Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Barriers and enablers to adoption of intrauterine device as a contraceptive method: A multi-stakeholder perspective

Background: Promoting family planning practices aid considerably in attaining Millennium Development Goals by various mechanisms. Despite concerted health system efforts, adoption of especially reversible contraceptive methods such as intrauterine devices (IUDs) has remained negatively skewed in India, which is the pioneer country to implement Family Planning programme way back in 1952. Although few studies in India have looked into the reasons for its nonacceptance, literature from Odisha was scant and hence the study was undertaken. Methodology: A cross-sectional study using qualitative methods was done in the Mahanga Tehsil of Cuttack district. In-depth interviews were conducted with women of reproductive age (WRA) and focused group discussions (FGDs) among health workers and health professionals were held separately. Data analysis was done using thematic framework approach supported by Atlas Ti software. Results: There were 31 in-depth interviews with WRA, two FGDs with health workers, and one FGD with health professionals. Availability of IUD services was low and wherever available, being located far away affected its physical accessibility. Most women were reluctant to ask health workers about services owing to their shyness while many women felt using IUDs breached their autonomy and privacy. The existence of fear and misconceptions regarding its use rooting from lack of knowledge and poor service quality also impeded its adoption by women. Conclusion: There is a pressing need to enhance the demand of IUDs by dispelling the myths among women through effective information, education, and communication and also to improve the availability of IUDs.
Path Planning Method Combining Depth Learning and Sarsa Algorithm

When the traditional Sarsa(λ) algorithm is applied to the path planning, there are some problems such as slow learning of environmental knowledge and neglecting a lot of useful information. This paper proposes a method to combine the algorithm of Stacking Denoising AutoEncoders, Extract real-time environmental features by stack denoising sparse autoencoders. While eliminating the impact of environmental noise. The position information is obtained by mapping the SOM neural network, whereby the position information yields the R value. Sarsa(λ) updates the Q value based on the R value and carries out the corresponding path planning.At the same time, SOM neural network mapping can effectively avoid the long time iterative operation and output error of other neural networks.This method makes the algorithm more effective to extract the environmental characteristic information, and makes the path planning more accurate and efficient. The simulation experiment takes the agent path planning in 2D and 3D complex environment as the background, the traditional Sarsa(λ) algorithm is compared with the DSAE-Sarsa(λ) that proposed in this paper. Through the path planning performance, the algorithm convergence and the convergence speed, the reward value situation and so on, verifies the ability and superiority of the algorithm that proposed in this paper.
Histologist's original opinion compared with multidisciplinary team in determining diagnosis in interstitial lung disease

Guidelines recommend that multidisciplinary interstitial lung disease meeting (ILD MDT) decisions become the gold standard for diagnosis, replacing the histologist from this position, and identify this as requiring supportive evidence. We have compared diagnoses from lung biopsy material made by expert histologists with the subsequent consensus opinion from a properly constituted ILD MDT in 71 consecutive patients referred to a regional thoracic unit. MDT changed the original histological diagnoses in 30% (95% CI 19.3% to 41.6%) and strengthened the diagnoses from probable to confident in a further 17% (95% CI 9.1% to 27.7%). The assessment of hypersensitivity pneumonitis, non-necrotising granulomas and organising pneumonia accounted for the majority of the changes.
FACTORS AFFECTING INDIRECT DETERMINATION OF SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE OF RATS.

Abstract Several factors which affect the measurement of systolic blood pressure of the unanesthetized rat were studied with the microphonic manometer technique. Variation of the width of rubber tubing in the metal occluding cuff results in wide variation in the measurement of systolic blood pressure, as does the position of the occluding cuff on the tail. The more distal the placement of the cuff on the tail, the lower the measured blood pressure; for reproducible results the cuff must be placed in the same position on the tail for all measurements. The procedure used for heating the rat in preparation for blood pressure measurement also must be standardized. Under the conditions of these experiments, an average rise of colonic temperature of 0.8 °C. was found to be necessary before sounds were audible in the tails of the rats tested. The rat responded initially to the stress of blood pressure measurement by a slight increase in blood pressure, but after 4 minutes, blood pressure attained a stable level. Attention to these factors will help decrease variability of indirect blood pressure measurement by this technique.
An Automated Segmentation of R2* Iron-Overloaded Liver Images Using a Fuzzy C-Mean Clustering Scheme

