Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vertical frequency‐domain compliance of an elastic pipe pile embedded in a liquid‐filled and porous‐viscoelastic soil

The analytical dynamic compliance of an elastic pipe pile fully buried in a fluid‐filled and porous‐viscoelastic soil stratum resting on rigid bedrock and subjected to a vertical time‐harmonic load is proposed. In this study, the Hamilton's principle of dynamics is employed to establish the governing equations for the pipe pile, which is treated as a two‐dimensional (2D) hollow bar structure. The outer and inner soil media surrounding the pipe pile are considered as three‐dimensional (3D), homogenous, and liquid‐saturated porous continuum, besides they are described by the porous‐elastic media model proposed by de Boer. The governing equations for the pipe pile and the soils are solved with the aid of the separation technique of variables, and also utilizing the boundary and contact conditions of the pipe pile and the soils. Then, the analytical solution for the vertical dynamic compliance of the pipe pile is derived. By comparing with the existing solutions and finite element model (FEM), the results from the newly proposed method confirm its validation. Comparative analyses of numerical examples are finally conducted to reveal the variations and response principle of the dynamic compliance of the pipe pile under different material/geometry parameters.
Medical Therapy, Radiofrequency Ablation, or Cryoballoon Ablation as First-Line Treatment for Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation: Interpreting Efficacy Through the Shiny Method

In patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, cryoballoon ablation (CBA) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) represent two therapeutic approaches supported by increasing literature. While both these ablation techniques play a role during different stages of the patient’s therapeutic pathway, their use as first-line is being increasingly recognized. This scoping review comparatively examined the evidence of effectiveness for these two ablation techniques. Our analysis was limited to the evaluation of the end-point of time to recurrence of atrial fibrillation (or other forms of atrial arrhythmias), which was the primary end-point in most clinical trials. The method used for pooling the information from clinical trials (Shiny method) is original and based on an artificial intelligence (AI) method that reconstructs individual patient data from published Kaplan-Meier time-to-event curves. Because a network meta-analysis has been published on this same clinical material, one objective of the present work was to compare the meta-analytic results with those generated by the Shiny method. A standard literature search was conducted on PubMed/Medline. Only randomized studies comparing CBA versus medical therapy, RFA versus medical therapy, or CBA versus RFA in previously untreated patients were eligible. Trials presenting a Kaplan-Meier curve to present the above-mentioned end-point were included. Patient-level data were reconstructed by application of the Shiny method. These individual patient data were then analyzed by standard statistical testing based on hazard ratio (HR) for risk of recurrence and medians of time to recurrence. Our analysis compared the two ablation treatments and medical therapy. A total of five trials were identified through our literature search. Information from these trials was pooled according to the three treatments (CBA: three trials, n = 365; RFA: two trials, n = 99; medical therapy: five trials, n = 457). CBA showed higher effectiveness than medical therapy (HR, 0.51; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.38 to 0.67). In comparison with medical therapy, RFA showed a numerical trend that remained far from statistical significance (HR, 0.89; 95% CI: 0.62 to 1.27). Medians for time to recurrence were 14.1 months (95% CI: 10.0 to not reached) for RFA and 11.5 months (95% CI: 9.3 to 25.3) for medical therapy. This parameter was not reached for CBA. The current evidence from five randomized trials suggests that CBA ranks first in effectiveness, followed by RFA and medical therapy. In our comparison between the results generated by the Shiny method with those published in the previous meta-analysis, the Shiny method confirmed its ability to account for the length of follow-up in individual trials, whereas the meta-analytic approach confirmed its ability to account for the effects of randomizations performed in the trials.
Episodes of Diversification and Isolation in Island Southeast Asian and Near Oceanian Male Lineages

