Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Hybrid Model Utilizing Principal Component Analysis and Artificial Neural Networks for Driving Drowsiness Detection

The detection of drowsiness while driving plays a vital role in ensuring road safety. Existing detection methods need to reduce external interference and sensor intrusiveness, and their algorithms must be modified to improve accuracy, stability, and timeliness. In order to realize fast and accurate driving drowsiness detection using physiological data that can be collected non-intrusively, a hybrid model with principal component analysis and artificial neural networks was proposed in this study. Principal component analysis was used to remove the noise and redundant information from the original data, and artificial neural networks were used to classify the processed data. Three other models were designed for comparison, including a hybrid model with principal component analysis and classic machine learning algorithms, a single model with artificial neural networks, and a single model with classic machine learning algorithms. The results indicated that the average accuracy of the proposed model exceeded 97%, the average training time was lower than 0.3 s, and the average standard deviation of the proposed model’s accuracy was 0.7%, indicating that the model could detect driving drowsiness more accurately and quickly than the comparison models while ensuring stability. Thus, principal component analysis can help to improve the accuracy of driving drowsiness detection. This method can be applied to active warning systems (AWS) in intelligent vehicles in the future.
Use of biochemical parameters for non-invasive screening of oesophageal varices in comparison to elastography-based approach in patients with compensated advanced chronic liver disease

Introduction Oesophageal varices are routinely diagnosed by esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD), and their bleeding has high mortality. We aimed to evaluate diagnostic performance of biochemical tests in comparison to elastography-based approaches, as non-invasive alternatives to EGD, for ruling-out high risk oesophageal varices (HRV). Material and methods Retrospective analysis of patients (N = 861) who underwent liver stiffness measurement (LSM) by transient elastography (TE) in a single centre over 5-year period, with available results of EGD (within 3 months from LSM). Only patients with suspicion of compensated advanced chronic liver disease (cACLD) defined by LSM ≥ 10 kPa were included comprising the final cohort of 73 subjects. Original and expanded Baveno VI criteria (B6C), controlled attenuation parameter (CAP), platelet count (PLT), aspartate aminotransferase to PLT ratio index (APRI), Fibrosis-4 index (FIB4), model for end stage liver disease (MELD) score were evaluated against the results of EGD that served as the reference method. Results Analysed patients had median age 62 years, 59/73 (0.81) were males, 54/73 (0.74) had alcoholic/non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and 21/73 (0.29) had HRV. In multivariate logistic regression analysis only LSM and PLT were independently associated with HRV. The best performing tests for ruling-out HRV (% of spared EGD; % of missed HRV) were respectively: LSM < 20 kPa (53.4%; 0%), B6C (38%; 0%), Expanded B6C (47.9%; 4.8%); PLT > 214x109/L (21.9%; 0%); FIB4 ≤ 1.8 (21.4%; 0%), APRI ≤ 0.34 (12.3%; 0%). CAP, MELD = 6 alone or combined with PLT > 150(x109/L) did not show acceptable performance. Conclusion The best performing biochemical tests for ruling-out HRV in our cohort of patients were PLT and FIB-4, but they were still outperformed by elastography-based approaches.
Structured Rnas in the Encode Selected Regions of the Human Genome

Functional RNA structures play an important role both in the context of non-coding RNA transcripts as well as regulatory elements in mRNAs. Here we present a computational study to detect functional RNA structures within the ENCODE selected regions of the human genome. Since structural RNAs in general lack characteristic signals in their primary sequence, comparative approaches that evaluate the evolutionary conservation of structures are most promising. The deeply sequenced ENCODE regions therefore provide an ideal data set for these methods. We have used three recently introduced programs based on either phylogenetic stochas-tic context free grammar (EvoFold) or energy directed folding (RNAz and AlifoldZ) yielding several thousand candidate structures (corresponding to about 2.7% of the ENCODE regions). EvoFold has its highest sensitivity in highly conserved and relatively AU-rich regions while RNAz favors slightly GC-rich regions, resulting in a relatively small overlap between methods. In comparison with the GENCODE annotation our data points to new functional structural RNAs in all genomic contexts, with a slightly increased density of predictions in 3'UTRs. While we estimate a significant false discovery rate of about 50–70% in this screen, many of the predictions can be further substantiated by additional criteria: 248 loci are predicted by both RNAz and EvoFold, an additional 239 RNAz or EvoFold predictions are supported by the (more stringent) AlifoldZ algorithm. 570 RNAz structure predictions fall into regions that show signs of selection pressure also on the sequence level (i.e. conserved elements). Over 700 predictions overlap with non-protein coding transcripts detected by oligonucleotide tiling arrays. 175 selected candidates were tested by RT-PCR in 6 tissues and expression could be verified in 43 cases (24.6%).
Psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of Clinical Perfectionism Questionnaire after rewording negatively keyed items

