Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Application of Management Accounting Techniques in the Nepalese Manufacturing Firms

MA (Management Accounting) data is intended to help users make managerial choices and support organizational activities. This study examined the use of MATs (Management Accounting Techniques) in NMFs (Nepalese Manufacturing Firms) and their progression. The study was based on 291 survey responses of employees from 18 operative listed NMFs. Nineteen MATs were observed in a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 'significantly less' to 'significantly more'. The study's outcomes revealed that the average usage scores of 3.47 (with SD = 0.998) indicated that the NMFs were significantly applying the MATs in their organizational activities and processes. In addition, the moderate user rate of contemporary MATs (45.7 %) was higher than the moderate use rate of traditional MATs (34.5 %), indicating that the NMFs were gradually incorporating the contemporary MATs alongside the traditional MATs. Failure to align appropriate MATs with business processes could lead to managerial misinterpretations. As a result, the study's findings offer a wealth of information and direction to businesses in NMFs.
Changes in Non-Deamidated versus Deamidated Epitope Targeting and Disease Prediction during the Antibody Response to Gliadin and Transglutaminase of Infants at Risk for Celiac Disease

Celiac disease (CeD) is a conditional autoimmune disorder with T cell-mediated immune response to gluten coupled with antibody production to gliadin and the self-protein tissue transglutaminase (TG2). TG2 contributes to the CeD pathomechanism by deamidating gliadin, thereby generating more immunogenic peptides. Anti-gliadin antibodies may appear before the autoantibody production. The scope of this study was to dissect these early antibody responses by investigating serum samples collected during the PreventCD prospective double-blind study, where infants with high CeD risk were randomized to 200 mg daily gluten intake or placebo from 4 to 6 months of age, followed by frequent blood testing on regular gluten consumption in both groups. After primary gluten intake, children with or without later CeD produced IgA and IgG antibodies which preferentially recognized non-deamidated gliadin peptides. At CeD development with anti-TG2 seroconversion, there was a significant increase in the antibody reaction toward deamidated gliadin peptides (DGP), with maturation in the binding strength for the PEQPFP gamma-gliadin core peptide. The earliest produced autoantibodies targeted TG2’s celiac epitope 2. Our results reveal a qualitative change in the gliadin-directed humoral immune response at the time when anti-TG2 antibodies appear, but anti-DGP antibodies in the absence of anti-TG2 antibodies are not disease-predictive.
The positive externality of education on crime: Insights from Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract Although researchers have investigated the association between education and crime, few studies have studied Sub-Saharan Africa, which has the lowest rate of youth enrolled in high school. Notwithstanding, some countries are paying attention to high school education, whereby specific policies often termed “cost elimination” are designed to facilitate free education. At the micro-to-micro level, it is argued that enrolling and completing high school reduces the rate of criminal engagement. Against this backdrop, we investigate the effect of high school enrolment on the crime rate using macro-to-macro-level panel data about Sub-Saharan Africa countries from 2003 to 2018. Using theft and homicide rates as proxies for property and violent crime, respectively, our results show that an increase in enrolment has a significant negative effect on property crime. We find no evidence of a significant effect on violent crime. When addressing endogeneity bias using cost elimination as an instrument for enrolment, we find that the magnitude of the negative effect on the rate of theft is significantly greater and robust than the baseline estimates. These findings support the assumption that interventions that support access to education improve social structures and have the additional benefit of reducing the rate of theft, giving credence to social support theory. In a region where a majority of theft is committed by youth without a high school education, policymakers need to make concerted efforts to raise participation in high school as one of the means of reducing crime, rather than focusing exclusively on crime control.
Diagnostic Accuracy of the Deep Learning Model for the Detection of ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction on Electrocardiogram