Abstract Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) and Oceania host one of the world’s richest assemblages of human phenotypic, linguistic, and cultural diversity. Despite this, the region’s male genetic lineages are globally among the last to remain unresolved. We compiled ∼9.7 Mb of Y chromosome (chrY) sequence from a diverse sample of over 380 men from this region, including 152 first reported here. The granularity of this data set allows us to fully resolve and date the regional chrY phylogeny. This new high-resolution tree confirms two main population bursts: multiple rapid diversifications following the region’s initial settlement ∼50 kya, and extensive expansions <6 kya. Notably, ∼40–25 kya the deep rooting local lineages of C-M130, M-P256, and S-B254 show almost no further branching events in ISEA, New Guinea, and Australia, matching a similar pause in diversification seen in maternal mitochondrial DNA lineages. The main local lineages start diversifying ∼25 kya, at the time of the last glacial maximum. This improved chrY topology highlights localized events with important historical implications, including pre-Holocene contact between Mainland and ISEA, potential interactions between Australia and the Papuan world, and a sustained period of diversification following the flooding of the ancient Sunda and Sahul continents as the insular landscape observed today formed. The high-resolution phylogeny of the chrY presented here thus enables a detailed exploration of past isolation, interaction, and change in one of the world’s least understood regions.
Evolution of stomach cancer mortality in Brazil and its regions, by sex, 2011-2015

To describe the distribution pattern of the stomach cancer mortality rate in Brazil and its regions, according to sex, between the year 2011 and 2015. Mortality values were described by the DATASUS atlas mortality and stratified by sex in the year 2011 and 2015 and analyzed by the Two-Way Anova test. It was observed that there was a higher mortality incidence in the Southeast and lower in the Midwest for both sexes. The Northeastern region presented a high number of cases standing out in relation to the North, Center-west and South regions (P <0.05). Regarding the incidence of male mortality, the North and Northeast regions showed continuous growth over the 5 years studied in this study. On the other hand, the Central-West, South and Southeast regions showed small variations, with 2013 being the most affected in the Midwest and Southeast and 2012 in the South. However, these variations were not significant in terms of statistical test. It is important to know these mortality rates in the regions to identify and define priority regions for early interventions that increase survival and reduce mortality in these populations.
The Influence of Educación on Latinx Students’ Academic Expectations and Achievement

ABSTRACT This quantitative study examined the influence of the Latinx cultural value of educación on high school students’ disciplinary behavior and its relationship to college degree expectations and academic achievement. Because student misbehavior is often identified as one factor that may contribute to low academic achievement, the study posited that the concept of educación, which encompasses a variety of respectful behavior expected of children, may be associated with the disciplinary behavior of students in schools and in turn may influence their educational expectations and achievement. Data were drawn from nearly 400 underrepresented minority students in the southwestern United States. Logistic and multiple regression were used to investigate the relationship between educación and academic achievement and college degree expectations. Findings indicated that students who exhibited positive behavior at school had increased odds of expecting to earn a four-year college degree and that as students’ behavior at school increased in a positive direction, so did their GPA. The results of this study suggest that adherence to the Latinx cultural value of educación may serve as a protective factor for Latinx students in regard to their academic expectations and achievement.
Risk Factors for and Clinical Outcomes of Polymicrobial Acinetobacter baumannii Bloodstream Infections

