Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Catastrophic health expenditure on chronic non-communicable diseases among elder population: A cross-sectional study from a sub-metropolitan city of Eastern Nepal

Introduction This study was conducted with the objective to analyze the out-of-pocket (OOP) healthcare expenditure and catastrophic healthcare expenditure (CHE) on chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCD) among the elderly population, and the association of CHE on CNCD with associated factors among the same population. Materials and methods We collected data from the elderly population of Dharan Sub-metropolitan city of the Eastern Nepal via door-to-door survey and face-to-face interview. The ten wards out of twenty were chosen by lottery method, and the equal proportion out of 280 samples was purposively chosen from each of ten wards (28 participants from each selected ward). The data were entered in Microsoft Excel 2019 v16.0 and statistical analysis was performed by using statistical package for social sciences, IBM SPSS® v21. The chi-square test was used to test the group differences. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine independent factors associated with CHE (all variables with P < 0.20), and adjusted odds ratios (AOR) were calculated at 95% confidence interval (CI). Results The median household, food and health expenditures were 95325 (72112.50–126262.50), 45000 (33000–60000) and 2100 (885.00–6107.50) NPR respectively. The proportion of the participants with CHE was 14.6%. The single living participants had 3.4 times higher odds of catastrophic health expenditure (AOR = 3.4, 95% CI = 1.2–9.6, P-value = 0.022) than those who are married. Similarly, those who had cancer had 0.1 times lower odds of CHE (AOR = 0.1, 95% CI = 0.0–0.2, P-value = <0.001) than those without cancer. Conclusion The elder population had significant financial health shocks due to chronic health ailments. There should be the provision of mandatory health insurance programmes for elderly to cut down the catastrophic healthcare expenditure. Similarly, there should be the provision of exemption scheme for vulnerable elderly who are more likely to face catastrophic expenditure from all available health facilities.
Protective Benefits of Tending Ants to a Critically Endangered Butterfly

Abstract Ants provide protection to various organisms via myrmecophilous relationships. Most notably, ants and several butterfly species are involved in mainly mutualistic interactions. Previous field studies have shown that butterfly larval survival is increased in the presence of tending ants, suggesting that ants are providing protection against insect predation or parasitism. Here, we conducted a series of timed observational trials under laboratory conditions to assess larval survival and ant protection from insect predators for a myrmecophilous lycaenid butterfly. We focused on a critically endangered butterfly, the Miami blue (Cyclargus thomasi bethunebakeri) (Comstock and Huntington) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), and its most common ant associate, the Florida carpenter ant (Camponotus floridanus) (Buckley) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), to test this assumption of ant protection. We found that ants provide significant protection to Miami blue larvae, with later instar larvae receiving a higher level of protection due to differences in tending frequencies. These results will aid in informing conservation management and future organism reintroductions for this endangered butterfly.
A Hierarchical Framework for Modeling and Forecasting Web Server Workload

Proactive management of web server farms requires accurate prediction of workload. An exemplary measure of workload is the amount of service requests per unit time. As a time series, the workload exhibits not only short-term random fluctuations, but also prominent periodic (daily) patterns that evolve randomly from one period to another. A hierarchical framework with multiple time scales is proposed to model such time series. This framework leads to an adaptive procedure that provides both long-term (in days) and short-term (in minutes) predictions with simultaneous confidence bands that accommodate not only serial correlation, but also heavy tailedness, heteroscedasticity, and nonstationarity of the data.
Finding shortest paths on surfaces by fast global approximation and precise local refinement

Finding the shortest path between points on a surface is a challenging global optimization problem. It is difficult to devise an algorithm that is computationally efficient, locally accurate and guarantees to converge to the globally shortest path. In this paper a two stage coarse to the fine approach of finding shortest paths is suggested. In the first stage a fast algorithm is used to obtain an approximation to the globally shortest path. In the second stage the approximation is refined into a locally optimal path. In the first stage we use the fast algorithm introduced by Kiryati and Szekely that combines a 3-D length estimator with graph search. This path is then refined to a shorter geodesic curve by an algorithm that deforms an arbitrary initial curve ending at two given surface points via geodesic curvature shortening flow. The 3D curve shortening flow is transformed into an equivalent 2D one that is implemented using an efficient numerical algorithm for curve evolution with fixed end points, introduced by Kimmel and Sapiro.
Validation of Nonlinear Viscoelastic Contact Force Models for Low Speed Impact

