Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gastos catastróficos em saúde e multimorbidade entre adultos mais velhos no Brasil

OBJETIVO: Estimar a relação entre gasto catastrófico em saúde (GCS) e multimorbidade em amostra nacional representativa da população brasileira com 50 anos de idade ou mais. MÉTODOS: Foram utilizados dados de 8.347 participantes do Estudo Longitudinal da Saúde dos Idosos Brasileiros (2015–2016). A variável dependente foi o GCS, definido pela razão entre as despesas com saúde do adulto de 50 anos ou mais e a renda domiciliar. A variável de interesse foi a multimorbidade (duas ou mais doenças crônicas), e a variável utilizada para estratificação foi o escore de riqueza. As principais análises foram baseadas na regressão logística multivariada. RESULTADOS: A prevalência de GCS foi de 17,9% e 7,5% para gastos correspondentes a 10% e 25% da renda domiciliar, respectivamente. A prevalência da multimorbidade foi de 63,2%. A multimorbidade apresentou associações positivas e independentes com GCS (OR = 1,95, IC95% 1,67–2,28 e OR = 1,40, IC95% 1,11–1,76 para gastos correspondentes a 10% e 25%, respectivamente). Os gastos associados à multimorbidade foram maiores entre aqueles com menor escore de riqueza. CONCLUSÕES: Os resultados chamam atenção para a necessidade de uma abordagem integrada da multimorbidade nos serviços de saúde, de forma a evitar os GCS, particularmente entre adultos mais velhos com piores condições socioeconômicas.
Some Problems of Rails For High-speed Railway of China

Acciording to running experience of high-speed railway abroad,a full attention must be paid to some requirements of specifica-tion of rails for high-speed railway,such as materil mechanical properties,rimension tolernces,straightness,surface flatness and so on.It is suggested that the long-length rails should be laid in high-speed railway,and the feasibility of producing,welding and transporting of long-length rails should be researched.On the basis of technical innovation of domestic manufacturers,it is practicable to lay 50-100mlong-length rails should be researched.On the basis of producing,welding and transporting of long-length homemade rails in high-speed railway of China.The following welding programme of rails for hiah-speed railway can be adiop-ted:50-100m long-lenath rails can be welded as 500m long rail string through flash butt welding in plant,then in field the reid string can be welded through a mobile flash butt welding or thermit welding.As the specification of rails or high-seed railway is rigorous.some related techniques to long-length rails should be researched and practised as soon as possible,including mobile flash butt welding tech-nique,transporting and reinforcing techniques of lon-length rails,etc…
New product sales forecasting : the relative accuracy of statistical, judgemental and combination forecasts

This research investigates three approaches to new product sales forecasting: statistical, judgmental and the integration of these two approaches. The aim of the research is to find a simple, easy-to-use, low cost and accurate tool which can be used by managers to forecast the sales of new products. A review of the literature suggested that the Bass diffusion model was an appropriate statistical method for new product sales forecasting. For the judgmental approach, after considering different methods and constraints, such as bias, complexity, lack of accuracy, high cost and time involvement, the Delphi method was identified from the literature as a method, which has the potential to mitigate bias and produces accurate predictions at a low cost in a relatively short time. However, the literature also revealed that neither of the methods: statistical or judgmental, can be guaranteed to give the best forecasts independently, and a combination of them is the often best approach to obtaining the most accurate predictions. The study aims to compare these three approaches by applying them to actual sales data. To forecast the sales of new products, the Bass diffusion model was fitted to the sales history of similar (analogous) products that had been launched in the past and the resulting model was used to produce forecasts for the new products at the time of their launch. These forecasts were compared with forecasts produced through the Delphi method and also through a combination of statistical and judgmental methods. All results were also compared to the benchmark levels of accuracy, based on previous research and forecasts based on various combinations of the analogous products’ historic sales data. Although no statistically significant difference was found in the accuracy of forecasts, produced by the three approaches, the results were more accurate than those obtained using parameters suggested by previous researchers. The limitations of the research are discussed at the end of the thesis, together with suggestions for future research.
International assistance to educational development : a case study of the basic education section in Ghana