Objectives The objectives of this study were to develop and test an automated segmentation of R2* iron-overloaded liver images using fuzzy c-mean (FCM) clustering and to evaluate the observer variations. Materials and Methods Liver R2* images and liver iron concentration (LIC) maps of 660 thalassemia examinations were randomly separated into training (70%) and testing (30%) cohorts for development and evaluation purposes, respectively. Two-dimensional FCM used R2* images, and the LIC map was implemented to segment vessels from the parenchyma. Two automated FCM variables were investigated using new echo time and membership threshold selection criteria based on the FCM centroid distance and LIC levels, respectively. The new method was developed on a training cohort and compared with manual segmentation for segmentation accuracy and to a previous semiautomated method, and a semiautomated scheme was suggested to improve unsuccessful results. The automated variables found from the training cohort were assessed for their effectiveness in the testing cohort, both quantitatively and qualitatively (the latter by 2 abdominal radiologists using a grading method, with evaluations of observer variations). A segmentation error of less than 30% was considered to be a successful result in both cohorts, whereas, in the testing cohort, a good grade obtained from satisfactory automated results was considered a success. Results The centroid distance method has a segmentation accuracy comparable with the previous-best, semiautomated method. About 94% and 90% of the examinations in the training and testing cohorts were automatically segmented out successfully, respectively. The failed examinations were successfully segmented out with thresholding adjustment (3% and 8%) or by using alternative results from the previous 1-dimensional FCM method (3% and 2%) in the training and testing cohorts, respectively. There were no failed segmentation examinations in either cohort. The intraobserver and interobserver variabilities were found to be in substantial agreement. Conclusions Our new method provided a robust automated segmentation outcome with a high ease of use for routine clinical application.
MPPT based LLC resonant converter for PV applications

In nature there are many kinds of renewable and non-renewable energy sources. In our paper we are concentrated on the renewable energy source like solar. Solar is one of the most popular one due to its ease of availability and it is better for the generation of electricity. The efficiency of the photovoltaic system increased with the help of maximum power point tracking. Perturb and observe MPPT technique is used for PV system in which DC voltage is used as Perturbation variable. The LLC resonant converter is used in this paper. The switching losses can be reduced by using this converter. It achieves good efficiency and fixed frequency control. The advantages like transformation of power between source and load will be direct for most of the cycles of switching. The detailed analysis of converter design and control methods has been implemented in this paper.
Embracing Change with Extreme Programming

Traditional software engineering means have been characterized by a rather predictable process in the past. Users tell once and for all exactly what they want. Programmers design the system that will deliver those features. They code it; test it, and all is well. But all was not always well. The users did not tell once and for all exactly what they wanted. They changed their minds, and the users were not the only problem. Programmers could misjudge their progress. The academic software engineering community took the high cost of changing software as a challenge, creating technologies like relational databases, modular programming, and information hiding. This is where extreme programming comes in. Rather than planning, analyzing, and designing for the far-flung future, XP exploits the reduction in the cost of changing software to do all of these activities a little at a time, throughout software development. The paper discusses the major practices of XP.
The influence of ground ice distribution on geomorphic dynamics since the Little Ice Age in proglacial areas of two cirque glacier systems