Compliant contact force modeling has become a popular approach for contact and impact dynamics simulation of multibody systems. In this area, the nonlinear viscoelastic contact force model developed by Hunt and Crossley (1975, “Coefficient of Restitution Interpreted as Damping in Vibroimpact,” ASME J. Appl. Mech., 42, pp. 440–445) over 2 decades ago has become a trademark with applications of the model ranging from intermittent dynamics of mechanisms to engagement dynamics of helicopter rotors and implementations in commercial multibody dynamics simulators. The distinguishing feature of this model is that it employs a nonlinear damping term to model the energy dissipation during contact, where the damping coefficient is related to the coefficient of restitution. Since its conception, the model prompted several investigations on how to evaluate the damping coefficient, in turn resulting in several variations on the original Hunt–Crossley model. In this paper, the authors aim to experimentally validate the Hunt–Crossley type of contact force models and furthermore to compare the experimental results to the model predictions obtained with different values of the damping coefficient. This paper reports our findings from the sphere to flat impact experiments, conducted for a range of initial impacting velocities using a pendulum test rig. The unique features of this investigation are that the impact forces are deduced from the acceleration measurements of the impacting body, and the experiments are conducted with specimens of different yield strengths. The experimental forces are compared with those predicted from the contact dynamics simulation of the experimental scenario. The experiments, in addition to generating novel impact measurements, provide a number of insights into both the study of impact and the impact response.
On a test of randomness of spatial point patterns

For an estimator of the reduced second moment measure (suggested by OHSEB &STOYAN) asymptotic normality is proved, if the underlying stationary point process is PoissONian and the area of the rectangular sampling window is very large. The variance of the estimator and a rate of convergence are given. Basing on it, a rejection region for testing the hypothesis of an underlying POISSOK process is constructed
Color constancy model based on topology resolve-map in medical image processing

In this paper, a Topology Resolve-Map (TRM) model is proposed to restore the gathered colors to standard values. We select relevant color range in L*a*b* color space of human skin and mucosa. Then we choose standard color in SG color chart, separately carry on topological cutting to the one-dimensional L* space and the two-dimensional a*b* space. Standard color in SG color chart is taken as image domain Mi, chromaticity value of SG color chart captured under different condition as inverseimage domain Ni . We establish mapping function from Ni to the Mi F(X):Ni-> Mi, and run the linearity mapping to the one-dimensional L* space F(Xl) and triangulation mapping to the two-dimensional a*b* space F(Xab), respectively, and present corresponding mapping function. Furthermore, we calculate image F(Li)and F(Xaibi), value of inverse image, from Li',ai', bi', values of sample under various kinds of conditions, with F(Xl)and F(Xab), respectively. We use 13 skin colors in SG color codes, and restore these colors from the gathered images to standard values. The differences of ΔL, Δab and ΔE have obvious decrease in TRM model. The mean difference of whole color is 3.77. The experimental results show that TRM model has good accuracy and stability, and outperform significantly the professional software.
Determination of single-pass optical gain and internal loss using a multisection device

We describe a technique for the measurement of optical gain and loss in semiconductor lasers using a single, multisection device. The method provides a complete description of the gain spectrum in absolute units and over a wide current range. Comparison of the transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarized spectra also provides the quasi-Fermi-level energy separation. Measurements on AlGaInP quantum well laser structures with emission wavelengths close to 670 nm show an internal loss of 10 cm−1 and peak gain values up to 4000 cm−1 for current densities up to 4 kA cm−2.
CCD photometry of the globular cluster NGC 6752

On presente un diagramme magnitude-couleur (V, B-V) pour NGC 6752. Le module de distance est 13n17±0,17 mag. On a evalue l'âge a 16±1 Gans et la metallicite [Fe/H]=−1,5±0,2. La dispersion des âges des etoiles doit etre inferieure a 0,5 Gans. On n'a trouve aucune naine blanche
The scattering of low energy electrons from hydrogen sulphide

Absolute differential cross sections for vibrationally elastic electron scattering from hydrogen sulphide (H2S) have been measured using a crossed electronic-molecular beam apparatus at incident energies from 1.30 eV and scattering angles between -20 and 130 degrees . At each energy studied the authors have integrated their differential cross section data to obtain total elastic and elastic momentum transfer cross sections. Vibrational excitation of H2S by electron impact has also been studied at incident energies of 2 and 3 eV, in the region of the low energy shape resonance. Both their differential and integral cross sections are compared with previous experimental studies and calculated values.
Creative Procedural-Knowledge Extraction From Web Design Tutorials

Complex design tasks often require performing diverse actions in a specific order. To (semi-)autonomously accomplish these tasks, applications need to understand and learn a wide range of design procedures, i.e., Creative Procedural-Knowledge (CPK). Prior knowledge base construction and mining have not typically addressed the creative fields, such as design and arts. In this paper, we formalize an ontology of CPK using five components: goal, workflow, action, command and usage; and extract components' values from online design tutorials. We scraped 19.6K tutorial-related webpages and built a web application for professional designers to identify and summarize CPK components. The annotated dataset consists of 819 unique commands, 47,491 actions, and 2,022 workflows and goals. Based on this dataset, we propose a general CPK extraction pipeline and demonstrate that existing text classification and sequence-to-sequence models are limited in identifying, predicting and summarizing complex operations described in heterogeneous styles. Through quantitative and qualitative error analysis, we discuss CPK extraction challenges that need to be addressed by future research.
blood pressure in relation to Cardiovascular Outcome Investigators