Background Although the clinical features of Acinetobacter baumannii bloodstream infection are well described, the specific clinical characteristics of polymicrobial Acinetobacter baumannii bloodstream infection have been rarely reported. The objective of this study was to examine the risk factors for and clinical outcomes of polymicrobial Acinetobacter baumannii bloodstream infection. Methods A retrospective observational study was performed from January 2013 to December 2018 in a tertiary hospital. All patients with Acinetobacter baumannii bloodstream infection were enrolled, and the data were collected from the electronic medical records. Results A total of 594 patients were included, 21% (126/594) of whom had polymicrobial infection. The most common copathogen was Klebsiella pneumoniae (20.81%), followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (16.78%) and Enterococcus faecium (12.08%). Compared with monomicrobial Acinetobacter baumannii bloodstream infection, polymicrobial Acinetobacter baumannii bloodstream infection mostly originated from the skin and soft tissue (28.6% vs. 10.5%, p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that burn injury was independently associated with polymicrobial Acinetobacter baumannii bloodstream infection (adjusted odds ratio, 3.569; 95% confidence interval, 1.954-6.516). Patients with polymicrobial Acinetobacter baumannii bloodstream infection were more likely to have a longer hospital length of stay [40 (21, 68) vs. 27 (16, 45), p < 0.001] and more hospitalization days after bloodstream infection than those with monomicrobial Acinetobacter baumannii bloodstream infection [22 (8, 50) vs. 13 (4, 28), p < 0.001]. However, no significant difference in mortality was observed between the two groups. Conclusions Approximately one-fifth of Acinetobacter baumannii bloodstream infections were polymicrobial in this cohort. The main sources were skin and soft tissue infections, and burn injury was the only independent risk factor. Although mortality did not differ between the groups, considering the limitations of the study, further studies are required to assess the impact of polymicrobial (vs. monomicrobial) Acinetobacter baumannii bloodstream infection on outcomes.
Challenge Responsive Multi Modal Biometric Authentication Resilient to Presentation Attacks

: Multimodal biometric systems are a natural evolution of traditional biometric authentication systems with use of multiple biometric to enhance the security level. Presentation attacks in form of photos and replay videos are becoming a threat to the biometric authentication systems and it becomes necessary to prevent from these attacks for an enhanced security level. This work proposes a challenge response based multi modal biometric authentication resilient to presentation attack. The proposed system is designed for multi modal biometric involving face and iris biometrics with challenge in form of arbitrary emotion invoking image at a random position on the screen. The changes in region of interest around the Facial landmarks and distance of iris to Facial landmarks are captured as response. The response is then matched with expected response derived based on the position of arbitrary emotion invoking image on screen to detect presentation attacks. In addition the work also proposes a hybrid deep feature which provides an addition security in recognition process to ensure authentication failure for fake samples. The error rate in leakage of spoofs is very low in proposed solution (less than 1%) in different environments compared to existing works. The recognition accuracy of face is atleast 1% higher and atleast 2% higher for IRIS in proposed solution compared to existing works.
Silica-based nano-adsorbent for enhancement of bacterial biodegradation of methylene blue dye

Silica-based nano-adsorbents have attracted much interest for water treatment applications. Herein, spherically-shaped silica-based nano-adsorbents were fabricated using the modified Stöber method, and they were characterized to identify their morphology and structure. The prepared silica-based nano-adsorbent was applied to enhance the biodegradation of methylene blue. Two bacterial sources were investigated for methylene blue (MB) dye biodegradation, including consortia from sand samples and Azotobacter. The conditions for biodegradation were adapted twice to confirm the biodegradation activities, which had biodegradation efficiencies of approximately 76.1% and 78.7% for the sand consortium and Azotobacter, respectively. Silica-based nano-adsorbents played an important role in enhancing biodegradation efficiency by collecting bacterial cells and dye molecules through adsorption. The biodegradation efficiencies were 99.5% and 99.4% for the sand consortium and Azotobacter, respectively, when the silica-based nano-adsorbent was applied. The biodegradation process reached a maximum efficiency at a temperature of 30°C when shaken at 150 rpm. In addition, the rate of the biodegradation of MB was found to follow a first-order kinetic model.
Understanding How Consumers Perceive Brand Personality Through Sports Sponsorship