The present study aims to verify the psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of Clinical Perfectionism Questionnaire after rewording negatively keyed items into positive (CPQ+). It was used a convenience sample of 168 Brazilian university students (M=25.37, SD=7.40), being 76.8% women. After rewording the negatively keyed items into positive, the CPQ+ was applied. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales – Short Form (DASS-21) were also applied. The Corrected Item-Total Correlation values of CPQ+ items were close to or higher than the cutoff point. After exclusion of item 8, due to crossloading, and correlation between errors of items 3 and 10, the correlated two-factor model presented the best fit of latent structure to CPQ+, through Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The Perfectionistic Concerns dimension of CPQ+ was greater related to global score of DASS-21 in comparison to the Perfectionistic Striving dimension, indicating good validity regarding other variables. In summary, results recommend the use of CPQ+ presented in this study, it is, a version with 11 positive items.
School Personnel Perceptions of Video Conference Individualized Education Program Meetings

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools in the U.S. pivoted to provide services to students using technology to mitigate the need for face-to-face interactions. In addition to providing instruction using distance technology, it was necessary for schools to conduct much of their other business in a way that limited face-to-face interactions, including Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings for students who receive special education services. This study sought to better understand the extent to which school personnel believe they will continue to use a video conference format for IEP meetings, even without the existence of school policy restricting face-to-face events. Additionally, barriers and facilitators related to video conference IEP meetings were explored. A survey was completed by school professionals (n = 292) that included responses to Likert-scale items related to video conference IEP meetings as well as open-ended qualitative items to better understand respondent perceptions. Results suggest school personnel generally believe that video conference IEP meetings can be beneficial and should be offered as an option to IEP teams. In addition, qualitative data related to barriers and facilitators have been provided. Implications for school personnel and future research have also been described.
Développement et évaluation de la méthode de Galerkin discontinue pour la simulation des grandes échelles des écoulements turbulents

Cette these vise a developper et evaluer la methode de Galerkin discontinue (DG) pour la simulationdes grandes echelles (LES) des ecoulements turbulents. L’approche DG presente un nombre d’avantages interessants pour la LES : ordre eleve, stencil compact, prise en compte des maillages non structures et expression de la solution numerique dans une base de polynomes permettant l’utilisation de modeles de turbulence multi-echelle. Parmi ce type de modeles, nous nous sommes interesses ici a la methode Variational Multiscale (VMS) qui consiste a separer les echelles resolues dans la base de polynomes pour restreindre l’influence du modele a une gamme reduite d’echelles. Les modeles consideres ont ete parametres en prenant en compte les fonctions de transfert specifiques aux discretisations DG. La precision de la methode pour la representation de phenomenes turbulents varies a ete evaluee a travers la realisation de DNS de configurations academiques. Enfin, l’approche VMS/DGa ete eprouvee sur des configurations simples a haut nombre de Reynolds. Il apparait que cette methodologie permet la representation precise des phenomenes turbulents pour un cout reduit en terme de degres de liberte.
Detection of the Neurotoxic Amino Acid β-N-methylamino-L-alanine in Axenic Cultures of Cyanobacterial Isolates by the Application of Underivatized Method of Analysis

There is a growing demand to establish reliable method for the detection of cyanobacterial toxins in order to bewell informed on the prevalence of cyanotoxins in our environments. This study employed the underivatizedmethod of analysis to detect the production of BMAA by the axenic cultures of cyanobacterial strains SynechocystisNPLB 2 and Nostoc MAC PCC 8009 using liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization - ion trap massspectrometry (LC/ESI-ITMS). Cyanobacterial cultures were grown in the laboratory for 12 weeks after whichBMAA was extracted using methanol and analysed by LC/ESI-ITMS. Based on retention time, mass-to-chargeratio, and ratio of the product ions, the underivatized method of analysis employed in this study showed that bothSynechocystis NPLB 2 and Nostoc MAC PCC 8009 strains produced BMAA. The results of this study suggests thatthe LC/ESI-ITMS is a promising method for the analysis of BMAA in cyanobacterial matrices.
NETosis in Psoriatic Arthritis: Serum MPO–DNA Complex Level Correlates With Its Disease Activity