Since the advent of international assistance, the aid paradigm has changed continually and the choice of mechanisms for providing assistance has evolved in order to try and pursue better approaches. Along with the traditional project approach, the sector-wide approach involving budgetary support has emerged as a new aid modality since the mid-1990s. While many donors – e.g. the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the World Bank and the European Union (EU) – have embraced the new modality, some donors have kept their distance from this trend, relying mostly on project assistance – e.g. United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). However, the extent to which aid resources are absorbed in the recipient government/sector under the different aid delivery mechanisms is not well known. This thesis provides insight into this question by exploring the process of absorbing foreign funds in the education sector. Employing a phenomenological research approach, the process is examined from the point of view of local actors and beneficiaries of aid aimed at improving education quality. The context chosen is basic education (primary and junior secondary) in Ghana after the introduction of the national basic education reform, which was announced as the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme in 1996. Two cases are chosen for comparison: the Whole School Development (WSD) programme financed by the DFID; and the Quality Improvements in Primary Schools (QUIPS) programme facilitated by USAID. The former constitutes a sector-wide type of assistance, which put Ghanaian officials in charge of DFID funds and the implementation of the programme; while the latter adopted a project type model, with implementation managed directly through a USAIDfunded project office. The major part of the data is derived from interviews conducted in 2006 with significant educational personnel at three different levels: Ministry of Education (MoE) headquarters, the District Education Office (DEO), and the schools). The analysis reveals a complex picture of aid absorption, which illuminates the pros and cons of the two approaches in relation to impact and sustainability. The study finds that the QUIPS project achieved tangible results in the pilot schools, while the WSD programme made little impact at the school level. The WSD programme, which used existing structures within the education system to deliver funds and resources to schools, showed evidence of high fungibility, but appears to have strengthened the Ministry‟s administrative capacity. On the other hand, the QUIPS approach, which had low fungibility, has been severely criticised by Ghanaian officials, who questioned its sustainability and contribution to system-wide change. The thesis concludes by stating its specific contribution to the literature on international aid assistance to developing countries and making recommendations for the Ghanaian context.
Implementation, Characterization, and Optimization of an FPGA-based Time-to-Digital Converter

Many fields need high performance time measurements, including Single-Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) cameras, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) systems, and other time-of-flight systems. These measurements are often performed by means of time-to-digital converters, that for these applications, require high resolution, accuracy, and throughput. This is often accomplished using custom circuitry, which entails high cost, long development time, and low flexibility. Other time measurement implementations, such as TDCs implemented on field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), have been studied to meet the demands of time measurement without the drawbacks of custom circuitry. This thesis presents an FPGA-based TDC with many advantages of custom circuitry but few of the drawbacks. A characterization of the TDC, based on a Virtex-6 FPGA, is executed and many influences on performance are described, including distortions from the FPGA architecture, temperature effects, intra-chip position variation, and chip-to-chip variation. The TDC has 10ps resolution, 3.85LSB integral non-linearity, and a throughput of 300MS/s. Some directions for future work are presented, with the possibility to improve FPGAbased TDCs even more. The results show that FPGA-based TDCs can achieve high performance, and can be used in a wide range of applications requiring high throughput and accurate time measurements.
Multiscale Analysis of Panel Gaps in a Large Parabolic Reflector

The effect of the gaps between the panels of a reflector, used as a radio-telescope, is analyzed in this paper via the multiscale and array factor approach. Initially, the simulation is carried out by numerical integration as well as the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) Method for a reflector with a moderately large diameter, and the results are then scaled for the actual size, which is thousands of wavelengths in diameter in the frequency range of interest. The array factor concept is employed to demonstrate the fact that the grating lobe cannot arise for the typical gap size of the reflector. Multiscale approach We investigate a large reflector antenna, which is a 120 ft (36.57 m) diameter radio-telescope, originally designed for operation up to 10 GHz, but now being considered for application at higher frequencies. However, in higher frequencies the quasi-periodic structure of the gaps in the reflector might cause grating lobes in the far-field pattern. The gaps consist of the hollow rings and strips dividing the panels similar to the Fig. 1. The width of the gaps is one wavelength (in the frequency of interest) whereas the length of the panels is in order of 1000 wavelengths. The diameter of the main parabolic reflector is on the order of 10,000 wavelengths, which makes it impractical for the direct numerical simulation. Therefore we use a multiscale approach to study the grating lobes. To estimate the level of the grating lobes, first we compute the far-field pattern due to the circular aperture of 34 wavelength diameter with the gaps of one wavelength (where the surface current is set to zero in the shadow of the gaps in the aperture) between the 5-wavelength long panels shown in Fig. 1. In this approach (shadowing) the assumption is that the current is uniformly distributed on the panels. The Hand E-plane far-filed patterns of the circular aperture (solid panel) vs. slotted (with panels) are shown in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively. It is seen that the first grating lobe arises around 10 degrees. In the next step to validate the shadowing approach we compute the scattered far-field of the same size flat circular reflector with and without the gaps, illuminated by a normally incident plane wave using the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) Method [1]. The scattered-field formulation of the FDTD Method is used to simulate the flat reflector [2]. The normally incident wave is analytically introduced everywhere in the computational domain particularly on the surface of the perfect electric conductor of the reflector. Next the scattered field is computed throughout the domain by setting the tangential components of scattered electric fields to Fig.1. Illustration of circular reflector (diameter 34 lambda); panels (5 lambda) and gap width 1 lambda; x and y axes show the cell numbers. Fig.2. H-plane far-field pattern of circular aperture with and without panels with diameter of 34 lambda (shadowing approach). 1054-4887 © 2006 ACES 72 ACES JOURNAL, VOL. 21, NO. 1, MARCH 2006
Use of UHPC piles in integral abutment bridges