We aimed to measure the diagnostic accuracy of the deep learning model (DLM) for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) on a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) according to culprit artery sorts. From January 2017 to December 2019, we recruited patients with STEMI who received more than one stent insertion for culprit artery occlusion. The DLM was trained with STEMI and normal sinus rhythm ECG for external validation. The primary outcome was the diagnostic accuracy of DLM for STEMI according to the three different culprit arteries. The outcomes were measured using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC), sensitivity (SEN), and specificity (SPE) using the Youden index. A total of 60,157 ECGs were obtained. These included 117 STEMI-ECGs and 60,040 normal sinus rhythm ECGs. When using DLM, the AUROC for overall STEMI was 0.998 (0.996–0.999) with SEN 97.4% (95.7–100) and SPE 99.2% (98.1–99.4). There were no significant differences in diagnostic accuracy within the three culprit arteries. The baseline wanders in false positive cases (83.7%, 345/412) significantly interfered with the accurate interpretation of ST elevation on an ECG. DLM showed high diagnostic accuracy for STEMI detection, regardless of the type of culprit artery. The baseline wanders of the ECGs could affect the misinterpretation of DLM.
DC Performance Variations by Grain Boundary in Source/Drain Epitaxy of Sub-3-nm Nanosheet Field-Effect Transistors

Grain boundary (GB) at the source/drain (S/D) epitaxy was investigated using fully-calibrated TCAD. Because the S/D epi is grown separately at the bottom and the NS channels, nanosheet field-effect transistors (NSFETs) have unwanted GB within the S/D epi which fully relaxes the channel stresses. This GB changes the doping profiles and the stress values, which thus degrade the DC performances. We focused on single GB with different inclined angles and positions. N-type NSFETs have similar DC performances regardless of the GB since the changes of doping and stress were small. P-type NSFETs suffer from DC performance degradations but different depending on the GB positions. As the GB splits the p-type S/D epi into two, lower S/D below the GB has tensile stress and upper S/D above the GB has compressive stress. Since tensile stress increases boron diffusivity, more boron dopants diffuse into the NS channels as the device has lower S/D region, thus suffering the short channel effects greatly. The device having upper S/D region loses the channel stress much, so it degrades the on-state performance. This study provides clear understanding of the GB effects of NSFETs.
Short Communication: Towards Disaster Preparedness and Recovery Planning Procedures for Libraries: A Survey of Staff and Users of the Balme Library, University of Ghana

This paper presents the findings of a survey conducted on the Balme Library, University of Ghana. The survey measured such variables as the level of awareness and issues of education and training in order to underscore the relevance of having disaster recovery plans in libraries. The main findings include the presence of fire and water hazards; absence of disaster recovery plan for the library; staff and users did not have any training in the use of fire extinguisher and what to do during emergencies. The paper concludes with important suggestions for the development of disaster recovery plans for the library and other similar libraries. These include training and education of staff and users; promoting co-operation between related ministries and among similar libraries; and acquisition of some important supplies, materials and facilities. Afr. J. Lib. Arch. & Inf. Sc. Vol.15(1) 2005: 75-79
Decoding rapidly presented visual stimuli from prefrontal ensembles without report nor post-perceptual processing

Abstract The role of the primate prefrontal cortex (PFC) in conscious perception is debated. The global neuronal workspace theory of consciousness predicts that PFC neurons should contain a detailed code of the current conscious contents. Previous research showed that PFC is indeed activated in paradigms of conscious visual perception, including no-report paradigms where no voluntary behavioral report of the percept is given, thus avoiding a conflation of signals related to visual consciousness with signals related to the report. Still, it has been argued that prefrontal modulation could reflect post-perceptual processes that may be present even in the absence of report, such as thinking about the perceived stimulus, therefore reflecting a consequence rather than a direct correlate of conscious experience. Here, we investigate these issues by recording neuronal ensemble activity from the macaque ventrolateral PFC during briefly presented visual stimuli, either in isolated trials in which stimuli were clearly perceived or in sequences of rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) in which perception and post-perceptual processing were challenged. We report that the identity of each stimulus could be decoded from PFC population activity even in the RSVP condition. The first visual signals could be detected at 60 ms after stimulus onset and information was maximal at 150 ms. However, in the RSVP condition, 200 ms after the onset of a stimulus, the decoding accuracy quickly dropped to chance level and the next stimulus started to be decodable. Interestingly, decoding in the ventrolateral PFC was stronger compared to posterior parietal cortex for both isolated and RSVP stimuli. These results indicate that neuronal populations in the macaque PFC reliably encode visual stimuli even under conditions that have been shown to challenge conscious perception and/or substantially reduce the probability of post-perceptual processing in humans. We discuss whether the observed activation reflects conscious access, phenomenal consciousness, or merely a preconscious bottom-up wave.
Adversarial Evasion Attacks to Deep Neural Networks in ECR Models

