Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
User willingness to pay for natural resource conservation at Bach Long Vy Island, Vietnam

Tourism development plays a crucial role in creating employment, boosting the revenue of the economy, supporting to improve the living standard. While tourism provides many opportunities to improve the well-being of local communities, the expansion of tourism needs to be effectively managed to avoid the degradation of natural capital. Assessing resource awareness and use behavior is an effective way to determine the public’s commitment to natural resource conservation and restoration in protected areas. The research was performed in Bach Long Vy Island (BLVI) in Hai Phong city, Viet Nam which is the first National Marine protected area designated by the Vietnamese Government. The aim of this study was to estimate tourists’ Willingness to pay (WTP) for natural resource conservation at BLVI through using Contingent valuation method (CVM) with the single-bounded dichotomous choice technique and the random utility model. We estimate the average visitor WTP is VND 153 370 per year (approx. US$6.58), while the aggregate WTP of tourists for the environmental conservation is VND 7.67 million per year (approx. US$32 900) (currency conversions taken as the average rate in September 2020; US$1 to VND 23280). The calculated results show that income and gender factors have significant effects visitors WTP whereas age and education have opposite effects. The outcomes of this research demonstrate the potential tourism value of this island due to the natural amenities and high biodiversity, particularly originating from its marine ecosystems. This result provides valuable scientific information for decision makers and local authorities and should be useful in establishing strategies to prevent the deterioration of ecosystems at BLVI (e.g., an environmental charge or entrance fee), thus contributing to sustainable tourism development.
Multiple Possible Causes Of Dyspnea In An Unusual Pickwickian Syndrome On Covid-19 Pandemic: A Case Study

Introduction: Pickwickian Syndrome (PS) or obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS) is a diagnosis of exclusion with features of obesity, sleep disordered breathing, and chronic daytime hypercapnia. Patients with PS could present into general OSA or respiratory failure. We are presenting an unusual case of PS with acute respiratory failure resulting in organ failure and mortality. Case report: A 41-year-old male was admitted to hospital due to shortness of breath. He had a trouble sleeping; frequently awoke as the breathing briefly stopped and gasping. There were history of diabetes melitus (DM) and hypertension for >10 years, smoking with moderate Brinkman Index. Patient appeared to have somnolence, tachypnea, hypoxemia, morbid obesity. We assessed him as PS, bronchopneumonia, respiratory failure, pulmonary edema, hypertensive heart disease (HHD), DM, acute on CKD. We managed him with pharmacotherapy, oxygen (BiPAP), and hemodialysis. After transferred from ICU to regular ward, patient was suddenly apneic and CPR was performed; ended in mortality. Discussion: This unusual case (malignant OHS) was a subgroup among OHS with greater morbidity and multiorgan system dysfunction. There were multiple causes of dyspnea on our patient which concluded to a death case. There are three modalities of management in stable PS: positive airway pressure (PAP), weight reduction, and pharmacotherapy. The management of respiratory failure in PS mainly involved oxygen therapy in positive pressure. Conclusion: There were multiple causes of dyspnea in this patient. Optimal management of patient ought to treat not only the PS but also all the comorbidities.
Scaling up the Process of Catalytic Decomposition of Chlorinated Hydrocarbons with the Formation of Carbon Nanostructures

Catalytic processing of organochlorine wastes is considered an eco-friendly technology. Moreover, it allows us to obtain a value-added product—nanostructured carbon materials. However, the realization of this process is complicated by the aggressiveness of the reaction medium due to the presence of active chlorine species. The present research is focused on the characteristics of the carbon product obtained over the Ni-Pd catalyst containing 5 wt% of palladium in various quartz reactors: from a lab-scale reactor equipped with McBain balance to scaled-up reactors producing hundreds of grams. 1,2-dichloroethane was used as a model chlorine-substituted organic compound. The characterization of the materials was performed using scanning and transmission electron microscopies, Raman spectroscopy, and low-temperature nitrogen adsorption. Depending on the reactor type, the carbon yield varied from 14.0 to 24.2 g/g(cat). The resulting carbon nanofibers possess a segmented structure with disordered packaging of the graphene layers. It is shown that the carbon deposits are also different in density, structure, and morphology, depending on the type of reactor. Thus, the specific surface area changed from 405 to 262 and 286 m2/g for the products from reactor #1, #2, and #3, correspondingly. The main condition providing the growth of a fluffy carbon product is found to be its ability to grow in any direction. If the reactor walls limit the carbon growing process, the carbon product is represented by very dense fibers that can finally crack the reactor.
NIR fluorescence lifetime macroscopic imaging with a time-gated SPAD camera

