Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Incidence and Determinants of Acute Kidney Injury after Prone Positioning in Severe COVID-19 Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

(1) Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common among critically ill COVID-19 patients, but its temporal association with prone positioning (PP) is still unknown, and no data exist on the possibility of predicting PP-associated AKI from bedside clinical variables. (2) Methods: We analyzed data from 93 COVID-19-related ARDS patients who underwent invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) and at least one PP cycle. We collected hemodynamic variables, respiratory mechanics, and circulating biomarkers before, during, and after the first PP cycle. PP-associated AKI (PP-AKI) was defined as AKI diagnosed any time from the start of PP to 48 h after returning to the supine position. A t-test for independent samples was used to test for the differences between groups, while binomial logistical regression was performed to assess variables independently associated with PP-associated AKI. (3) Results: A total of 48/93 (52%) patients developed PP-AKI, with a median onset at 24 [13.5–44.5] hours after starting PP. No significant differences in demographic characteristics between groups were found. Before starting the first PP cycle, patients who developed PP-AKI had a significantly lower cumulative fluid balance (CFB), even when normalized for body weight (p = 0.006). Central venous pressure (CVP) values, measured before the first PP (OR 0.803, 95% CI [0.684–0.942], p = 0.007), as well as BMI (OR 1.153, 95% CI = [1.013–1.313], p = 0.031), were independently associated with the development of PP-AKI. In the multivariable regression analysis, a lower CVP before the first PP cycle was independently associated with ventilator-free days (OR 0.271, 95% CI [0.123–0.936], p = 0.011) and with ICU mortality (OR:0.831, 95% CI [0.699–0.989], p = 0.037). (4) Conclusions: Acute kidney injury occurs frequently in invasively ventilated severe COVID-19 ARDS patients undergoing their first prone positioning cycle. Higher BMI and lower CVP before PP are independently associated with the occurrence of AKI during prone positioning.
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE A Comparison Study of Three Polar Grids

The circumference of a latitude circle decreases toward the Poles, making it difficult to present meteorological field variables on equally spaced grids with respect to latitude and longitude because of data aggregation. To identify the best method for displaying data at the Poles, three different grids are compared that have all been designed to reduce data aggregation: the reduced latitude–longitude (RL) grid, the National Snow and Ice Data Center Equal-Area Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) Earth (EA) grid, and the National Meteorological Center octagonal (OG) grid. The merits and disadvantages of these grids are compared in terms of depictions of the Arctic summer circulation with wind vectors, streamfunction, and velocity potential at 400 hPa where maximum westerlies are located. Using geostrophy, the 400-hPa streamfunction at high latitudes can be formed from geopotential height. In comparison with this geostrophic streamfunction, the streamfunction generated from vorticity on the OG grid shows a negligible error (0.5%). The error becomes larger using vorticity on the EA (15%) and RL (30%) grids. During the northern summer, the Arctic circulation at 400 hPa is characterized by three troughs. The streamfunction and velocity potential of these three troughs are spatially in quadrature with divergent (convergent) centers located ahead of (behind) these troughs. These circulation features are best depicted by the streamfunction and velocity potential generated on the OG grid. It is demonstrated by these findings that the National Meteorological Center octagonal grid is the most ideal among the three grids used for the polar regions. However, this assessment is constrained by the hemispheric perspective of meteorological field variables, because these variables depicted on the octagonal grid at higher latitudes need to be merged with those on the equal-latitude-longitude grid at lower latitudes.
Relevé et multi-représentations du patrimoine architectural Définition d'une approche hybride pour la reconstruction 3D d'édifices

L'acquisition des donnees spatiales en architecture a connu dans ces dernieres annees des progres significatifs grâce a l'introduction de nouveaux instruments de mesure. Parallelement, des techniques de traitements tridimensionnels (segmentation du nuage de points, maillage automatique, cartes de profondeur, modelisation parametrique, photo-modelisation, etc.) permettent d'obtenir des supports d'analyse de l'objet a differents niveaux de detail et pour differentes finalites. Cependant, des les premieres etapes de traitement des donnees acquises, les problemes de representation s'imposent, car la demarche de reconstruction tridimensionnelle necessite des interpretations geometriques pour decrire les d'objets architecturaux. Cette these propose une approche permettant de conduire les operations de reconstruction 3D en faisant reference a un ensemble de connaissances historiques specifiques au trace des formes architecturales. Ainsi, un modele de description semantique sert de denominateur commun entre differentes representations et jeux d'informations extraites a partir du releve. La maquette numerique ainsi obtenue a pour vocation d'etre exploitee pour la constitution de banques de donnees patrimoniales. Dans ce cadre, une approche de structuration spatiale et architecturale de l'edifice a ete developpee. La maquette numerique ainsi structuree devient alors le support privilegie de navigation et d'interactions avec les sources documentaires qui lui sont associees. Ces informations et les representations geometriques multiples des objets constituant l'edifice peuvent etre restitues de maniere dynamique en fonction de differents points de vue utilisateurs.
Embarking on a Researcher Career: Involvement in Writing for Publication

