Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inventory Management and Financial Performance of Private Hospitals: A Positivist Evidence from Western Uganda

Purpose: This study set out to empirically examine the relationship between inventory management and private hospitals' financial performance in Western Uganda. Methodology: The study adopted a positivist approach and a cross-sectional research design to collect data from 32 Private hospitals in Western Uganda. The study used a closed-ended questionnaire to collect data and simple linear regression for data analysis. Findings: Results revealed inventory management as a significant predictor of private hospitals' financial performance in Western Uganda. The study recommended that private hospitals adopt robust and scientific inventory management systems and models that aim to optimise stock levels and minimise costs if they are to achieve substantial financial performance. Contribution to Practice and Policy: The study has deep-rooted the urgent need for private hospitals to adopt more stringent inventory management systems that will ensure adequate stock levels, minimise costs and enhance superior financial performance. However, the study was positivistic, thus subject to methods bias that could have affected the results' validity.
Queue Length Forecasting in Complex Manufacturing Job Shops

Currently, manufacturing is characterized by increasing complexity both on the technical and organizational levels. Thus, more complex and intelligent production control methods are developed in order to remain competitive and achieve operational excellence. Operations management described early on the influence among target metrics, such as queuing times, queue length, and production speed. However, accurate predictions of queue lengths have long been overlooked as a means to better understanding manufacturing systems. In order to provide queue length forecasts, this paper introduced a methodology to identify queue lengths in retrospect based on transitional data, as well as a comparison of easy-to-deploy machine learning-based queue forecasting models. Forecasting, based on static data sets, as well as time series models can be shown to be successfully applied in an exemplary semiconductor case study. The main findings concluded that accurate queue length prediction, even with minimal available data, is feasible by applying a variety of techniques, which can enable further research and predictions.
Input Impedance Analysis of Wearable Antenna and Experimental Study with Real Human Subjects: Differences between Individual Users

In human body communication (HBC) systems, radio-frequency signals are excited in the human body through a wearable antenna comprised of electrodes that are in contact with the surface of the body. The input impedance characteristics of these antennas are important design parameters for increasing transmission efficiency and reducing signal reflection, similar to other wireless circuits. In this study, we discuss variations of input impedance characteristics of a wearable antenna prototype caused by differences among real human subjects. A realistic human arm model is used for simulations, and the analytical results obtained are compared to measured data obtained from real human subjects, in a range from 1 to 100 MHz. The simulations of input impedance characteristics from antennas worn on the wrists of male and female models with dry and wet skin conditions show that the impedance variation between genders is small. The moisture condition of the skin has little influence on frequencies exceeding several MHz. Measurements with a proto-type wearable antenna and 22 real human subjects reveal that HBC is robust against the variations of individual users from the viewpoint of the voltage standing wave ratio. Moreover, a simplified rectangular prism model is proposed to analyze the thickness of body tissues. Comparisons of measured input impedances indicate that individual differences in impedance are mainly due to differences in the thickness of skin and fat layers. The model also enables us to design the antenna prototype without multiple subject experiments.
Antibiotic residues from aquaculture farms and their ecological risks in Southeast Asia: a case study from Malaysia

ABSTRACT Background and Objectives: One major source of antibiotic contamination in the sea is from aquaculture. We monitored the concentration of commonly used antibiotic classes and antibiotic resistance genes (tet(M), sul1, sul2 and sul3) in aquaculture farms in Peninsular Malaysia. Methods: Antibiotic residues and resistance genes were quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography and real-time PCR respectively. Risk quotients in European technical guidance document on risk assessment was used to assess the potential environmental risk. Results: We detected 23 antibiotics with tetracyclines, sulfonamides and quinolones were the most frequently detected classes, indicating a wide distribution of antibiotics in Malaysian aquaculture farms. The dendrogram and heatmap revealed three groups of antibiotic concentration patterns but with no differences in the types of antibiotics usage among aquaculture farms. The ARGs (10−3 copies/16S) were detected in >90% of the sites except for sul3. Ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, norfloxacin and lincomycin posed risks to cyanobacteria and algae in Kelantan, Perak and Pahang. Conclusion: Relative to Asian aquaculture farms, the residues detected here were at low or moderate levels except for quinolones. This study will be useful to develop effective management of aquaculture wastewater in order to mitigate antibiotic pollution and transmission of ARGs to humans through the food chain.
Try to see it my way: exploring the co-design of visual presentations of wellbeing through a workshop process