In order to make the Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) pile, developed in Phase I of the UHPC Pile Project at Iowa State University (ISU), a viable option in practice, laboratory testing, field testing and installation of a production pile in the field were undertaken during Phase II of this project. A detailed understanding of the section behavior and lateral loading behavior was determined and compared to that of a steal HP 10 x 57 pile through lateral load analyses of a UHPC pile section. The analysis found that UHPC piles were suitable for integral abutments of bridges. To make the field installation of UHPC piles possible, the overall performance of a common pile-to-abutment connection was verified in the laboratory by defining the UHPC pile-to-abutment connection, which is similar to the currently used connection for steel HP 10 x 57 piles. Both piles performances were verified by testing their connection when subjected to weak-axis bending. The test piles met performance criteria during the laboratory displacements of 0.28 and 0.42 inches which correspond to 1.0 and 1.55 inches in the field. Next, the field testing began to ensure that the production pile would achieve the desired behavior and capacities required by integral abutment bridges. A vertical load test on a 46-ft UHPC test pile was completed one week after being driven into the ground at the same site where the UHPC production pile was implemented into a 223-ft long integral bridge with a 24 ̊ skew. Before failure, the test pile resisted 1.5 times the predicted capacity based on the Iowa Bluebook method of design for concrete piles, verifying appropriateness of reducing the UHPC production pile by 16% in length compared to the specified length of 65-ft for the HP 10 x 57 piles on the integral bridge. Additionally, a lateral load test was conducted between the second test pile with a newly designed splice detail and the vertical load test pile, which confirmed the adequacy of the splice detail and the lateral load resistance of the pile. The 46-ft test pile was also tested during the lateral load test. The results of the laboratory and field studies indicated that the UHPC pile in the field is a viable option.
Small, slim, sleek, and familiar: user experiences with an ION wearable research alpha prototype transdermal alcohol monitor

Abstract Introduction Transdermal alcohol monitors can help overcome issues with self-reporting in alcohol research and offer improvements over other biometric monitors as they provide passive and continuous measurement. The ION Wearable has recently entered the market by Milo Sensors; however, user acceptability has yet to be tested. This paper explores user experiences of an ION Wearable Research Alpha Prototype (ION RAP) monitor to determine if it is a feasible device for participant use in research studies. Methods and materials We undertook a qualitative study to explore user experiences of wearing an ION RAP monitor. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 participants after they wore an ION RAP for a 24-hour period. Participants were asked about first impressions of the device, physical comfortability, perceptions of the device, social experiences and drinking experiences. We used a deductive framework analysis. Results Overall, participants compared the ION RAP to a fitness watch, describing it as small, sleek, and familiar. Participants mostly reported positive physical and social experiences when wearing the ION RAP. Most participants did not feel that wearing the ION RAP impacted their drinking practices. Participants suggested that it would have greater utility if it were waterproof, and if issues with short battery life were resolved. Conclusions The ION RAP appears to be an acceptable alternative to traditional transdermal alcohol monitors. Future studies should examine acceptability in more diverse populations, including older adults. While user experience data is important, it is also vital that future studies examine its performance in measuring alcohol consumption.
Few-Layer Graphene Induces Both Primary and Secondary Genotoxicity in in Vitro Alveolar Barrier Models

Background: Toxicological evaluation of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) is essential for occupational health and safety, particularly where bulk manufactured ENMs such as few-layer graphene (FLG) are concerned. Additionally, there is a necessity to develop advanced in vitro models when testing ENMs to provide a physiologically relevant alternative to invasive animal experimentation. The aim of this study was to determine the genotoxicity of non-functionalised (neutral), amine- and carboxyl-functionalised FLG upon both human-transformed type-I (TT1) alveolar epithelial cell monocultures, as well as co-cultures of TT1 and differentiated THP-1 monocytes (d.THP-1 (macrophages)). Results: In monocultures, TT1 and d.THP-1 macrophages showed a statistically significant (p<0.05) cytotoxic response with each ENM following 24-hour exposures. Monoculture genotoxicity measured by the in vitro cytokinesis blocked micronucleus (CBMN) assay revealed significant (p<0.05) micronuclei induction at 8µg/ml for amine- and carboxyl-FLG. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed ENMs were internalised by TT1 cells within membrane-bound vesicles. In the co-cultures, ENMs induced genotoxicity in the absence of cytotoxic effects. Co-cultures pre-exposed to 1.5mM N-acetylcysteine (NAC), showed baseline levels of micronuclei induction, indicating that the genotoxicity observed was driven by oxidative stress. Conclusions: Therefore, FLG genotoxicity when examined in monocultures, results in primary-indirect DNA damage; whereas co-cultured cells reveal secondary mechanisms of DNA damage.
EKF-SLAM Statistical Bounds Considering Intermittent Measurements