Personal Branding is a step taken by a lecturer, one of which is publishing articles in accredited journals. Academic writing is intended to contribute to the field of education both practically and theoretically. This scientific research focuses on descriptive analysis of lecturers' voices about the struggle in achieving a publication target. The author uses a qualitative method with a phenomenological design and semi-structured interviews to obtain data from selected senior lecturers at certain public institutions. In general, the findings of this research are categorized into six points. Of the two sub-themes, the research results tend to lead to positive and negative attitudes in English-language publications. Furthermore, the discursive challenge shows that Participants have difficulty writing with regard to word choice, grammar, and vocabulary bank, while the non-discursive challenge shows that Participants have difficulty processing their soft skills such as time management in writing and financial management in publications. In terms of psychology, the lecturers' internal motivation in writing is the target for achieving a higher career. The more they write, the more performance points they get so they can reach a certain career level. Meanwhile, external motivation is in the form of government regulations and legal institutions that require an educator in higher education to carry out scientific activities such as research and reports in the form of published scientific articles. The implications of this research are expecting support from the institution where they work and the writer's family to understand their obligations as a lecturer.
The impact of ultrasonic field on the pharmacological residues biodegradation

The most commonly detected pharmaceuticals in surface waters are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, oestrogens (included in hormonal agents), and preparations used in veterinary medicine. The conducted research aimed to determine the possibility of removing from wastewater selected non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals (ketoprofen and diclofenac), which pose a threat to the water and wastewater environment. From among the available methods supporting the removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewater, the sonication process was selected for research. The use of the active operation of the ultrasonic field, which results in a number of sono-chemical phenomena, including cavitation or oxidizing processes, is a new approach to the research problem. On the basis of the obtained research results, it was found that the application of the selected method results in a high and repeatable degree of removal of selected pharmaceuticals. For keto-profen, the decrease in the toxicity unit value ranged from 1.307 to 0.839 TU, for diclofenac from 0.966 to 0.748 TU, and the mixture from 1.722 to 1.151 TU.
Effect of Size on Forced Convection Greenhouse Drying of Khoa

Khoa, a heat desiccated milk product, forms an important base for preparation of milk sweets. In this communication, an attempt is made to evaluate the convective heat and mass transfer coefficients during forced convection greenhouse drying of different sizes of khoa samples. Experiments were conducted during the month of October 2012 at Guru Jambheshwar University of Science & Technology Hisar. Khoa pieces of different dimensions with a total quantity of 100 g were dried in a roof type even span greenhouse with a floor area of 1.2 × 0.8 m 2 till almost no variation in its mass was recorded. Hourly data on the mass evaporated, temperature of khoa, relative humidity and temperature inside the greenhouse structure were recorded. These data were used to determine the values of convective heat transfer coefficients by regression analysis, and the convective mass transfer coefficients were consequently evaluated. The convective heat and mass transfer coefficients were observed to increase with the decrease in khoa sample size for the given size of greenhouse. The experimental error in terms of percent uncertainty was also evaluated, and observed to vary in the range of 14.99% to 23.24%.
Visual Attention Saliency Model for License Plate Location

In order to locate the license plate in noisy background or various illumination conditions, a license plate location model based on visual attention is proposed, which imitates the biological mechanism of human visual. Four major visual sensitive characteristics of Chinese license plate are applied. First, the features of intensity, color and texture are extracted and integrated to structure the saliency map; second, the obtaining the optimal threshold based on the shape feature for foreground segmentation; at last, support vector machine is applied to eliminate the false plates in the image. Experimental results show that the proposed model is adaptive to various illumination conditions, complicated background, and resistant to noise.
Comparison of AR and VR memory palace quality in second-language vocabulary acquisition (Invited)

The method of loci (memory palace technique) is a learning strategy that uses visualizations of spatial environments to enhance memory. One particularly popular use of the method of loci is for language learning, in which the method can help long-term memory of vocabulary by allowing users to associate location and other spatial information with particular words/concepts, thus making use of spatial memory to assist memory typically associated with language. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have been shown to potentially provide even better memory enhancement due to their superior visualization abilities. However, a direct comparison of the two techniques in terms of language-learning enhancement has not yet been investigated. In this paper, we present the results of a study designed to compare AR and VR when using the method of loci for learning vocabulary from a second language.
Wing Shape Analysis of the Japanese encephalitis vector Culex gelidus (Diptera: Culicidae) at the Foot Hill of Southern Western Ghats, India