Aims: A 10-month project funded by the NewMind network sought to develop the specification of a visualisation toolbox that could be applied on digital platforms (web- or app-based) to support adults with lived experience of mental health difficulties to present and track their personal wellbeing in a multi-media format. Methods: A participant co-design methodology, Double Diamond from the Design Council (Great Britain), was used consisting of four phases: Discover – a set of literature and app searches of wellbeing and health visualisation material; Define – an initial workshop with participants with lived experience of mental health problems to discuss wellbeing and visualisation techniques and to share personal visualisations; Develop – a second workshop to add detail to personal visualisations, for example, forms of media to be employed, degree of control over sharing; and Deliver – to disseminate the learning from the exercise. Results: Two design workshops were held in December 2017 and April 2018 with 13 and 12 experts-by-experience involved, respectively, including two peer researchers (co-authors) and two individual-carer dyads in each workshop, with over 50% of those being present in both workshops. A total of 20 detailed visualisations were produced, the majority focusing on highly personal and detailed presentations of wellbeing. Discussion: While participants concurred on a range of typical dimensions of wellbeing, the individual visualisations generated were in contrast to the techniques currently employed by existing digital wellbeing apps and there was a great diversity in preference for different visualisation types. Participants considered personal visualisations to be useful as self-administered interventions or as a step towards seeking help, as well as being tools for self-appraisal. Conclusion: The results suggest that an authoring approach using existing apps may provide the high degree of flexibility required. Training on such tools, delivered via a module on a recovery college course, could be offered.
How Do Students Source and Supply Drugs? Characteristics of the University Illegal Drug Trade

Abstract Background: It is widely known that a proportion of university students use drugs. However, much less is known about how they source and supply their drugs. Objectives: In this article, we investigate student drug trading activity, including how they obtained their drugs, whether they sold drugs, and the extent to which their drug trading might be described as a form of “social supply”. Methods: A survey was conducted of all students across seven of the nine universities of Wales. In total, 7855 students submitted a questionnaire and 1877 of these reported drug use in the current academic year. All students who reported using one or more illegal drugs in the current academic year were asked how they obtained their drugs, how they funded their drug use, whether they had sold, traded or given away illegal drugs, along with their motives for drug trading. Results: The results showed that about half of users obtained drugs solely from friends and associates and one-fifth obtained them solely from external dealers. One-quarter used friends and associates as well as external markets. In many cases, supplying drugs amounted to sharing them or giving them away. However, over one-third of students said that they had sold drugs. Conclusions: Overall, the methods of sourcing and supplying drug among university students shares features of both “social supply” and “traditional” drug markets. We conclude that the student drug market investigated is best described as a “hybrid” combination of both.
Study Design and Baseline Profiles of Participants in the Uonuma CKD Cohort Study in Niigata, Japan

