Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Food Retail Landscape Across Rural America

In this report, we examine the landscape of food retailers across the contiguous United States, with a focus on rural America and grocery stores. Changes in food retailers have raised concerns about food access and have led Federal policymakers to introduce several pieces of legislation to improve access to healthy foods, such as the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. We use the National Establishment Time Series (NETS) dataset to create a more complete picture of food retailers, while using store-level information to examine sales and employment, and to distinguish between national, regional, and local chains and single location stores. We find that in rural and urban nonmetro counties, grocery stores outnumbered other forms of food retailers, but that grocery stores declined from 1990 to 2015 while dollar stores and supercenters increased steadily. We also found that although single location grocery stores outnumbered chains in 2015, they have been decreasing throughout this period, resulting in single location grocery stores as a share of food retailers decreasing from 87 to 82 percent.
1 The Vuong Test for Strictly Non-Nested Mod

The “Vuong Test for Non-Nested Models” was introduced by [Vuong(1989)], as a test for “strictly non-nested models”. In slightly simplified form, it states that under the null hypothesis that two non-nested models Fθ and GΓ fit equally well, i.e. that the expected value of their log-likelihood ratio equals zero, then under H0 the asymptotic distribution of the log-likelihood ratio statistic, LR, is normal. In particular, (under H0):
Impact of Non-Invasive and Top-Down Approaches On Hemispatial Neglect in Stroke Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Aim: One of the most common disorders in stroke is hemispatial neglect. Regarding treatment of hemispatial neglect, there are many physiotherapy interventions including top-down, bottom-up and non-invasive approaches. In this study, we aimed to systemically examine the effect of these approaches in hemispatial neglect
Improved Shader and Texture Level of Detail Using Ray Cones

In real-time ray tracing, texture ﬁltering is an important technique to increase image quality. Current games, such as Minecraft with RTX on Windows 10, use ray cones to determine texture-ﬁltering footprints. In this paper, we present several improvements to the ray-cones algorithm that improve image quality and performance and make it easier to adopt in game engines. We show that the total time per frame can decrease by around 10% in a GPU-based path tracer, and we provide a public-domain implementation.
Optimization of Multi-Factor Model in Quantitative Trading Based On Reinforcement Learning

Quantitative trading strategies play an important role in stock trading, and reinforcement learning (RL) has been increasingly applied to trading activities in recent years. In this paper, we mainly study the optimization of multi-factor model in quantitative trading by using the method of RL, that we train an agent with a series of historical trading data of the stock market. From the experiment results, we can see that RL is feasible in solving and optimizing similar investment decision-making problems in ﬁnancial ﬁeld, which can help us to obtain more stable returns. Eventually, we hope that our simple work can make more and more people notice the application of RL in investment. Please refer to the link for the video: https://cuhk.zoom. us/rec/share/
NFinBERT: A Number-Aware Language Model for Financial Disclosures (short paper)

As numerals comprise rich semantic information in ﬁnancial texts, they play crucial roles in ﬁnancial data analysis and ﬁnan-cial decision making. We propose NFin-BERT, a number-aware contextualized language model trained on ﬁnancial disclosures. Although BERT and other contex-tualized language models work well for many NLP tasks, they are not specialized in ﬁnance and thus do not properly manage numerical information in ﬁnancial texts. Therefore, we propose pre-training the language model on a large collection of “pre-processed” ﬁnancial disclosures in which the numbers in reports are explicitly replaced with the knowledge and understanding of the ﬁnancial and accounting functions of reports. Experimental results on two ﬁne-tuning classiﬁcation tasks show that language models pre-trained on ﬁnan-cial specialized texts generally outperform BERT. Furthermore, the proposed number-aware NFinBERT signiﬁcantly surpasses other models when the task becomes more difﬁcult or number-sensitive.
Testing Methods of Surficial Sinkhole Identification Using Remotely Sensed Data

Nearly a quarter of all people rely on karst aquifers for drinking water. In the United States, the Safe Water Drinking Act requires a complete assessment of public water systems' vulnerabilities to contamination. As part of that assessment, watershed boundaries must be delineated, while recharge and supply locations identified. In the context of karst aquifers, surficial karst features, such as sinkholes, can act as a point source of direct recharge to karst aquifers and create vulnerabilities to critical drinking water sources. Historical methods of locating these features are inefficient and depend on basic field investigations, resulting in a clear need for advanced identification methods. To this end, this study focuses on developing more efficient identification methods that use remotely sensed data to locate and map surficial karst features that may require protection. Satellite and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) data were used to explore the resolution needed to identify surficial karst feature signatures and the most promising methods for analyzing these data. This study's data included red, green, blue, and near-infrared reflectance rasters, thermal mosaics, and digital surface and terrain models. Spectral and thermal properties were used to filter data that could include karst features. Additionally, digital elevation models were used to explore multiple smoothing methods, image differencing, edge detection, terrain curvature, sink location, and watershed delineation. Findings from the different methods were compared to known karst feature locations. Data with a resolution between 0.5 and 2.5 meters per pixel were found to be ideal for most methods tested. However, vegetation removal, followed by a simple interpolation to fill these areas, created data analysis problems and highlighted the need for other data products, such as LiDAR, that provide accurate elevations of terrain shrouded by vegetation. In the end, it was found that edge detection, mapping curvature, and locating of low points (or sinks) via DEM analyses are all promising methods. It was concluded that by combining multiple methods, detailed digital terrain models could accurately locate many surficial karst features.
The utility of magnetic resonance angiography in children with nutcracker 1 syndrome