Abstract:Sports sponsorship has been considered a key branding strategy for various marketing objectives, but little research has investigated how consumers perceive sponsor brands through sports competitions. This study aimed to examine whether team performance and gender difference jointly impacted consumers' perceived brand personality and how team identification and self-brand connection moderated such impacts on perceived brand personality in the context of sports sponsorship. A 2 (team performance) x 2 (gender) between-subjects experiment was designed with team identification and self-brand connection as two moderators. Results indicated that team performance, team identification, and self-brand connection yielded individual and joint influences on perceived brand personality. Specifically, team performance exerted significant effects on five dimensions of brand personality, while team identification yielded significant effects on brand responsibility, aggressiveness, and simplicity. Self-brand connection moderated the effect of team performance on brand responsibility and activity. The empirical evidence further illustrated that consumer-level factors came into play to influence perceived brand personality. In support of affect-transfer hypothesis, team performance that evoked emotions greatly impacted consumers' perceived brand personality, as they rated a sponsor brand as more positive in terms of brand responsibility, activity, aggressiveness, simplicity, and emotionality.
Trusting Machine Learning Algorithms in Predicting Malicious Nodes Attacks

Identifying network attacks is a very crucial task for Internet of things (IoT) security. The increasing amount of IoT devices is creating a massive amount of data and opening new security vulnerabilities that malicious users can exploit to gain access. Recently, the research community in IoT Security has been using a data- driven approach to detect anomaly, intrusion, and cyber-attacks. However, getting accurate IoT attack data is time-consuming and expensive. On the other hand, evaluating complex security systems requires costly and sophisticated modeling practices with expert security professionals. Thus, we have used simulated datasets to create different possible scenarios for IoT data labeled with malicious and non-malicious nodes. For each scenario, we tested off a shelf machine learning algorithm for malicious node detection. Experiments on the scenarios demonstrate the benefits of the simulated datasets to assess the performance of the ML algorithms.
Sparse layout of irregular 3D clusters

Abstract A sparse layout problem for clusters formed by irregular 3D objects is introduced. The shape of a 3D cluster is represented as a convex hull of the objects inside the cluster. The objects in the cluster may have different irregular shapes, can be freely translated and rotated and must be placed in the cluster without mutual overlapping. Each irregular 3D object in the cluster is composed by a union of basic convex 3D objects. The clusters must be placed in a container without mutual overlapping. The objective is to maximize the distance between the 3D clusters. New geometric tools to describe analytically nonoverlapping, containment and distance constraints for 3D clusters are introduced. The sparse layout problem is formulated as a nonlinear nonconvex continuous programming problem. A solution algorithm is proposed, and computational results are provided.
Mycotoxin hazards in the Kenyan food and feed market - A retrospective study

Mycotoxins are toxic fungal metabolites naturally found in food and feed as contaminants. Animal feed and human food samples (n=1818) from three major Kenyan laboratories were categorized as compliant and non-compliant according to Kenya, America (USA) and Europe (EU) mycotoxin regulatory limits. Quantitative risk assessment of dietary aflatoxin intake in maize, wheat, peanut and dairy products in relation to human hepatocellular carcinoma was carried out employing deterministic approach. Non-compliant samples’ proportions were calculated, and logistic regression and chi-square test used to compare different commodities. Animal feed were least compliant, with 64% and 39% having total aflatoxin (AFT) levels above Kenya and USA standards, respectively. Peanuts were the most non-compliant food, with 61% and 47% samples failing Kenya and USA AFT standards respectively, while wheat was least compliant (84%) according to EU threshold for AFT. Half of baby food sampled had AFT level above Kenya and EU standards. High non-compliance rate with Kenya, USA and EU regulatory thresholds with respect to seven different mycotoxins (summarized as “mycotoxins”), and also AFT and aflatoxin M1 alone in edible materials is reported. Significant non-compliance is reported for compound animal feed, peanuts, wheat, baby food, feed ingredients, herbal healthy drink, maize and fodder feed in that order. High levels of aflatoxin residues in animal feed and human food was also observed. Lifetime human consumption of wheat and maize leads to high additional risk for primary liver cancer, human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) associated with dietary aflatoxin, wheat and its products causing the highest disease burden. Subsequent implications and limitations of current food safety standards are discussed. Humans and animals in Kenya appear to be chronically exposed to mycotoxin hazards: this calls for surveillance and risk management. There is urgent need for enhanced and consistent surveillance of the dietary mycotoxin hazards observed in this study employing representative sampling plans. Regulation and future research need to focus on reliable analysis techniques, collection of data on toxicological effects of mycotoxins and food consumption pattern, and regulatory limits accordingly set and compliance enforced to protect vulnerable groups such as paediatric, geriatric and sick members of the society to reduce cancer burden in Kenya. Key words: Mycotoxins, food, feed, risk analysis, human hepatocellular carcinoma, Kenya
Acute imagery resistance exercise improves subsequent muscle power performance in teenage futsal athletes