Holocene glaciers have contributed to an abundance of unstable sediments in mountainous environments. In permafrost environments, these sediments can contain ground ice and are subject to rapid geomorphic activity and evolution under condition of a warming climate. To understand the influence of ground ice distribution on this activity since the Little Ice Age (LIA), we have investigated the Pierre Ronde and Rognes proglacial areas, two cirque glacier systems located in the periglacial belt of the Mont Blanc massif. For the first time, electrical resistivity tomography, temperature data loggers and differential global positioning systems (dGPS) are combined with historical documents and glaciological data analysis to produce a complete study of evolution in time and space of these small landsystems since the LIA. This approach allows to explain spatial heterogeneity of current internal structure and dynamics. The studied sites are a complex assemblage of debris‐covered glacier, ice‐rich frozen debris and unfrozen debris. Ground ice distribution is related to former glacier thermal regime, isolating effect of debris cover, water supply to specific zones, and topography. In relation with this internal structure, present dynamics are dominated by rapid ice melt in the debris‐covered upper slopes, slow creep processes in marginal glacigenic rock glaciers, and weak, superficial reworking in deglaciated moraines. Since the LIA, geomorphic activity is mainly spatially restricted within the proglacial areas. Sediment exportation has occurred in a limited part of the former Rognes Glacier and through water pocket outburst flood and debris flows in Pierre Ronde. Both sites contributed little sediment supply to the downslope geomorphic system, rather by episodic events than by constant supply. In that way, during Holocene and even in a paraglacial context as the recent deglaciation, proglacial areas of cirque glaciers act mostly as sediment sinks, when active geomorphic processes are unable to evacuate sediment downslope, especially because of the slope angle weakness. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Overexpression of cypin alters dendrite morphology, single neuron activity, and network properties via distinct mechanisms

Objective. This study investigates the effect that overexpression of cytosolic PSD-95 interactor (cypin), a regulator of synaptic PSD-95 protein localization and a core regulator of dendrite branching, exerts on the electrical activity of rat hippocampal neurons and networks. Approach. We cultured rat hippocampal neurons and used lipid-mediated transfection and lentiviral gene transfer to achieve high levels of cypin or cypin mutant (cypinΔPDZ; PSD-95 non-binding) expression cellularly and network-wide, respectively. Main results. Our analysis revealed that although overexpression of cypin and cypinΔPDZ increase dendrite numbers and decrease spine density, cypin and cypinΔPDZ distinctly regulate neuronal activity. At the single cell level, cypin promotes decreases in bursting activity while cypinΔPDZ reduces sEPSC frequency and further decreases bursting compared to cypin. At the network level, by using the Fano factor as a measure of spike count variability, cypin overexpression results in an increase in variability of spike count, and this effect is abolished when cypin cannot bind PSD-95. This variability is also dependent on baseline activity levels and on mean spike rate over time. Finally, our spike sorting data show that overexpression of cypin results in a more complex distribution of spike waveforms and that binding to PSD-95 is essential for this complexity. Significance. Our data suggest that dendrite morphology does not play a major role in cypin action on electrical activity.
Genetic variants in sex hormone pathways and the risk of type 2 diabetes among African American, Hispanic American, and European American postmenopausal women in the US

Sex hormones are implicated in the development of diabetes. However, whether genetic variations in sex hormone pathways (SHPs) contribute to the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) remains to be determined. This study investigated associations between genetic variations in all candidate genes in SHPs and T2DM risk among a cohort of women participating in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI).
Antidiabetic Effect of Rosella-Stevia Tea on Prediabetic Women in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

ABSTRACT Background: Rosella tea (Hibiscuss sabdariffa. Linn) with stevia sweetener (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni) is a combined herbal drink that is expected to have antidiabetic effect by lowering glucose levels in people with diabetes and prediabetes. This research investigates the effect of rosella-stevia tea to decrease fasting blood glucose (FBG) and 2 hours postprandial blood glucose (2-hour postprandial BG) level in prediabetic women. Method: This is quasi-experimental research with control and treatment (rosella-stevia tea) group. Each group consists of 12 prediabetic women aged 30–60 years. Rosella-stevia tea (5 g rosella powder, 125 mg stevia sweetener) was administered to the treatment group twice a day for 14 days. Result: Rosella-stevia tea consumption affects blood glucose levels. Rosella-stevia tea consumption significantly lowered the FBG level (from 111.25 ± 7.20 mg/dL to 88.58 ± 13.19 mg/dL; p < 0.01) but not the 2-hour postprandial BG level (from 123.25 ± 37.61 mg/dL to 106.92 ± 18.82 mg/dL). There are no significant differences in the control group (FBG level from 106.00 ± 5.27 mg/dL to 102.08 ± 8.36, and 2-hour postprandial BG level from 119.83 ± 16.43 mg/dL to 128.00 ± 23.54 mg/dL). Conclusion: Rosella-stevia tea consumption can lower the FBG level but not the 2-hour postprandial BG level in prediabetic women.
Design of a compact 2-DOF joint with belt driven actuators