Background Evidence for primary prevention of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is insufficient. The population-based prospective Uonuma CKD cohort study aims to explore associations of lifestyle and other risk factors with CKD. We report here the study design and baseline profiles. Methods All 67,322 residents aged ≥40 years in Minamiuonuma City, Uonuma City, and Yuzawa Town, Niigata Prefecture, Japan and 11,406 participants who attended local health-check examinations were targeted for baseline questionnaire and biochemical sampling, respectively. Information was gathered from 43,217 (64.2%) questionnaires and 8,052 (70.6%) biochemical samples; 6,945 participants consented to both questionnaire and biochemical sampling at baseline, conducted between fiscal years 2012 and 2015. Participants provided information regarding sociodemographic, lifestyle, and self-reported outcomes. Urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were measured. The primary outcome is CKD based on self-report and biochemical/clinical diagnosis. Results Mean age of questionnaire respondents was 63.3 (standard deviation [SD], 12.5) years for men and 64.3 (SD, 13.3) years for women. Among participants who submitted urine samples, median ACR was 10.0 (interquartile range [IQR], 5.0–24.0) mg/g for men and 13.0 (IQR, 7.7–27.0) mg/g for women, and median eGFR was 73.6 mL/min/1.73 m2 (IQR, 63.5–84.5) for men and 73.5 mL/min/1.73 m2 (IQR, 64.4–83.5) for women. ACR 30 mg/g or more was found in 1,741 participants (21.7%) and eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 in 1,361 participants (16.9%). Conclusion The Uonuma CKD cohort study was established to investigate the impact of lifestyle on CKD development and to provide data for preventing the onset and progression of CKD.
Long noncoding RNA STCAT16 suppresses cell growth and its expression predicts prognosis in patients with gastric cancer

Gastric cancer (GC) is a leading cause of cancer-associated mortality worldwide. Previous studies demonstrated that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) may be dysregulated in GC and may serve important roles in cancer progression. The present study aimed to investigate the role of the novel lncRNA stomach cancer-associated transcript 16 (STCAT16; Assembly Gene ID G038291) in the development and progression of GC. The present data suggested that the expression level of STCAT16 was decreased in GC tissues. The expression level of STCAT16 was identified to be associated with lymph node and tumour node metastasis stages. Furthermore, the expression level of STCAT16 was identified to be significantly associated with poor survival and prognosis. Knockdown of STCAT16 promoted proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion of BGC-823 cells. In contrast, these features were suppressed in AGS cells following overexpression of STCAT16. In vivo, tumour growth was significantly decreased following STCAT16 overexpression. Collectively, the present data suggested that the lncRNA STCAT16 may act as a tumour suppressor and may inhibit GC tumour cell growth and migration. Additionally, the decreased expression level of STCAT16 was identified to be associated with poor prognosis in patients with GC.
Long noncoding RNA CA7-4 promotes autophagy and apoptosis via sponging MIR877-3P and MIR5680 in high glucose-induced vascular endothelial cells