Background Neutrophil extracellular trap formation (NETosis) has been rarely reported in psoriatic arthritis (PsA). We aimed to explore the involvement of NETosis in the inflammation of PsA. Methods Serum myeloperoxidase–DNA (MPO-DNA) complex was detected by a modified enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and compared among 74 patients with PsA, 58 patients with psoriasis (PsO), and 20 healthy controls. The association of MPO–DNA level with disease activity index at baseline and follow-up was analyzed in patients with PsA. Receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the predictive value of MPO–DNA for treatment response. Results MPO–DNA complex level in serum was significantly increased in patients with PsA/PsO compared to healthy controls (p < 0.001). The level of MPO–DNA was positively associated with DAPSA score and its components (including TJC, SJC, PGA, VAS-pain and CRP, r = 0.25–0.409, all p-values < 0.05). Serum MPO–DNA level was downregualted at 12 weeks after treatment compared to baseline (p = 0.022). The decrease of MPO–DNA level was more dramatic in patients with PsA who achieved both ACR50 and PASI50 response than those achieving neither of them at 12 weeks (p = 0.023). ROC analysis revealed that the serum MPO–DNA level predicted both ACR50 and PASI50 achievement at week 12 (p = 0.04; 95% CIs, 0.56–0.94). Moreover, the baseline MPO–DNA level (p = 0.009; 95% CIs, 0.748–1) and change of MPO–DNA at week 12 from baseline (p = 0.004; 95% CIs, 0.802–1) were associated with the achievement of both ACR70 and PASI75 response at week 24. Conclusions NETosis plays an important role in psoriatic diseases. The level of MPO–DNA complex in serum reflects disease activity. Serum MPO–DNA complex may be a useful biomarker to predict the therapeutic response in PsA.
Pick the Right Co-Worker: Online Assessment of Cognitive Ergonomics in Human–Robot Collaborative Assembly

Human–robot collaborative assembly systems enhance the efficiency and productivity of the workplace but may increase the workers’ cognitive demand. This article proposes an online and quantitative framework to assess the cognitive workload induced by the interaction with a co-worker, either a human operator or an industrial collaborative robot with different control strategies. The approach monitors the operator’s attention distribution and upper body kinematics benefiting from the input images of a low-cost stereo camera and cutting-edge artificial intelligence algorithms (i.e., head pose estimation and skeleton tracking). Three experimental scenarios with variations in workstation features and interaction modalities were designed to test the performance of our online method against state-of-the-art offline measurements. The results proved that our vision-based cognitive load assessment has the potential to be integrated into the new generation of collaborative robotic technologies. The latter would enable human cognitive state monitoring and robot control strategy adaptation for improving human comfort, ergonomics, and trust in automation.
Determining the SARS-CoV-2 serological immunoassay test performance indices based on the test results frequency distribution

Introduction Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is known to induce robust antibody response in most of the affected individuals. The objective of the study was to determine if we can harvest the test sensitivity and specificity of a commercial serologic immunoassay merely based on the frequency distribution of the SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin (Ig) G concentrations measured in a population-based seroprevalence study. Materials and methods The current study was conducted on a subset of a previously published dataset from the canton of Geneva. Data were taken from two non-consecutive weeks (774 samples from May 4-9, and 658 from June 1-6, 2020). Assuming that the frequency distribution of the measured SARS-CoV-2 IgG is binormal (an educated guess), using a non-linear regression, we decomposed the distribution into its two Gaussian components. Based on the obtained regression coefficients, we calculated the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the sensitivity and specificity, and the most appropriate cut-off value for the test. The obtained results were compared with those obtained from a validity study and a seroprevalence population-based study. Results The model could predict more than 90% of the variance observed in the SARS-CoV-2 IgG distribution. The results derived from our model were in good agreement with the results obtained from the seroprevalence and validity studies. Altogether 138 of 1432 people had SARS-CoV-2 IgG ≥ 0.90, the cut-off value which maximized the Youden’s index. This translates into a true prevalence of 7.0% (95% confidence interval 5.4% to 8.6%), which is in keeping with the estimated prevalence of 7.7% derived from our model. Our model can provide the true prevalence. Conclusions Having an educated guess about the distribution of test results, the test performance indices can be derived with acceptable accuracy merely based on the test results frequency distribution without the need for conducting a validity study and comparing the test results against a gold-standard test.
Assessment of barriers that prevent the integration of UNHCR and church responses to migration: An ecclesiological perspective

barriers; thus, enhance the UNHCR-church integration in responding to the challenges that refugees and other migrants are confronted with. Contribution: The contribution of the article lay in identifying and discussing the barriers that hamper the UNHCR-church integration in responding to migration challenges, and making the ecclesiological recommendations that ensued from that discussion.
Cascadia Burning: The historic, but not historically unprecedented, 2020 wildfires in the Pacific Northwest,
 USA