This paper deals with the design of a new compact 2 degree of freedom joint as a key part of a hyper-redundant robotic manipulator used for nondestructive inspections. The compactness is reached using a genuine belt driven actuator together with special architecture based on the principle of universal joint. The placement of belt and pulleys is analytically solved to ensure highest torque for given joint dimensions and adequate belt tension in the whole range of joint tilt angles. The problem with belt loosening is minimized.
The evolution of coronary stents

ABSTRACT Introduction: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is 40 years old this year. From its humble beginnings of experimental work, PCI has transitioned over years with coronary artery stenting now a standard medical procedure performed throughout the world. Areas covered: The conversion from plain old balloon angioplasty (POBA) to the present era of drug eluting stents (DES) has been driven by many technological advances and large bodies of clinical trial evidence. The journey to present day practice has seen many setbacks, such as acute vessel closure with POBA; rates of instant restenosis with bare metal stents (BMS) and more recently, high rates of stent thrombosis with bioabsorbable platforms. This work discusses POBA, why there was a need for BMS, the use of inhibiting drugs to create 1st generation DES, the change of components to 2nd generation DES, the use of absorbable drug reservoirs and platforms, and possible future directions with Prohealing Endothelial Progenitor Cell Capture Stents. Expert commentary: This paper reviews the evolution from the original pioneering work to modern day practice, highlighting landmark trials that changed practice. Modern day contemporary practice is now very safe based on the latest drug eluting stents and supported by large datasets.
Effect of Particle Size on Detergent Powders Flowability and Tabletability

Detergent powders are sometimes processed into compact tablets for cleaning purposes based on the advantage of dosage, minimised dusting and packaging its offers over their powder counterpart. The flow-ability greatly influences handling. The particle size within the powder plays a key role on handling, flow-ability and the strength of the produced compact detergent tablet. The Ariel powder used in this study was separated into different size ranges via sieving; thereafter flowability, compression and compaction were carried out. The compressibility of the powder under 2 KN compaction force was analysed using Heckel equation. It was found that at the same compaction pressure, smaller size particle powders formed compact of greater tensile strength than larger particle. However, the powder with size range of 125-180 μm showed higher flowability compared to other size range.
Modeling and Simulating Complex Materials subject to Frictional Contact: application to Fibrous and Granular Media. (Modèles et algorithmes pour la simulation du contact frottant dans les matériaux complexes : application aux milieux fibreux et granulaires)

Cette these traite de la simulation numerique de systemes composes de nombreuxobjets distincts, et dont le principal mecanisme d'interaction consiste en des contacts inelastiques avec frottement solide.On trouve de nombreuses occurrences de tels systemes dans la nature,par exemple sous la forme de sable ou d'une chevelure humaine ;aussi la reproduction numerique de leur dynamique trouve des applications diverses, allant de considerations geotechniques a la production d'effets speciaux realistes pour le cinema.Une difficulte majeure pour la simulation de tels systemes concerne la non-regularite de leur dynamique ; a une echelle de temps macroscopique, on observe par exemple des sauts dans les vitesses des constituants lors d'impacts.La premiere partie de ce manuscrit est ainsi dediee a la conception d'algorithmes efficaces permettant de prendre en compte les contacts avec frottement de Coulomblors de la simulation de systemes mecaniques discrets. La methode que nous proposons, basee sur un algorithme de type Gauss--Seidel avec strategie hybride, s'avererobuste et perfomante sur le probleme delicat de la simulation virtuelle de chevelures.La second partie de ce manuscrit est consacree a l'etude de systemes a une echelle beaucoup plus grande, au dela du million de grains. Puisque le calcul de toutes les forces de contacts pour chaque paire de grains s'avererait trop couteux, on adopte un point de vue macroscopique en utilisant le formalisme des milieux continus. On propose ainsi d'adapter les methodes developpees pour la simulation de systemes discrets a la resolution de la rheologie dite de Drucker--Prager, une relation entre la contrainte et le cisaillement du materiau exprimant l'influence moyennee des forces de frottement.On montre que cette approche nous permet de retrouver le comportement qualitatif de materiaux granulaires secs observe experimentalement.Finalement, nous proposons un nouveau modele numerique pour l'etudedes dynamiques couplees d'un materiau granulaire immerge dans un fluide Newtonien,et montrons une nouvelle fois que les algorithmes developpes pour la mecanique discretes'averent egalement pertinents dans le cas continu.
Embedded UHF RFID Tag for Durability Monitoring in Concrete