ABSTRACT Vascular endothelial cells (VECs) that form the inner wall of blood vessels can be injured by high glucose-induced autophagy and apoptosis. Although the role of long noncoding RNA in regulating cell fate has received widespread attention, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) that can both regulate autophagy and apoptosis need to be discovered. In this study, we identified that a small chemical molecule, 3-benzyl-5-([2-nitrophenoxy] methyl)-dihydrofuran-2(3H)-one (3BDO), synthesized by us, could inhibit VEC autophagy and apoptosis induced by a high concentration of glucose. To find new lncRNAs that regulate autophagy and apoptosis in VECs, we performed lncRNA microarray analysis. We found and verified an upregulated lncRNA named CA7-4 that was induced by a high concentration of glucose could be downregulated by 3BDO most obviously among all of the detected lncRNAs. Meanwhile, we investigated the mechanism of CA7-4 in regulating VEC autophagy and apoptosis. The results showed that CA7-4 facilitated endothelial autophagy and apoptosis as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) by decoying MIR877-3P and MIR5680. Further study elucidated that MIR877-3P could trigger the decrease of CTNNBIP1 (catenin beta interacting protein 1) by combining with its 3ʹ UTR and then upregulating CTNNB1 (catenin beta 1); MIR5680 inhibited the phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) by targeting and decreasing DPP4 (dipeptidyl peptidase 4). Therefore, CA7-4, MIR877-3P and MIR5680 represent new signal pathways that regulate VEC autophagy and apoptosis under the high-glucose condition. Abbreviations: 3BDO: 3-benzyl-5-([2-nitrophenoxy] methyl)-dihydrofuran-2(3H)-one; 3ʹ UTR: 3ʹ untranslated region; AGO2: argonaute RISC catalytic component 2; AMPK: AMP-activated protein kinase/protein kinase AMP-activated; BAX/BCL2L4: BCL2 associated X, apoptosis regulator; BCL2: BCL2 apoptosis regulator; CASP3: caspase 3; ceRNA: competing endogenous RNA; CTNNB1: catenin beta 1; CTNNBIP1/ICAT: catenin beta interacting protein 1; DPP4: dipeptidyl peptidase 4; FGF2/FGF-2: fibroblast growth factor 2; HG: high concentration glucose (30 mM glucose); lncRNA: long noncoding RNA; MAP1LC3B/LC3B: microtubule associated protein 1 light chain 3 beta; miRNA: microRNA; MIR4778-3P: microRNA 4778-3p; MIR561-3P: microRNA 561-3p; MIR5680: microRNA 5680; MIR877-3P: microRNA 877-3p; MTOR: mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase; Mut: mutant; NC: negative control; NG: normal concentration glucose (5.5 mM glucose); PARP1: poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1; qPCR: quantitative real-time PCR; RNA-FISH: RNA-ﬂuorescence in situ hybridization; ROS: reactive oxygen species; RT-PCR: reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction; siRNA: small interfering RNA; SQSTM1: sequestosome 1; TGFB2-OT1: TGFB2 overlapping transcript 1; TUNEL: terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling; VECs: vascular endothelial cells; WT: wild type
Spatiotemporal Information Processing Emulated by Multiterminal Neuro‐Transistor Networks

All external sensory stimuli produce a spatiotemporal pattern of action potentials, which is transmitted to the biological neural system to be processed. The relative timing of synaptic spikes from different presynaptic neurons represents the features of the stimuli. A fundamental prerequisite in cortical information processing is the discrimination of different spatiotemporal input sequences. Here, capacitively coupled multiterminal oxide‐based neuro‐transistors are proposed for spatiotemporal information processing, mimicking the dendritic discriminability of different spatiotemporal input sequences. The experimental results demonstrate that such multiterminal neuromorphic devices can act as spatiotemporal information processing compartments for fundamental cortical computation. Also, as an example of spatiotemporal information processing, sound location functionality of the human brain is also emulated by constructing a simple artificial neural network based on such oxide‐based multiterminal neuro‐transistors.
Strength of sexual and postmating prezygotic barriers varies between sympatric populations with different histories and species abundances

The impact of different reproductive barriers on species or population isolation may vary in different stages of speciation depending on evolutionary forces acting within species and through species’ interactions. Genetic incompatibilities between interacting species are expected to reinforce prezygotic barriers in sympatric populations and lead to cascade reinforcement between conspecific populations living within and outside the areas of sympatry. We tested these predictions and studied whether and how the strength and target of reinforcement between Drosophila montana and Drosophila flavomontana vary between sympatric populations with different histories and species abundances. All barriers between D. montana females and D. flavomontana males were nearly complete, while in the reciprocal cross strong postzygotic isolation was accompanied by prezygotic barriers whose strength varied according to population composition. Sexual isolation between D. flavomontana females and D. montana males was increased in long‐established sympatric populations, where D. flavomontana is abundant, while postmating prezygotic (PMPZ) barriers were stronger in populations where this species is a new invader and still rare and where female discrimination against heterospecific males was lower. Strengthening of sexual and PMPZ barriers in this cross also induced cascade reinforcement of respective barriers between D. flavomontana populations, which is a classic signature of reinforcement process.
Tracking Control of Single-Axis Feed Drives Based on ADRC and Feedback Linearisation