Wildfires devastated communities in Oregon and Washington in September 2020, burning almost as much forest west of the Cascade Mountain crest ( “ the westside ” ) in 2 weeks (~340,000 ha) as in the previous five decades (~406,00 ha). Unlike dry forests of the interior western United States, temperate rain forests of the Pacific Northwest have experienced limited recent fire activity, and debates surrounding what drove the 2020 fires, and management strategies to adapt to similar future events, necessitate a scientific evaluation of the fires. We evaluate five questions regarding the 2020 Labor Day fires: (1) How do the 2020 fires compare with historical fires? (2) How did the roles of weather and antecedent climate differ geographically and from the recent past (1979 – 2019)? (3) How do fire size and severity compare to other recent fires (1985 – 2019), and how did forest management and prefire forest structure
The Influence of Organizational Culture and Internal Control on the Implementation of Good Corporate Governance through Leadership Support as Mediation (AT PT. Bank Bni Syariah Banda Aceh Branch)

The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of Organizational Culture and Internal Control on the implementation of Good Corporate Governance (GCG) through Leadership Support as Mediation AT PT. Bank BNI Syariah Banda Aceh Branch (BNI Syariah Banda Aceh). The population was all employees at BNI Syariah Banda Aceh Office. Researchers took a sample of employees as many as 110 respondents. The sampling technique used purposive sampling. The results show that organizational culture does not affect GCG, Internal control affects GCG, Organizational Culture affects Leadership Support, Internal control affects leadership support, Leadership support affects the GCG, organizational culture affects GCG through leadership support, and Internal Control affects GCG through leadership support. These findings show the mediation influence of leadership support functions as a full mediation variable on the organizational culture effect on GCG, and as partial mediation on the internal control effect on GCG. So this finding proves that the GCG strengthening model at BNI Syariah Banda Aceh is a function of improving organizational culture, strengthening internal control, and increasing leadership support.
E-Governance Response in Tackling Covid-19 in Nigeria

The outlook of governance in today’s world is such that any lag in the efficiency, timeliness and responsiveness of public service delivery can result in monumental loss, especially the loss of lives. This was the case with the emergence of corona virus disease (COVID-19) which took world governments, including Nigeria, unawares and necessitated a rapid global effort towards containing the spread of the virus. The notion of ensuring speedy and timely public service delivery was a primary reason for the adoption of e-governance in Nigeria through the digitisation of government processes. Nevertheless, COVID-19 brought human activities to a grinding halt for the most part of the year 2020 as Nigeria, like other nations of the world, implemented a complete shutdown of public and private organisations and placed restrictions on gatherings. With immeasurable deaths and devastations followed by the era of the “new normal” where people were required to reduce possible human contacts, it was certain that e-governance would play a pivotal role in moving forward into the post-COVID-19 era. Adopting the expository research design, the study examines how e-governance could be effective, timely and responsive in addressing and managing the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Analyzing the data from published sources, the study arrived at the realization that e-governance in Nigeria have not been efficient, timely and responsive in handling the pandemic. Some factors that were identified as hindrances to e-governance in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria include lack of public trust in government handling of private data, endemic corruption, high cost of internet services, poor data management system, and so on. Based on the result, the study concludes that e-governance implementation in Nigeria is far from efficient, timely and responsive in addressing pandemics such as COVID-19 and urgent steps must be taken to address the afore-mentioned problems especially as the pandemic continues to linger. It was, therefore, suggested that policymakers be deliberate in establishing a committee that would draft an action plan on COVID-19, set up an e-governance technology development hub, establish a unified national data management system, and develop the political will to combat the virus headlong and record successes in containing the spread of the pandemic.
Impact of Dietary Patterns on Plaque Acidogenicity and Dental Caries in Early Childhood: A Retrospective Analysis in Japan

This study aimed to assess the relationship of dietary patterns, such as frequency, timing, and cariogenicity of food/beverage consumption, with plaque acidogenicity and early childhood caries (ECC) in Japan. A total of 118 children aged 1–4 years who had visited the pediatric dental clinic were enrolled. We retrospectively reviewed their records to collect data including age, sex, medical history, medication, caries status, and plaque acidogenicity level at the first dental visit. The plaque acidogenicity level was measured using Cariostat®. Dietary data were collected from 3-day dietary records, and the dietary cariogenicity score was calculated from these data. Children with ECC or high plaque acidogenicity consumed between-meal sugars more frequently than did their counterparts (p = 0.002 and p = 0.006, respectively). Children with ECC or high plaque acidogenicity drank juices between meals more frequently than at mealtimes (p = 0.02). Frequent consumption of between-meal sugars was associated with higher plaque acidogenicity and ECC, and frequent breast/bottle feeding was associated with ECC. No differences were found in the dietary cariogenicity scores between these groups. Therefore, the frequency and timing of sugar consumption, might affect plaque acidogenicity and ECC, and reducing the frequency of sugar intake could prevent ECC.