This paper presents a theoretical study of intermittent measurement in EKF-SLAM(Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) Problem. We propose the analysis of FIM(Fisher Information Matrix) to illustrate the uncertainties statistical bounds whenever measurement data is not arrived to the system. The FIM explains the behavior of information when a measurement data is partially unavailable and therefore its existence is important to describe the system performance. The information obtained from the updated state error covariance demonstrates that the resultant state error covariance never exceeds this boundaries if a measurement data is missing during mobile robot observations. Simulation under certain conditions consistently assures the results is agreeing with the proposed analysis.
Inversion of 2D NMR Data

Schlumberger Limited is a multinational company supplying oilfield and nformation services to a worldwide energy market. These services include both exploration and production tools ranging through seismic and remote sensing, well-logging and reservoir optimization. The problem described in this report is related to well-logging via Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), a relatively new and developing tool with potential to reveal a range of reservoir properties including porosity and saturation, as well as physical properties of the petroleum deposit. In order to recover this information from NMR spectra the company must have an effective, efficient and robust algorithm to perform inversion from the dataset to the unknown probability distribution on magnetic relaxation times. This ill-posed problem is encountered in diverse areas of magnetic imaging and there does not appear to be an ‘off-the-shelf’ solution which the company can apply to its problem. Company scientists have developed a sophisticated algorithm which performs well on some simple test datasets, but they are interested in knowing if there are simpler approaches which could work effectively, or if some limited but useful properties of the density are accessible with a totally different approach. Our report is organised as follows. In Section 1.2 we present a careful and complete description of the problem and the work already done by the company. In Section 1.3 we discuss Truncated Singular Value Regularisation and Tikhonov Regularisation and show how some ‘off-the-shelf’ Matlab code may be used to good effect on the test datasets provided by the company. In Section 1.4 we show that one can incorporate higher order regularisation into the company’s existing algorithm, answering one specific question raised at the beginning of the workshop. Finally, in Section 1.5 we record our unsuccessful attempt to establish an iterative algorithm for the positively constrained inversion. Finally in the last section we review our conclusions and make suggestions for future work.
A Wireless Sensor Node for Monitoring the Effects of Fluid Flow on Riverbed Sediment

This project investigates the use of wireless sensor nodes to create a ‘smart tracer’ for monitoring the effects of fluid flow on riverbed sediment. The hardware requirements of a mobile sensor node have been determined, and a software prototype of the system has been implemented in simulation and on an example node using TinyOS. The system has been used to demonstrate that the concept is feasible, and to lay the groundwork for future work in making a full hardware implementation of this system.
Determination of the Seismic Moment Tensor Using Surface Waves Recorded by the IMS Network

Abstract : The Provisional Technical Secretariat (PTS) of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) has been ramping-up the installation of the International Monitoring System (IMS) consisting of a network of seismic, hydroacoustic, infrasound, and radionuclide stations, since its inception in March 1997. Data from this network are automatically processed at the International Data Centre (IDC) to produce, within a few hours, a series of automatic bulletins called the Standard Event Lists (SEL1, SEL2, SEL3). After analyst review and correction as necessary the Reviewed Event Bulletin (REB) is produced. Additional information about characterization of an event as an earthquake or otherwise is also available in the Standard Event Bulletin (SEB) shortly after production of the REB. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) states that the IDC will apply standard event screening criteria to each event formed. The objective of this process is to filter out events that are considered to be consistent with natural or non-nuclear man-made phenomena, leaving a reduced set of events that may require further examination. In Annex 2 of the Protocol to the Treaty, the focal mechanism is listed as possible event screening parameters. In order to provide a focal mechanism and increase the number of elements potentially useful as screening attributes, we have in the last two years implemented two methods for moment tensor (MT) inversion. One method is based on the P body waves and the other on surface waves. Implementation of these sophisticated inversion methods has led to improvements in the calibration of the broad-band seismic network, notably quality control of the instrument responses. We report here on the results obtained from the implementation of the surface-wave MT inversion, which uses both Rayleigh waves and Love waves.