This paper describes the design of a battery-assisted Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) Radio-Fre- quency IDentification (RFID) tag suitable for embedding in concrete materials and its measurement in a mortar slab. The device is built to communicate wirelessly not only the ID number of the RFID chip but also the digitalized output of a strain gauge sensor. Design optimizations of the RFID antenna is based on published permittivity and conductivity values of concrete. Experimental read ranges are measured from 800 to 1000 MHz with the help of commercial test equipment. Reading is possible up to 50 cm from the surface of a mortar block for a tag embedded 5 cm below the surface. This result is the first published one for RFID tags embedded in concrete or mortar.
Hardware/Software Co-Design of an Accelerator for FV Homomorphic Encryption Scheme Using Karatsuba Algorithm

Somewhat Homomorphic Encryption (SHE) schemes allow to carry out operations on data in the cipher domain. In a cloud computing scenario, personal information can be processed secretly, inferring a high level of confidentiality. For many years, practical parameters of SHE schemes were overestimated, leading to only consider the FFT algorithm to accelerate SHE in hardware. Nevertheless, recent work demonstrates that parameters can be lowered without compromising the security [1] . Following this trend, this work investigates the benefits of using Karatsuba algorithm instead of FFT for the Fan-Vercauteren (FV) Homomorphic Encryption scheme. The proposed accelerator relies on an hardware/software co-design approach, and is designed to perform fast arithmetic operations on degree 2,560 polynomials with 135 bits coefficients, allowing to compute small algorithms homomorphically. Compared to a functionally equivalent design using FFT, our accelerator performs an homomorphic multiplication in 11.9 ms instead of 15.46 ms, and halves the size of logic utilization and registers on the FPGA.
Plasma Levels of Insulin-Like Growth Factor (IGF)-I, IGF-II and IGF-Binding Protein-3 in the Evaluation of Childhood Growth Hormone Deficiency

Background: Traditionally, measurement of plasma IGF-I and more recently of IGFBP-3 are used to distinguish GHD from idiopathic short stature in slowly growing children, using a single blood sample. In earlier studies it was claimed that IGFBP-3 was superior to IGF-I, but more recently doubts around this claim have arisen. The role of serum IGF-II has never been studied extensively. On theoretical grounds, it can also be hypothesized that molar ratios of these peptides might be of additional value. Design: Retrospective, multicentre, cohort study. Patients: 96 children evaluated for short stature. Methods: Serum IGF-I, IGF-II, IGFBP-3 and various molar ratios were, after correction for age and sex using SD scores, compared to the maximum serum GH peak after two standard provocation tests using four different methods (t-test, χ2, likelihood ratios and ROC curves). In addition, the correlations between these parameters and the short-term (1 year) and long-term (3 years) response to GH therapy were calculated. Results: IGF-I performed better than IGFBP-3, but the best results were achieved by the molar ratio IGF-I:IGF-II. However, IGFBP-3 correlated better with the short-term response to GH therapy than IGF-I or the ratios, and none of the parameters investigated was found to be related to the response of long-term GH therapy.