The performance of SwissSPAD2 (SS2), a large scale, widefield time-gated CMOS SPAD imager developed for fluorescence lifetime imaging, has recently been described in the context of visible range and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) of dyes with lifetimes in the 2.5 – 4 ns range. Here, we explore its capabilities in the NIR regime relevant for small animal imaging, where its sensitivity is lower and typical NIR fluorescent dye lifetimes are much shorter (1 ns or less). We carry out this study in a simple macroscopic imaging setup based on a compact NIR picosecond pulsed laser, an engineered diffuser-based illumination optics, and NIR optimized imaging lens suitable for well-plate or small animal imaging. Because laser repetition rates can vary between models, but the synchronization signal frequency accepted by SS2 is fixed to 20 MHz, we first checked that a simple frequency-division scheme enables data recording for different laser repetition rates. Next, we acquired data using different time gate widths, including gates with duration longer than the laser period, and analyzed the resulting data using both standard nonlinear least-square fit (NLSF) and phasor analysis. We show that the fixed synchronization rate and large gate widths characterizing SS2 (10 ns and over) are not an obstacle to accurately extracting lifetime in the 1 ns range and to distinguishing between close lifetimes. In summary, SS2 and similar very large gated SPAD imagers appear as a versatile alternative to other widefield time-resolved detectors for NIR fluorescence lifetime imaging, including preclinical molecular applications.
Study of the Optical Properties of Biological Tissues Quantitative Assessment Possibility using Spatial-Frequency Domain Imaging

The paper is devoted to the study of the possibility of using spatial-frequency domain imaging (SFDI) technology in the tasks of visualizing neurovascular structures in the brain tissue during endosurgical intervention, as well as the detection and objective quantitative assessment of lesions in the tissues of the oral cavity. As a result of the initial stage of experimental studies in vivo, it was shown that SFDI allows tracking the dynamics of optical parameters of tissues as a result of changes in blood filling and is potentially applicable for detecting subsurface optical inhomogeneities in tissues.
3D printed hydrogel for soft thermo-responsive smart window

Smart windows with tunable optical properties that respond to external environments are being developed to reduce energy consumption in buildings. In the present study, we introduce a new type of 3D printed hydrogel with amazing flexibility and stretchability (as large as 1500%), as well as tunable optical performance controlled by surrounding temperatures. The hydrogel on a PDMS substrate shows transparent-opaque transition with high solar modulation (ΔT sol) up to 79.332% around its lower critical solution temperature (LCST) while maintaining a high luminous transmittance (T lum) of 85.847% at 20 °C. In addition, selective transparent-opaque transition above LCST can be achieved by patterned hydrogels which are precisely fabricated via a projection micro-stereolithography based 3D printing technique. Our hydrogel promises great potential applications for the next generation of soft smart windows.
Multiactor Participatory Decision Making in Urban Construction Logistics

Construction is required to create more attractive, sustainable, and economically viable urban areas. However, transportation of construction-related goods and personnel potentially causes negative impacts. A lack of early and accurate information on how the construction site and goods will be organized can lead to disputes and disruptions that harm the construction work and the surrounding community. A method is presented for evaluation of alternative construction logistics measures in a multiactor participatory setting. The method, MAMCA software, has been demonstrated in a role-playing setting with 20 students at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands.
Effects of changes in diet energy density and milking frequency and a single injection of cabergoline at dry-off on feeding behavior and rumination time in dairy cows

Graphical Abstract Summary: Typically, dairy cows have their milk production artificially ceased generally 60 d before the date of expected calving in a process termed “dry-off. ” Dry-off can be abrupt; that is, diet and milking frequency remain unchanged until the day of last milking, or gradual, aiming to reduce milk yield before the onset of the dry period. Abrupt dry-off may be facilitated by administration of prolactin-release inhibitors such as cabergoline. We examined the effects of dietary and milking frequency changes during 1 wk before the dry-off day, as well as injection of cabergoline following the last milking, on automatically monitored feeding behavior and rumination time in high-yielding (.15 kg/d at dry-off) cows. Reducing diet energy content by diluting the lactation diet with straw induced consistent feeding behavior changes before dry-off. The effects of gradual milking cessation were unclear, while cabergoline reduced feeding behavior for approximately 24 h.
AI-driven discrimination of benign from malignant pigmented skin lesions based on multispectral autofluorescence lifetime dermoscopy imaging

