multinational Subsidiaries: Lessons from South Eastern European Periphery”, Annals of Contemporary Developments in Management & HR (ACDMHR), Print ISSN: 2632-7686, Online ISSN: 2632-7694, pp. 43-52, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1st February 2020, Published by International Association of Educators and Researchers (IAER), DOI: 10.33166/ACDMHR.2021. 01.005, Available: http://acdmhr.theiaer. org/archive/v3/v3n1/p5.html. Research Article
Air Quality Classification Using Support Vector Machine

Air pollution in Indonesia, especially in urban areas, becomes a serious problem that needs attention. The air pollution will impact on the environment and health. In this research, the air quality will be classified using Support Vector Machine method that obtained from the sensor readings. The sensors used in the detection of CO, CO2, HC, dust/PM10 and temperature, namely TGS-2442, TGS-2611, MG-811, GP2Y1010AU0F and DHT-11. After testing, the results obtained with classification accuracy of 95.02%. The conclusion of this research indicates that the classification using the Support Vector Machine has the ability to classify air quality data.
Animal models of diabetic retinopathy

The retina is the posterior neuro-integrated layer of the eye that conducts impulses induced by light to the optic nerve for human vision. Diseases of the retina often leads to diminished vision and in some cases blindness. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a worldwide public health issue and globally, there is an estimated 463 million people that are affected by DM and its consequences. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a blinding complication of chronic uncontrolled DM and is the most common cause of blindness in the United States between the ages 24–75. It is estimated that the global prevalence of DR will increase to 191.0 million by 2030, of those 56.3 million possessing vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy (VTDR). For the most part, current treatment modalities control the complications of DR without addressing the underlying pathophysiology of the disease. Therefore, there is an unmet need for new therapeutics that not only repair the damaged retinal tissue, but also reverse the course of DR. The key element in developing these treatments is expanding our basic knowledge by studying DR pathogenesis in animal models of proliferative and non-proliferative DR (PDR and NPDR). There are numerous models available for the research of both PDR and NPDR with substantial overlap. Animal models available include those with genetic backgrounds prone to hyperglycemic states, immunologic etiologies, or environmentally induced disease. In this review we aimed to comprehensively summarize the available animal models for DR while also providing insight to each model’s ocular therapeutic potential for drug discovery.