: Evasion attacks produce adversarial examples by adding human imperceptible perturbations and causing a machine learning model to label the input incorrectly. These black box attacks do not require knowledge of the internal workings of the model or access to inputs. Although such adversarial attacks have been shown to be successful in image classiﬁcation problems, they have not been adequately explored in health care models. In this paper, we produce adversarial examples based on successful algorithms in the literature and attack a deep neural network that classiﬁes heart rhythms in electrocardiograms (ECGs). Several batches of adversarial examples were produced, with each batch having a different limit on the number of queries. The adversarial ECGs with the median distance to their original counterparts were found to have slight but noticeable perturbations when compared side-by-side with the original. However, the adversarial ECGs with the minimum distance in the batches were practically indistinguishable from the originals.
Contrast Sensitivity Testing in Age-Related Macular Degeneration Using Motion Diamond Stimulus

Purpose This study was performed to characterize changes in contrast sensitivity (CS) that occur in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) using a novel test, the motion diamond stimulus (MDS). Methods This was a cross-sectional study in which 20 subjects with unilateral exudative AMD (eAMD) and contralateral dry AMD received 3 assessments: the Pelli-Robson (PR) CS Chart, the MDS test, and a visual function questionnaire-25 (VFQ-25). CS results from the PR, and MDS tests were compared across 3 groups: eyes with eAMD vs dry AMD, eAMD vs control, dry AMD vs control. Healthy, undilated eyes from another study served as the control group. Significance was determined using ANOVA analysis for the MDS output parameters (α: overall contrast threshold, β: adaptability of the visual system) and PR logCS. Patients were also administered the VFQ-25 to assess vision-related quality of life. Results The ANOVA of the MDS data demonstrated a significant difference in visual function according to the β parameter of the 3 groups, but no significant difference in the α parameter. PR CS results for the 3 groups were significantly different, further supporting the MDS results. Post-hoc analysis showed a significant difference in β and PR log CS between the eAMD and control eyes. Conclusion The MDS test is valuable in discerning CS impairments in patients with AMD. It can provide further insight into the visual changes experienced by patients with AMD and has potential to quantify visual function changes that are not found on visual acuity testing alone.
Reassessing evidence of Moon–Earth dynamics from tidal bundles at 3.2 Ga (Moodies Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa)