Melanoma is the most aggressive type of skin cancer with an estimated 106,110 new cases in the US in 2021. The 5-year survival rate of patients with early-stage melanoma is ~99%; however, ~13% of melanoma patients are diagnosed with lesions already at intermediate or advance stages, associated with a 5-year survival rate of ~66% and ~27% respectively. The current diagnosis technique involving visual inspection and biopsy often fail to visually distinguish clinically similar lesions; in particular, melanoma can be mistaken for benign lesion pigmented seborrheic keratosis (pSK). In this work, a deep learning model using Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks is trained on the multispectral autofluorescence lifetime dermoscopy images collected from 41 benign lesions including solar lentigo and pSK, and 19 malignant lesions including melanoma, superficial basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and nodular BCC. The model is trained on the image pixels containing concatenated fluorescent decay signals from three emission channels. The posterior probabilities predicted for each pixel location, is used to construct probability maps of the images. Receiver Operator Characteristics (ROC) constructed on the threshold of the median value of the posterior probability map determines the effectiveness in distinguishing benign and malignant lesions. The entire dataset is split into training, validation, and test sets. The hyperparameters are tuned using the validation set while the model performance is estimated using the test set. The mean and standard deviation of the Areas Under the Curve (AUC) of the ROCs generated with 10 random test sets is 0.82 ± 0.04.
Earthquake Prediction Software on Global Scale

Researchers developed an earthquake prediction software and evaluated its performance. This earthquake prediction software is suitable for short-term earthquake prediction. This approach relies on the deep involvement of water vapors that occur just before an earthquake caused by a decrease in pressure and an increase in temperature, leading to a 70.5% prediction accuracy within a month in Japan. In addition, we have tried to develop a new practical method to warn earthquakes for not only Japan but also global scale. In other words, this paper is dedicated to improving the short-term earthquake prediction software from Japan to global scale. In global scale, the prediction rate improved to 80.8%.
Technology Intensive Exports and Growth of Asian Economies

The emphasis on enhancing and specialising in technology exports and altering policy environment in Asian economies has been dominant since 2000. The present study is an attempt to empirically investigate the effect of technology exports on enhancing growth of Asian economies during the period 2001 to 2018. To assess the linkages between growth, investments, labour productivity and technology exports, panel least squares with cross section weights is applied for the economies. To assess the relationship between the variables for each individual country ARDL technique is applied. The results indicate long run relationship between low, medium low and medium high technology exports and growth as well as domestic investment and growth. For individual nations, the results indicate varying intensity of technology exports have a different relationship with growth. The results also suggest the need for Government of each nation to enhance its effort on the development of policies which focus on attracting investments and further promoting exports of technology intensive sectors. JEL Codes: F14, F60, O19
Non-Invasive Monitoring of Inflammation in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients during Prolonged Exercise via Exhaled Breath Volatile Organic Compounds

The aim of this study was to investigate volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath as possible non-invasive markers to monitor the inflammatory response in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients as a result of repeated and prolonged moderate-intensity exercise. We included 18 IBD patients and 19 non-IBD individuals who each completed a 30, 40, or 50 km walking exercise over three consecutive days. Breath and blood samples were taken before the start of the exercise event and every day post-exercise to assess changes in the VOC profiles and cytokine concentrations. Proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) was used to measure exhaled breath VOCs. Multivariate analysis, particularly ANOVA-simultaneous component analysis (ASCA), was employed to extract relevant ions related to exercise and IBD. Prolonged exercise induces a similar response in breath butanoic acid and plasma cytokines for participants with or without IBD. Butanoic acid showed a significant correlation with the cytokine IL-6, indicating that butanoic acid could be a potential non-invasive marker for exercise-induced inflammation. The findings are relevant in monitoring personalized IBD management.
Optimal Combined Forecasts for Electricity Prices: Influence of Clean Energies

In this work, an electricity price forecasting model is developed. The performance of the proposed approach is improved by considering renewable energies (wind power and hydro generation) as explanatory variables. Additionally, the resulting forecasts are obtained as an optimal combination of a set of several univariate and multivariate time series models. The large computational experiment carried out using out-of-sample forecasts for every hour and day allows withdrawing statistically sound conclusions.
Perceptions of Nonreligious Parents

Although religious intolerance and marginalization still exist today, research suggests that perhaps one of the most marginalized groups is those who report no religion. Through interviews with 31 nonreligious couples (N = 62 individuals), we investigated what nonreligious parents want religious people to understand about them and their families. Using a team-based approach to qualitative data analysis, we identified three themes related to what our participants wanted religious people to know: (1) we are good people, good parents, and not that different from you; (2) religion does not equate with morality; and (3) do not judge beliefs, actions are what matter. We identified an additional theme regarding how they would like to convey these and other matters to religious people, that we termed as (4) I do/do not want to talk about religion and here is why. Implications include suggestions and recommendations to increase understanding, tolerance, and respect between religious and nonreligious individuals, family members, and groups.
Defining relevant conservation targets for the endangered Southern California distinct population segment of the mountain yellow‐legged frog (Rana muscosa)