3 Background/aim: The presented study aimed to evaluate the utility of magnetic 4 resonance angiography(MRA) in the pediatric population with nutcracker syndrome. 5 Materials and methods: Patients with suggestive clinical symptoms and laboratory 6 findings and got the diagnosis of nutcracker syndrome with Doppler ultrasonography 7 between January 2011-2019 were included in the study. In addition, children who had 8 renal MRA due to hypertension were evaluated as the control group. MRA images of all 9 patients were examined retrospectively by three radiologists at different levels of 10 experience, and the superior mesenteric artery angle, aorta-mesenteric distance, left renal 11 vein diameter both in the regions of aorta-mesenteric and renal hilum were recorded. 12 Results: Forty-five patients diagnosed with nutcracker syndrome were included in the 13 study. The mean age of patients was 12 (4-16) and 30 (67%) were female. As the control 14 group, 25 patients with hypertension who had MRA were included and they had a mean 15 age of 12 (1-18) and 19 (76%) were male. The mean superior mesenteric artery angle was 16 26.5 ° (16-73 ± 12) in the patient group and 57.8 ° (25-139, ± 33) in the control group (p 17 <0.001); the mean aorta-mesenteric distance was 3.3 mm (1.7-6.5, ± 1.1) in the patient 18 group and 8 mm (3.4-32, ± 5.9) in the control group (p <0.001). MRA measurements of 19 three radiologists were consistent with each other. 20 Conclusion: MRA imaging can be applied as an alternative diagnostic method for 21 Doppler ultrasonography and Multidetector CT examinations by radiologists with 22 different experience levels in pediatric patients with nutcracker syndrome. 23
Detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Clinical Samples Using PCR Targeting ETA and gyrB Genes

Pseudomonas aeruginosa has variety of virulence factors that contribute to its pathogenicity. Therefore, rapid detection with high accuracy and specificity is very important in the control of this pathogenic bacterium. To evaluate the accuracy and specificity of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay, ETA and gyrB genes were targeted to detect pathogenic strains of P. aeruginosa. Seventy swab samples were taken from patients with infected wounds and burns in two hospitals in Erbil and Koya cities in Iraq. The isolates were traditionally identified using phenotypic methods, and DNA was extracted from the positive samples, to apply PCR using the species specific primers targeting ETA, the gene encoding for exotoxin A, and gyrB gene. The results of this study indicate that 100% of P. aeruginosa isolates harbored the gyrB gene, whereas 74% of these isolates harbored ETA gene. However, the specificity of PCR for detection of P. aeruginosa based on the both genes was 100%, since no amplified product obtained using DNA extracted from other bacterial species. Hence by considering the importance of rapid detection of this bacterium due to the presence of problems in biochemical methods, PCR targeting multiple virulence genes is suggested in identification of pathogenic strains of P. aeruginosa isolated from some infections which should speed diagnosis of an antimicrobial therapy.
Integrated Modular Motor Drives Based on Multiphase Axial-flux PM Machines with Fractional-slot Concentrated Windings

The integrated motor drive (IMD) concept with possible modularization has attracted much attention in a broad spectrum of applications ranging from low-power general-purpose industrial drives to high-power electric propulsion. This paper presents the feasibility study and performance evaluation of using common axial-flux permanent-magnet (AFPM) machines with fractional-slot concentrated windings in IMDs, with the same diameter and a minimum increase in its axial length. Different winding configurations are compared in terms of the torque/power capability and fault tolerance without changing the winding current rating. The possibility of further torque improvement is discussed from the perspective of making full use of the air-gap field harmonics produced by PMs. An AFPM machine available in the lab has been dissembled and used to build the proof-of-concept design, to show the feasibility of the proposed design and benefits of the IMD.
BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING IMPLEMENTATION