A landmark-based morphometric analysis was carried out in female and male wing of Culex gelidus mosquitoes collected from Alwarkurichi, Tirunelveli district. In this study, shapes and sizes of wings were studied using the landmark based geometric morphometric method of thin plate spline, multivariate analysis of partial warp scores and centroid sizes. Both female and male wing showed variation in the middle region and distal region of the wing. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Canonical Variate Analysis (CVA) also showed variation between female and male wing of C. gelidus. It may be concluded from the study that in landmark-based geometric morphometrics, spatial information is contained in the data, because the data are coordinates of landmarks and have many advantages and are useful in the separation of closely related species of insects.
A closer look at the long-term patterns of regional income inequality in Spain: the poor stay poor (and stay together)

Using a novel dataset, this paper explores the evolution of regional income inequality in Spain, 1860-2010. We follow the growth literature and use spatial exploratory tools to analyse modality, mobility and spatial clustering. We find two clearly distinguishable periods. First, there was an upswing in regional inequality accompanied by a certain mobility between 1860 and 1930. This was followed by a period of regional convergence, in which mobility was rather low. In parallel to this, a geographical concentration of the richest and poorest regions took place, with wealthy Spain located in the north-east and poor Spain in the south. In the last decades convergence has come to a halt, mobility is quasi-non-existent and spatial polarization has tended to increase. A partir de recientes estimaciones historicas de PIB provincial, este trabajo explora la evolucion de la desigualdad regional en Espana entre 1860 y 2010. Siguiendo a la literatura de crecimiento economico, se presentan diversos indicadores para analizar la modalidad, la movilidad y la aglomeracion espacial de las provincias espanolas. Nuestros resultados muestran la existencia de dos periodos claramente diferenciados. En primer lugar, entre 1860 y 1930 la desigualdad regional aumento y este aumento se vio acompanado de una cierta movilidad en el ranking provincial. A partir de entonces se dio un proceso de convergencia, en el que la movilidad fue bastante reducida, y donde ademas se produjo una creciente concentracion geografica de las provincias mas ricas y mas pobres, situandose las primeras en el noreste peninsular y las segundas en el sur. En las ultimas decadas el proceso de convergencia se ha detenido, la movilidad es practicamente inexistente y la polarizacion espacial ha continuado aumentando.
Multifunctional Hydrogels Based on Cellulose and Modified Lignin for Advanced Wounds Management

Considering the complex process of wound healing, it is expected that an optimal wound dressing should be able to overcome the multiple obstacles that can be encountered in the wound healing process. An ideal dressing should be biocompatible, biodegradable and able to maintain moisture, as well as allow the removal of exudate, have antibacterial properties, protect the wound from pathogens and promote wound healing. Starting from this desideratum, we intended to design a multifunctional hydrogel that would present good biocompatibility, the ability to provide a favorable environment for wound healing, antibacterial properties, and also, the capacity to release drugs in a controlled manner. In the preparation of hydrogels, two natural polymers were used, cellulose (C) and chemically modified lignin (LE), which were chemically cross-linked in the presence of epichlorohydrin. The structural and morphological characterization of CLE hydrogels was performed by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. In addition, the degree of swelling of CLE hydrogels, the incorporation/release kinetics of procaine hydrochloride (PrHy), and their cytotoxicity and antibacterial properties were investigated. The rheological characterization, mechanical properties and mucoadhesion assessment completed the study of CLE hydrogels. The obtained results show that CLE hydrogels have an increased degree of swelling compared to cellulose-based hydrogel, a better capacity to encapsulate PrHy and to control the release of the drug, as well as antibacterial properties and improved mucoadhesion. All these characteristics highlight that the addition of LE to the cellulose matrix has a positive impact on the properties of CLE hydrogels, confirming that these hydrogels can be considered as potential candidates for applications as oral wound dressings.
Sensitivity of the Continental Hydrological Cycle to the Spatial Resolution over the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract In the broad context of the downscaling methods that are used to study climatic change impacts, the dependence of the surface hydrological processes simulated by the Organising Carbon and Hydrology in Dynamic Ecosystem (ORCHIDEE) land surface model, used in a stand-alone mode, on the spatial scale of the forcings is investigated over the Iberian Peninsula. These prescribed forcings are the outputs of a regional climate model, Pronostico a Mesoescala (PROMES), with a high spatial resolution (20 km). In the first experiment, the PROMES outputs have been aggregated stepwise to the typical resolution of a general circulation model, and applied to ORCHIDEE, in order to analyze the impacts of the changing resolution on the simulated water balance. Then, subgrid-scale variability (SSV) for the different forcings has been progressively reintroduced. This second experiment is aimed at isolating the crucial elements of SSV that need to be preserved when a disaggregation is being performed. The increase of .
Recent Insights about the Role of Gels in Organic Photonics and Electronics