The endangered mountain yellow‐legged frog (Rana muscosa) has been reduced to <10 isolated populations in the wild. Due to frequent catastrophic events (floods, droughts, wildfires), the recent dynamics of these populations have been erratic, making the future of the species highly uncertain. In 2018, a recovery plan was developed to improve the species status by reducing the impacts of various threats (predation, disease, habitat destruction), as well as reinforcing wild populations through the reintroduction of captive‐bred frogs. The short‐term goal stated in this plan was to reach a minimum of 20 populations of 50 adults each (hereafter, the 20/50 target), before the species can be considered for downlisting from the U.S. Endangered Species Act. However, there is no guarantee that this 20/50 target will be sufficient to ensure the species persistence in the long run. Using 19 years of mark‐recapture data, we estimated populations' demographic trends and assessed the viability of R. muscosa from a starting state of 20 populations of 50 adults each (i.e., the downlisting criteria). Our results reveal that, from this 20/50 state, the species has high chances of persistence only at a short time horizon (50 years). Moreover, >80% of populations would be extinct 50 years later. Therefore, the species will not be able to persist without implementation of the reintroduction program. We found that it is more important to increase the number of suitable sites occupied by R. muscosa than to simply reinforce or augment existing populations. Expanding the current distribution by establishing new populations at suitable sites, even after the “20 populations” mark has been reached, would increase the likelihood of the species' persistence in the longer term.
DESIGN AND BUILD INVENTORY MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM USING THE SCRUM METHOD

PT Telkom Akses (PTTA) is a subsidiary of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Tbk (Telkom) which share owned entirely by Telkom. PT Telkom Akses is engaged in the business of providing construction services and network infrastructure management. Data collection manually can result in slow data management and will have an impact on the workflow of PT. Telkom Akses 3 Ilir Palembang. There will be a lot of damaged or duplicated data and finding data will be difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a system that can collect data on incoming and outgoing goods, namely a Web-based Inventory System. The development of this inventory system uses the CodeIgniter3 Framework and Scrum methodology. Scrum is one of the methods that uses the Agile principal, which refers to team collaboration, product incremental, and iterative processes to achieve goals. The results of the evaluation of system testing using the black-box testing method show that the developed system can run well and as expected. Hopefully with the present of this system, it can help PT Telkom Akses 3 Ilir Palembang in performing incoming and outgoing goods data collection. Keyword: Inventroy System, Web, Codeigniter 3, Scrum, BlackBox Testing
DNA-barcoding, SCoT and SRAP Based Somaclonal Variation in Micropropagated Withania somnifera Plantlets

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is one of the recognized plant species that considered of most traditional natural supplements. Tissue culture is an efficient method as fast and affordable in plant propagation. Few studies have discussed the genetic impact of such method on ashwagandha plant. The aim of this research was to identify the genetic stability of micropropagated plantlets and to assess the impact of in vitro-propagation on somaclonal variability in ashwagandha using start codon-targeted (SCoT), sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) and DNA-barcoding assays. SCoT marker assay produced a total number of 132 bands with an average of 11 bands per primer, where scorable PCR fragments were generated from all primers. The phylogenetic tree constructed using SCoT binary data, revealed genetic variability among studied plant samples. SRAP primer combinations showed a total of 78 bands by an average of 11.1 bands / combination, in which all combinations produced scored PCR fragments. Over SRAP assay, one specific band was obtained that was present in different ashwagandha micropropagated plant samples compared to the control (mother plant). This PCR fragments were obtained using me1F/em1R primer combination (287 bp). The phylogenetic tree constructed using SRAP data was successful to differentiate between micro-propagated plants and the control. The DNA- barcoding analysis using chloroplast gene RNA polymerasel (rpoCl) gene was used to detect the soma- clonal variation between control and one micro-propagated plant of ashwagandha. The phylogenetic tree constructed using DNA-barcoding sequences was successful to differentiate between the two samples, where control and micropropagated plantlets were grouped in two different groups. This study suggests the valuableness of using SRAP and DNA-barcoding in detecting soma-clonal variation among micropropagated plantlest of ashwagandha.
A Novel Biasing Scheme of Electrolyte‐Gated Organic Transistors for Safe In Vivo Amplification of Electrophysiological Signals

Successful translation of organic transistors as sensors and transducers to clinical settings is hampered by safety and stability issues. The operation of such devices demands driving voltages across the biotic/abiotic interface, which may result in undesired electrochemical reactions that may harm both the patient and the device. In this study, a novel operational mode is presented for electrolyte‐gated organic transistors that avoid these drawbacks: the common‐drain/grounded‐source configuration. This approach reverts the standard common‐source/common‐ground configuration and achieves maximum signal amplification while applying null net bias across the electrolyte, with no parasitic currents. The viability of the proposed configuration is demonstrated by recording in vivo the somatosensory evoked activity from the barrel cortex of rats. The main inherent advantage of transistors with respect to passive electrodes is preserved in the proposed scheme: a superior signal‐to‐noise ratio is achieved which enables the detection of evoked activity at the single‐trial level. Then, common‐drain/grounded‐source organic transistors are proposed as ideal candidate devices for a harmless translational recording platform.