Over the past eras, growths of innovative technological concepts are promptly increasing, in order to achieve competitive productivity and performance. Building industry identifies technology as vital. Although the building industry is broadly identified as unique and conservative, at the same time construction industry has to have varied according to these innovative technological variations. In addition to that these technological variations may have potential to influence everyone’s professions in different ways. Although, the concept of Building Information Modelling (BIM) is not practiced in Sri Lankan construction industry yet, it is likely to become the project delivery standard in future. Introduce with the vision “sustainability by building smarter”, BIM will improve the performance of building professionals. The current knowledge does not adequately explain how the functions of a Quantity Surveyor are affected by BIM. This paper presents a study on comparative effectiveness offered by BIM for the traditional functions of a Quantity Surveyor. The study is interesting because the new knowledge will help to develop strategies for professional development and update the education curricula to train the Quantity Surveyors to face future challenges.
In Silico Interaction Analysis of Intracranial Pressure Reducing Agent Mannitol and its Derivatives with Human Serum Albumin

There is no specific treatment for Japanese encephalitis and treatment is supportive; with assistance given for feeding, breathing or seizure control as required. The recent data reported that mannitol (MNT) diluted into the human serum reduce the intracranial pressure, which may be effective in intracranial pressure management. Therefore, the present study was designed to find out the molecular interaction of mannitol with human serum albumin (HSA). Docking results showed that mannitol was efficiently bounded with HSA. HSA Pdb Id: 1E7H docked with Mannitol like Compounds DB00742, DB03955, DB04733, and DB03206 was -6.65 Kcal/Mol. -5.46 Kcal/Mol.and -4.54 Kcal/Mol and -6.02 Kcal/Mol, respectively. The Study reveals that in silico approach can easily explore the molecular interaction of mannitol with HSA and it will lead to understand the binding pattern of mannitol with HSA.
Application of Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) Technique to Estimate Genetic Distance among Some Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Different Iraqi Hospitals

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the principal nosocomial causative agents. This bacterium has the capability to resist wide range of antibiotics and it is responsible for many diseases like skin, nose and wounds infection. In this study, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR was applied with ten random primers to examine the molecular diversity among methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates in the hospitals and to investigate the genetic distance between them. 90 Isolates were collected from clinical specimens from Iraqi hospitals for a total of 90 isolates. Only 10 strains (11.11%) were found to be MRSA. From these 10 primers, only 9 gave clear amplification products. 91 fragment lines were generated from these primers across all isolates with an average of 10 fragment lines per primer. Of these, 90 (99%) were polymorphic. The size of the amplified bands ranged between 145-2109 bp. The polymorphism percentage for all primers was 100% except OP-X17 primer which gave 86% polymorphism. The genetic distances revealed from Jaccard similarity index was calculated for the 90 RAPD polymorphic fragment lines. The highest genetic distance value 0.959 was between isolate number (1) and (5) and between isolate number (3) and (10), while the lowest genetic distance value 0.218 was between isolate number (6) and (7). This study shows that RAPD-PCR technique assayed with nine primers can be successfully applied to reveal the genetic distances among methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates from different hospitals.
A Survey on Integrated Circuit Trojans

Traditionally, computer security has been associated with the software security, or the information-data security. Surprisingly, the hardware on which the software executes or the information stored-processed-transmitted has been assumed to be a trusted base of security. The main building blocks of any electronic device are Integrated circuits (ICs) which form the fabric of a computer system. Lately, the use of ICs has expanded from handheld calculators and personal computers (PCs) to smartphones, servers, and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. However, this significant growth in the IC market created intense competition among IC vendors, leading to new trends in IC manufacturing. System-on-chip (SoC) design based on intellectual property (IP), a globally spread supply chain of production and distribution of ICs are the foremost of these trends. The emerging trends have resulted in many security and trust weaknesses and vulnerabilities, in computer systems. This includes Hardware Trojans attacks, side-channel attacks, Reverse-engineering, IP piracy, IC counterfeiting, micro probing, physical tampering, and acquisition of private or valuable assets by debugging and testing. IC security and trust vulnerabilities may cause loss of private information, modified/altered functions, which may cause a great economical hazard and big damage to society. Thus, it is crucial to examine the security and trust threats existing in the IC lifecycle and build defense mechanisms against IC Trojan threats. In this article, we examine the IC supply chain and define the possible IC Trojan threats for the parties involved. Then we survey the latest progress of research in the area of countermeasures against the IC Trojan attacks and discuss the challenges and expectations in this area.
Knowledge on utilization of wild mushrooms by the local communities in the Selous-Niassa Corridor in Ruvuma Region, Tanzania