— The lack of outcome-driven operational thresholds limits the clinical application of home blood pressure (BP) measurement. Our objective was to determine an outcome-driven reference frame for home BP measurement. We measured home and clinic BP in 6470 participants (mean age, 59.3 years; 56.9% women;
Monte Carlo simulation of phonon confinement in silicon nanostructures: Application to the determination of the thermal conductivity of silicon nanowires

The authors study the thermal conductivity of silicon nanowires by simulation of phonon motion and interactions through a dedicated Monte Carlo model. This model solves the Boltzmann transport equation, taking into account silicon acoustic mode dispersion curves and three phonon interactions (the normal and umklapp processes). The confinement, which limits the thermal conductivity in such structures, is described by diffuse reflection at lateral boundaries of the nanowire without any adjustment by a boundary collision time, which depends on a specularity factor. They compare simulation results to experimental measurements on similar nanostructures. A good agreement is achieved for almost all the considered diameters.
Numerical Blow-up for the p-Aplacian Equation with a Source

Abstract We study numerical approximations of nonnegative solutions of the p-Laplacian equation with a nonlinear source. We describe when solutions of a semidiscretization in space exist globally in time and when they blow up in a finite time. We also find the blow-up rates and the blow-up sets by means of the discrete self-similar profiles.
Knowledge Clip as Innovative Pedagogy: It’s Effectiveness on Student Engagement at Higher Secondary School Level

Video-based teaching is a recent trend in modern pedagogy, including first-party (instructor-created) and third-party (online available) videos. Knowledge clips (KCs) are 5-6 minutes of instructor-created videos designed by keeping in mind students' attention spans and learning needs. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Knowledge-Clip on students' in-class Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral engagement at the Higher Secondary School level. Moreover, a comparison of the engagement level of students among the control and experimental group was also investigated before and after an intervention. This study used a mix-method approach followed by a Quasi-experimental research design and pre and post-test design. As a research sample, n=86 Biology students from one college of Rawalpindi were selected through a purposive and convenient sampling technique. Quantitative data analysis was done by using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Whereas, Qualitative data analysis was done through thematic analysis. The study's findings indicated the effectiveness of KCs on students' in-class Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral engagement at the HSSC level. Teachers are recommended to create colorful and appealing KCs with thought-provoking questions to improve students' engagement level at the HSSC level. Furthermore, training regarding the utilization of easy software (PowerPoint) for creating KCs may be arranged for teachers.
A flux-mnemonic permanent magnet brushless machine for wind power generation

In this paper, the concept of flux mnemonics is newly extended to the wind power generator. By incorporating a small magnetizing winding into an outer-rotor doubly salient AlNiCo permanent magnet (PM) machine, a new flux-mnemonic PM brushless wind power generator is proposed and implemented. This generator can offer effective and efficient air-gap flux control. First, the characteristics of the proposed generator are analyzed by using the finite element method. Second, the closed-loop flux control is devised to achieve a constant generated voltage under time-varying wind speeds. Finally, the experimental results are given to verify the validity of the proposed generator and control system.
Impact of spatial periodic bending and load cycling on the critical current of a Nb3Sn strand

Differences in the thermal contraction of the composite materials in a cable in conduit conductor (CICC) for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in combination with electromagnetic charging cause significant axial, transverse and bending strains in the Nb3Sn layer. These high strain loads degrade the superconducting properties of a CICC. Here we report on the influence of periodic bending load, using different bending wavelengths from 5 to 10 mm on a Nb3Sn powder-in-tube processed strand. The strand axial tensile stress–strain curve, the critical current versus applied axial strain results, the influence of cyclic loading on the RRR and assessment of the current transfer length from AC loss measurements, required for the analysis, are presented as well. For the strand under investigation, we find an influence of bending strain on the Ic that corresponds well to the predictions obtained from the applied classical relations, distinguishing ultimate boundaries of high and low interfilament electrical resistance. The reduction versus applied bending strain is similar for all wavelengths and equivalent to the low transverse resistance model, which is consistent with the estimated current transfer length. The cyclic behaviour in terms of critical current and n-value involves a component representing a permanent reduction as well as a factor expressing reversible (elastic) behaviour as a function of the applied load. The results from the set-up enable a discrimination in performance reduction per specific load type and per strand type. In this paper, we discuss the results of the pure bending tests.
COMBINING ABILITY AND HETEROSIS STUDIES IN UPLAND COTTON (GOSSYPIUM HIRSUTUM L.)