Past orbital parameters of the Moon are difficult to reconstruct from geological records because relevant data sets of tidal strata are scarce or incomplete. The sole Archean data point is from the Moodies Group (ca 3.22 Ga) of the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa. From the time‐series analysis of tidal bundles from a well‐exposed subaqueous sand wave of this unit, Eriksson and Simpson (Geology, 28, 831) suggested that the Moon’s anomalistic month at 3.2 Ga was closer to 20 days than the present 27.5 days. This is in apparent accordance with models of orbital mechanics which place the Archean Moon in a closer orbit with a shorter period, resulting in stronger tidal action. Although this study’s detailed geological mapping and section measuring of the site confirmed that the sandstone bed in question is likely a migrating dune, the presence of angular mud clasts, channel‐margin slumps, laterally aggrading channel fills and bidirectional paleocurrents in overlying and underlying beds suggests that this bedform was likely located in a nearshore channel near lower‐intertidal flats and subtidal estuarine bars; it thus carries risk of incomplete preservation. Repeated measurements of foreset thicknesses along the published traverse, measured perpendicular to bedding, failed to show consistent spectral peaks. Larger data sets acquired along traverses measured parallel to bedding along the 20.5 m wide exposure are affected by minor faulting, uneven outcrop weathering, changing illumination, weather, observer bias and show a low reproducibility. The most robust measurements herein confirm the periodicity peak of approximately 14 in the original data of Eriksson and Simpson (Geology, 28, 831). Because laminae may have been eroded, the measurements may represent a lower bound of about 28 lunar days per synodic month. This estimate agrees well with Earth–Moon dynamic models which consider the conservation of angular momentum and place the Archaean Moon in a lower orbit around a faster‐spinning Earth.
Pan-Cancer Analysis Predicts FOXS1 as a Key Target in Prognosis and Tumor Immunotherapy

Purpose Only a few studies have reported the role of FOXS1, a transcriptional factor, in the tumor development process. In this article, we investigate the function of FOXS1 in distinct neoplastic development and the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME). Patients and Methods The latent roles of FOXS1 in various tumors were prospected based on TCGA, GTEx, CCLE, GEPIA2, cBioPortal, TIMER, ImmuCellAI databases, GSVA datasets, GSEA datasets, and R packages. The expression difference, gene alteration, clinical characteristics, prognostic values, biological mechanism, potential pathways, tumor microenvironment, and immune cell infiltration related to FOXS1 were appraised. Results FOXS1 was strongly expressed in pan-cancer, and this gene was associated with low survival rates. FOXS1 was linked to many pathways that are cancer-promoting and immune-related. The expression of this transcriptional factor in cancers was positively related to immune cell infiltration, especially M2-like macrophages and Treg cells. In addition to that, FOXS1 demonstrated a positive relationship with many immune-suppression genes, such as TGFB1 and ARORA2A. Conclusion Our study identified an oncogenic effect of FOXS1, which may play a vital role as a prognosticative biological marker in pan-cancer. Exorbitant expression of FOXS1 is associated with high TAMs and Treg cells infiltration. These cells have an immunosuppressive function and promote the development of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. The research of FOXS1 provided a potential drug target for tumor immunotherapy.
A Zero-Inflated Logistic Normal Multinomial Model for Extracting Microbial Compositions

Abstract High throughput sequencing data collected to study the microbiome provide information in the form of relative abundances and should be treated as compositions. Although many approaches including scaling and rarefaction have been proposed for converting raw count data into microbial compositions, most of these methods simply return zero values for zero counts. However, zeros can distort downstream analyses, and they can also pose problems for composition-aware methods. This problem is exacerbated with microbiome abundance data because they are sparse with excessive zeros. In addition to data sparsity, microbial composition estimation depends on other data characteristics such as high dimensionality, over-dispersion, and complex co-occurrence relationships. To address these challenges, we introduce a zero-inflated probabilistic PCA (ZIPPCA) model that accounts for the compositional nature of microbiome data, and propose an empirical Bayes approach to estimate microbial compositions. An efficient iterative algorithm, called classification variational approximation, is developed for carrying out maximum likelihood estimation. Moreover, we study the consistency and asymptotic normality of variational approximation estimator from the perspective of profile M-estimation. Extensive simulations and an application to a dataset from the Human Microbiome Project are presented to compare the performance of the proposed method with that of the existing methods. The method is implemented in R and available at https://github.com/YanyZeng/ZIPPCAlnm. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.
Functional Coupling of the Locus Coeruleus Is Linked to Successful Cognitive Control