The present study focused on documentation of wild mushroom species used by the local communities in the Selous-Niassa corridor in Namtumbo district, Ruvuma region, Tanzania. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected by interviewing 50 local informants from different localities in the Selous-Niassa wildlife corridor in Namtumbo district. The data documented include types of wild mushroom species, taxonomical information, social-demographic information, indigenous knowledge and uses. The majority of participants in the hunting of wild mushrooms were females aged between 31 and 45 years who were literate peasants with primary education only. The knowledge about edibility of wild mushroom species was mainly transferred to others by old women whereby those eaten by insects and wild animals or do not form much foam during cooking were considered edible. A total of 32 edible and inedible wild mushroom species belonging to thirteen genera and eleven families were documented. Among the documented wild mushrooms, 34.38% were edible, 25% were medicinal and edible, 31.25% did not have known uses, 6.25% were medicinal only and 3.12% were poisonous. The fidelity level (FL) and informant consensus factor (ICF) of the 32 collected wild mushroom species ranged from 50 to 100% and 0.33 to 0.91, respectively. The documentation of wild mushroom species in communities is important for conservation, transfer of knowledge and information regarding their uses across one generation to another. This study provides information that may, in the future, be used for cultivation, pharmacological, and drug discovery studies to improve public healthcare. Key words: Utilization, ethnomycological survey, edible mushrooms, medicinal mushrooms, indigenous knowledge, mushroom hunters.
Tax audit in innovative development of the energy sector of the economy: Gobal trends

As part of the study, world fuel and energy were analysed. A model for the development of state tax audit in the framework of innovative economic development is proposed. As a methodological base, general scientific research methods were used, first of all, systems and integrated analysis methods to substantiate the essence of the state tax audit, to develop approaches to the analysis of its results, and also to determine development trends. The importance of modernizing the system based on the identified relationship between the level of innovative development and the volume of tax revenues is substantiated. The developed model is based on the assumption that the tax gap will be minimized by encouraging tax-payers to voluntarily fulfil their tax obligations. The necessity of creating a supranational body of state audit within the framework of integration processes is substantiated. The prospects for the development of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in the context of globalization have been outlined, including the creation of territorial standards for a state audit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries.
Quantitation of HIV1 RNA viral load and its correlation with CD4 cell count in Hepatitis C virus and human immunodeficiency virus co-infected patients attending RIMS hospital Imphal

Background: HCV-HIV coinfection leads to more rapid progression to cirrhosis, end stage liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma but some literature opined that overall survival of HIV positive persons is not affected by the presence of HCV.This study was conducted with the objective to quantify HIV1 RNA viral load in HIV-AIDS coinfected individuals & its correlation with CD4 cell count. Methodology: Hospital based Cross sectional study was conducted among HIV-HCV coinfected individuals from Nov 2015 to Oct 2017.HIV1 RNA viral load was measured by the Cobas TaqMan HIV1 Test for manual specimen preparation and Cobas TaqMan 48 Analyzer (Roche Diagnostics, USA) for automated amplification and detection. CD4 cell count was measured by Fluorescent Activated Cell Sorter count system (Becton Dickinson’s immunocytometry system, San Jose, CA,USA). The correlation between HIV viral load and CD4 cell count was determined by Pearson correlation test (rp) and probability value of< 0.05 was considered statistically significant. European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine ISSN 2515-8260 Volume 08, Issue 03, 2021 427 Results: Among 47 HIV-HCV co-infected individuals analysed, maximum number i.e., 45(95.74%) have HIV viral load <10,000 copies/ml while only 2(4.26%) have ≥10,000 copies/ml. There was a positive good correlation (rp=0.611) between HIV viral load and CD4 cell count, but it was not statistically significant. Conclusions: Majority of these individuals having low HIVviral load have low CD4 cell count, some as low as 25 cells/u1. All the subjects were on ART but none on antiviral therapy for HCV. So, in these circumstances, even though they are taking ART, they are still prone to opportunistic infections
Transcriptome-Wide Association Study of Blood Cell Traits in African Ancestry and Hispanic/Latino Populations

Background: Thousands of genetic variants have been associated with hematological traits, though target genes remain unknown at most loci. Moreover, limited analyses have been conducted in African ancestry and Hispanic/Latino populations; hematological trait associated variants more common in these populations have likely been missed. Methods: To derive gene expression prediction models, we used ancestry-stratified datasets from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA, including n = 229 African American and n = 381 Hispanic/Latino participants, monocytes) and the Depression Genes and Networks study (DGN, n = 922 European ancestry participants, whole blood). We then performed a transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) for platelet count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and white blood cell count in African (n = 27,955) and Hispanic/Latino (n = 28,324) ancestry participants. Results: Our results revealed 24 suggestive signals (p < 1 × 10−4) that were conditionally distinct from known GWAS identified variants and successfully replicated these signals in European ancestry subjects from UK Biobank. We found modestly improved correlation of predicted and measured gene expression in an independent African American cohort (the Genetic Epidemiology Network of Arteriopathy (GENOA) study (n = 802), lymphoblastoid cell lines) using the larger DGN reference panel; however, some genes were well predicted using MESA but not DGN. Conclusions: These analyses demonstrate the importance of performing TWAS and other genetic analyses across diverse populations and of balancing sample size and ancestry background matching when selecting a TWAS reference panel.