Cotton is Pakistan's most important fiber crop and the country's economic lifeline. It is an important agricultural commodity in Pakistan, providing a source of income for farmers as well as raw materials for the textile industry. Farmers and the textile industry are also looking for ways to improve fiber quality and increase seed cotton production. Given the low yield pattern and growing demand of the textile industry, the breeding programs need to be planned as a breeder to increase cotton production in the region. Knowledge about inheritance mechanisms, heterosis, and the ability of different characters to combine is crucial for this reason. The most challenging task for plant breeders in any hybridization program is finding the best combination of two (or more) parental genotypes to optimize variation within similar breeding populations, and therefore the possibility of detecting superior transgressive segregants in the segregating populations. After its introduction in 1942, the combining capacity has been commonly used in plant breeding to evaluate the performances of lines in hybrid combinations. Heterosis (also known as hybrid vigor) is a natural occurrence in which hybrid offspring of genetically diverse individuals have enhanced physical and functional characteristics compared to their ancestors. For nearly a century, heterosis has been increasingly used in crop development with the aim of producing more vigorous, higher yielding, and better performing cultivars. A short analysis of previous studies on cotton combining ability and heterotic effect estimation has been provided in this paper. This will strengthen our existing understanding of plant breeding's combining ability and heterosis, as well as recent research advances in this field.
Enhancing Undergraduate Mathematics Curriculum Via Coding Theory and Cryptography

Abstract The theory of error-correcting codes and cryptography are two relatively recent applications of mathematics to information and communication systems. The mathematical tools used in these fields generally come from algebra, elementary number theory, and combinatorics, including concepts from computational complexity. It is possible to introduce the basics of the subjects to undergraduates without requiring a lot of prerequisite knowledge, and at the same time connect several different areas of mathematics and computer science. Moreover, these are branches of mathematics suitable for undergraduate research. In this article, I will describe how I taught a special topics course on coding theory and cryptography, in a non-traditional way, at a small liberal arts college, the pedagogical aspects and the results and implications of the course.
Inertial modes of the Earth's fluid core

The Earth’s outer core is a rotating ellipsoidal shell of compressible, stratified and selfgravitating fluid. As such, in the treatment of geophysical problems a realistic model of this body needs to be considered. In this work we consider a compressible and stratified fluid core model with different stratification parameters, related to the local BruntVäisälä frequency. We use the three potential description (3PD) to study the effects of the core’s density stratification on the frequencies of some of the inertial modes of this model. As a first approximation, however, we ignore the ellipticity of the core’s figure. The 3PD scheme describes the exact linearized dynamics of rotating, self-gravitating, stratified, compressible and inviscid fluids. The inertial modes of the core are the long-period free oscillations which have the Coriolis force as their restoring force. Historically an incompressible and homogeneous fluid sphere is considered to study these modes and analytical solutions are known for the frequencies and the displacement eigenfunctions of this model. We show that the effects of non-neutral density stratification may be significant, and the frequencies of these modes may change from model to model depending on the stratification parameters and the spatial structure of the modes. We further explore the role of the characteristic surfaces on the excitation and structure of these modes.
Modeling of Stationary Plasma Thruster-100 Thruster Plumes and Implications for Satellite Design

A computational model of a stationary plasma thruster (SPT) has been developed using a quasineutral particle-in-cell/direct simulation Monte Carlo (PIC-DSMC) model. This model is based on theoretical work showing that the plume consists of a quasineutral plasma with collisionless electrons in which the magnetic field can be neglected. Details of the PIC DSMC method are presented as well as axisymmetric and three-dimensional results. Comparisons are made to new and previously reported experimental data. The model is shown to produce results similar to laboratory measurements of the ion current density and plume-induced sputter erosion rates. The model does not compare as well with retarding potential analyzer measurements of the ion energy distribution. The results confirm previous observations that measurements made in some ground facilities may substantially overpredict the amount of backflow current that will be experienced under operational conditions. A surface-sputtering model is used to predict the impact the plume has on solar array interconnects and to show the impact an SPT thruster could have on a communications satellite. The results show that the thruster should be canted with respect to the solar array, lowering its effective thrust and specific impulse.
Exploiting of optical transforms for bacteria evaluation in vitro

A novel method for evaluation of bacteria colonies concentration based on optical spectra examination, is proposed. The influence of bacteria colonies number on Fourier spectrum properties is considered in term of scalar diffraction theory and corresponding theoretical model is presented. Computational simulations are performed to confirm the theoretical predictions. Additionally, optical Mellin transform is used to omit the dependence of Fourier spectrum pattern on bacteria colonies size fluctuations and to provide a scale-invariant analysis. Presented results have shown high potential of the proposed approach for comparative study of bacteria colonies grown on solid medium in vitro.