This review article provides an in-depth exploration of the role of gels in the fields of organic electronics and photonics, focusing on their unique properties and applications. Despite their remarkable potential, gel-based innovations remain relatively uncharted in these domains. This brief review aims to bridge the knowledge gap by shedding light on the diverse roles that gels can fulfil in the enhancement of organic electronic and photonic devices. From flexible electronics to light-emitting materials, we delve into specific examples of gel applications, highlighting their versatility and promising outcomes. This work serves as an indispensable resource for researchers interested in harnessing the transformative power of gels within these cutting-edge fields. The objective of this review is to raise awareness about the overlooked research potential of gels in optoelectronic materials, which have somewhat diminished in recent years.
Double Attack to Oxidative Stress in Neurodegenerative Disorders: MAO-B and Nrf2 as Elected Targets

Oxidative stress and neuroinflammation play a pivotal role in triggering the neurodegenerative pathological cascades which characterize neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. In search for potential efficient treatments for these pathologies, that are still considered unmet medical needs, we started from the promising properties of the antidiabetic drug pioglitazone, which has been repositioned as an MAO-B inhibitor, characterized by promising neuroprotective properties. Herein, with the aim to broaden its neuroprotective profile, we tried to enrich pioglitazone with direct and indirect antioxidant properties by hanging polyphenolic and electrophilic features that are able to trigger Nrf2 pathway and the resulting cytoprotective genes’ transcription, as well as serve as radical scavengers. After a preliminary screening on MAO-B inhibitory properties, caffeic acid derivative 2 emerged as the best inhibitor for potency and selectivity over MAO-A, characterized by a reversible mechanism of inhibition. Furthermore, the same compound proved to activate Nrf2 pathway by potently increasing Nrf2 nuclear translocation and strongly reducing ROS content, both in physiological and stressed conditions. Although further biological investigations are required to fully clarify its neuroprotective properties, we were able to endow the pioglitazone scaffold with potent antioxidant properties, representing the starting point for potential future pioglitazone-based therapeutics for neurodegenerative disorders.
The Effects of Angelica ternata Extract from Kyrgyzstan on the Formation of Candida albicans ATCC 10231 Biofilms

The therapeutic potential of Angelica ternata extract was tested against biofilm-associated fungi Candida albicans. Such an extract with a 1.896 ± 0.071% per 1 mL rutin content of flavonoids can reliably suppress the formation of biofilms of pathogenic yeast-like fungi up to 76.6%. The herbal medicine has a significant effect on the initiation, adhesion, and development of biofilms. If the extract is added to a developed biofilm, it has a significant effect on the matrix. As a result, the “glue” between the cells is washed out and they are more easily washed away from the well of the microplate to which they are attached. In this case, the optical density of the biofilm is halved (50.5%).
Ownership Structure, Capital Structure and the Audit Committees’ Effectiveness:

ABSTRACT The main purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of the capital structure and the ownership structure on the audit committee effectiveness. A sample of 35 service firms and 47 industrial firms that were continuously listed on Amman Stock Exchange during the years 2014 to 2018 with a 388 observation was used. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data and test the hypotheses. The independent variables included ownership structure and capital structure, whereas the dependent variable represented by the audit committee effectiveness. A set of variables that formed the effectiveness index were taken into consideration, including the independence of the committee, the independence of its chairman, knowledge and expertise of its members, size of the audit committee and frequency of meetings. The study results revealed that there is a negative significant impact for the concentrated ownership and managerial ownership on the audit committee effectiveness, whereas, the institutional and the foreign ownership don’t show a significant impact. The results also revealed that there is a positive significant impact for the capital structure on the audit committee effectiveness. Based on the results of the study the researchers would recommend that more attention should be given by decision-makers to take the appropriate measures to improve the effectiveness of the audit committees in order to direct the attention of the various investing groups to the fact that these committees are in their interest and that they are already in their service.
Households’ willingness to pay for waste management improvement in Gombe municipality of Kinshasa, DRC

The setting of the willingness to pay for the reservation and protection of the environment is one of the answers that economics science is giving to the environmental problems that society is increasingly confronted with. This study uses the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to assess the willingness to pay (WTP) in the municipality of Gombe for the improvement of household waste management. A survey based on 300 households showed that the income, the type of housing, the participation in a collection unit and knowledge of the impact of household waste on the environment positively affect the willingness to pay (WTP); while age, marital status and education negatively affect the willingness to pay (WTP). 71.4% of households agree to share the cost with the city to set up a program to improve waste management. The average WTP is CDF 1500 or $ 0.75.