Background: Futsal is one of the most popular sport in Brazil with millions of players worldwide. It is characterized by intermittent stimuli of high intensity anaerobic actions. Recently, studies have shown that imagery resistance training (IRT), like conventional strength training, can increase muscle strength, making it reasonable to think that this effect can also be transferred to muscle power. Purposes: we aimed to verify the acute responses of IRT on muscle power in teenage Futsal players. Methods: fifteen Futsal athletes were enrolled and underwent three visits to the laboratory: 1) familiarization with the resistance exercise they would undergo; 2) one them for vertical jump test after the IRT session and the other one for control session, without any intervention before vertical jump test. Sessions 2 and 3 being applied in random order. Results: the results indicate that acute IRT improved muscle performance, since it produced higher power output [3134.5 Watts (2744 - 3796.3)] than control session [2952.4 Watts (2637.55 - 3433.45)] (Z=3.4078; p=0.0007). In addition, all participants in IRT group showed some improvement after the IRT session. Conclusions: a single imagery resistance exercise session can increase acute muscle power output in teenage Futsal athletes.
A Typology of Military Conflict Based on the Hirshleifer Contest

In a canonical model of military conflict, victory and defeat depend stochastically on the difference of resources deployed by the conflict parties. The present paper offers a comprehensive analysis of that model. The unique Nash equilibrium reflects either (i) peace, (ii) submission, (iii) insurgency, or (iv) war. Intuitive predictions regarding possible transitions between these types of equilibria are obtained. The analysis identifies advances in weaponry as an important driver of conflict and, less often so, of its resolution. The formal derivation exploits the variation-diminishing property of higher-order Pólya frequency functions.
Changes on Phosphorus Functional Fractions of Two Louisiana Alluvial Soils Grown with Corn at Different Phosphorus Rates

ABSTRACT Soils in Mississippi River alluvial plains is one of the distinct soil areas in Louisiana under corn (Zea mays) production. This study was conducted to evaluate the changes on Mehlich-3 extractable-phosphorus (P) and P-functional fractions of two Louisiana alluvial soils i.e., Commerce silt loam (Commerce sl) and Perry clay (Perry cl). Potted air-dried soils were mixed with different P rates (0, 34, 67, 101 and 134 kg P2O5 ha−1) and planted with corn seeds. Soil samples were collected 30 days after P application (30 DAP) and at harvest of corn. The Commerce sl and Perry cl differed considerably in the distribution of different P fractions. The unutilized P fertilizer was transformed into calcium (Ca)-P for Commerce sl while it transformed into iron (Fe)-P and reductant-P for Perry cl. Overall, the labile- and aluminum (Al)-P fractions before planting increased with increasing P rate while Fe-P with P rates increased only at harvest for both soils. With time across P rates, both soils built-up less readily available reductant-P. In terms of soil total P, residual-P and total inorganic P (Pi) components, Commerce sl and Perry cl soils differed significantly (P < .05) at 30 DAP and at harvest. On the other hand, the total P and residual-P were not affected by P rates at 30 DAP and at harvest for both soils. Phosphorus fertilization depending on soil properties, can promote certain P fractions in the soil wherein the contribution to corn P nutrition would likely have to come from the readily available P fractions.