The accuracy of manufacturing highly characterises the performance of industrial motion control. However, detrimental effects such as nonlinear coupling, model uncertainty and unknown external disturbances severely affect trajectory tracking performance. In this paper, we proposed an ADRC and feedback linearisation-based control algorithm for the high-precision trajectory tracking of feed drives. The controller was rigorously designed to ensure the convergence of observer states and tracking error. The applicability of the proposed approach was successfully demonstrated via high-fidelity simulation, and the numerical results based on different tracking methods were compared.
Step‐function luminopsins for bimodal prolonged neuromodulation

Although molecular tools for controlling neuronal activity by light have vastly expanded, there are still unmet needs which require development and refinement. For example, light delivery into the brain is still a major practical challenge that hinders potential translation of optogenetics in human patients. In addition, it would be advantageous to manipulate neuronal activity acutely and precisely as well as chronically and non‐invasively, using the same genetic construct in animal models. We have previously addressed these challenges by employing bioluminescence and have created a new line of opto‐chemogenetic probes termed luminopsins by fusing light‐sensing opsins with light‐emitting luciferases. In this report, we incorporated Chlamydomonas channelrhodopsin 2 with step‐function mutations as the opsin moiety in the new luminopsin fusion protein termed step‐function luminopsin (SFLMO). Bioluminescence‐induced photocurrent lasted longer than the bioluminescence signal due to very slow deactivation of the mutated channel. In addition, bioluminescence was able to activate most of the channels on the cell surface due to the extremely high light sensitivity of the channel. This efficient channel activation was partly mediated by radiationless bioluminescence resonance energy transfer due to the proximity of luciferase and opsin. To test the utility of SFLMOs in vivo, we transduced the substantia nigra unilaterally via a viral vector in male rats. Injection of the luciferase substrate as well as conventional photostimulation via fiber optics elicited circling behaviors. Thus, SFLMOs expand the current approaches for manipulation of neuronal activity in the brain and add more versatility and practicality to optogenetics in freely behaving animals.
Does Grit Matter to Employees’ Quality of Work Life and Quality of Life? The Case of the Korean Public Sector

To ensure the quality of the work done in the Korean career civil service system (which is characterized by stability, such as lifelong job security), the public sector must use methods to motivate their employees and improve their performance in the long run. In this study, we propose that grit, as a type of work motivation, can boost employee well-being (i.e., job satisfaction, job stress) and organizational outcomes (i.e., organizational commitment, performance). Therefore, the main objective of this study is to assess the validity of grit among public employees from a collectivist culture; to this end, we use the 2016 survey of Korean public officials (N = 2,070). The results are as follows: (a) grit has a direct positive effect on quality of work life (QWL), (b) QWL can increase employee’s quality of life (QOL), and (c) professionalism and goal-oriented culture negatively and positively regulate grit and QWL. We also examined how employee motivation (e.g., grit) can enrich their QWL and QOL. Altogether, this study supports the argument that human resource (HR) managers should pay attention to grit. To achieve success, one needs not only some level of ability but also the zeal and capacity for hard labor, the latter two of which are considered to constitute grit. Given that, this research targeted grit in the Korean context—not the Western one—and examined its effects in the Korean public sector, where conscientiousness is emphasized.
RGB‐D SLAM with moving object tracking in dynamic environments

Simultaneous localization and mapping methods are fundamental to many robotic applications. In dynamic environments, SLAM methods focus on eliminating the influence of moving objects to construct a static map since they assume a static world. To improve localization robustness in dynamic environments, an RGB ‐ D SLAM method is proposed to build a complete 3D map containing both static and dynamic maps, the latter of which consists of the trajectories and points of the moving objects. Without any prior knowledge of the moving targets, the proposed method uses only the correlation between map points to discriminate between the static scene and the moving objects. After the static points are determined, camera motion estimation is performed only on reliable static map points to eliminate the influence of moving objects. The motion of the moving objects will then be estimated with the obtained camera motion by tracking their dynamic points in subsequent frames. Moreover, multiple groups of dynamic points that belong to the same moving object are fused by a volume overlap checking step. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility and performance of the proposed method.