The locus coeruleus (LC) is a brainstem structure that sends widespread efferent projections throughout the mammalian brain. The LC constitutes the major source of noradrenaline (NE), a modulatory neurotransmitter that is crucial for fundamental brain functions such as arousal, attention, and cognitive control. This role of the LC-NE is traditionally not believed to reflect functional influences on the frontoparietal network or the striatum, but recent advances in chemogenetic manipulations of the rodent brain have challenged this notion. However, demonstrations of LC-NE functional connectivity with these areas in the human brain are surprisingly sparse. Here, we close this gap. Using an established emotional stroop task, we directly compared trials requiring response conflict control with trials that did not require this, but were matched for visual stimulus properties, response modality, and controlled for pupil dilation differences across both trial types. We found that LC-NE functional coupling with the parietal cortex and regions of the striatum is substantially enhanced during trials requiring response conflict control. Crucially, the strength of this functional coupling was directly related to individual reaction time differences incurred by conflict resolution. Our data concur with recent rodent findings and highlight the importance of converging evidence between human and nonhuman neurophysiology to further understand the neural systems supporting adaptive and maladaptive behavior in health and disease.
Citizen science projects require agreement: a Delphi study to identify which knowledge on urban ecology is considered relevant from scientists’ and citizens’ perspectives

ABSTRACT In citizen science (CS) projects, acquired knowledge about a specific topic is the most frequently acknowledged learning outcome. However, whether both citizens and scientists perceive the same knowledge to be relevant to citizens’ learning in such projects remains unknown. Thus, establishing coherence between citizens’ information needs and scientists’ intentions to inform as well as exploring the reasons for why some knowledge is more relevant from citizens’ and scientists’ perspectives could help to achieve agreement regarding what knowledge is relevant for learning outcomes on the side of the citizens. By using the Delphi technique, we accounted for scientists’ and citizens’ perspectives on the relevance of knowledge in three fields of research on urban ecology. In our Delphi study, an emerging consensus indicated an overlap in relevance among the experts. We then analyzed two dimensions of relevance, that is, to whom and for what the knowledge is relevant. Our analyses of the dimensions revealed that consensus was more likely when we accounted for content-related differences and structural differences such as the communicatory perspective. When we accounted for content-related differences, relevance was higher for problem-oriented knowledge; therefore, this should be the focus of CS projects that are designed to achieve learning outcomes.
View synthesis with sparse light field for 6DoF immersive video

Virtual view synthesis, which generates novel views similar to the characteristics of actually acquired images, is an essential technical component for delivering an immersive video with realistic binocular disparity and smooth motion parallax. This is typically achieved in sequence by warping the given images to the designated viewing position, blending warped images, and filling the remaining holes. When considering 6DoF use cases with huge motion, the warping method in patch unit is more preferable than other conventional methods running in pixel unit. Regarding the prior case, the quality of synthesized image is highly relevant to the means of blending. Based on such aspect, we proposed a novel blending architecture that exploits the similarity of the directions of rays and the distribution of depth values. By further employing the proposed method, results showed that more enhanced view was synthesized compared with the well‐designed synthesizers used within moving picture expert group (MPEG‐I). Moreover, we explained the GPU‐based implementation synthesizing and rendering views in the level of real time by considering the applicability for immersive video service.
Vision-based Approach for Autism Diagnosis using Transfer Learning and Eye-tracking

The potentials of Transfer Learning (TL) have been well-researched in areas such as Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing. This study aims to explore a novel application of TL to detect Autism Spectrum Disorder. We seek to develop an approach that combines TL and eye-tracking, which is commonly used for analyzing autistic features. The key idea is to transform eye-tracking scanpaths into a visual representation, which could facilitate using pretrained vision models. Our experiments implemented a set of widely used models including VGG-16, ResNet, and DenseNet. Our results showed that the TL approach could realize a promising accuracy of classification (ROC-AUC up to 0.78). The proposed approach is not claimed to provide superior performance compared to earlier work. However, the study is primarily thought to convey an interesting aspect regarding the use of (synthetic) visual representations of eye-tracking output as a means to transfer representations from models pretrained on large-scale datasets such as ImageNet.